Lancashire farmer makes £100k with the help of Britney Spears humming goat

While most people break out in a sweat over Zoom calls, imagine how much better you would feel with goats in the background?
By Emma Downey
Published 11th Mar 2023, 12:30 BST
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This is exactly what Lancashire farmer Dot McCarthy started during lockdown as a joke which has now netted her over £100,000. During the lockdown era, she launched the Goats on Zoom initiative at Cronkshaw Fold Farm, Rossendale, to give people a laugh during their remote meetings. People could hire goats to join them for £5 for five minutes.

The farm, which featured on BBC One's The Great Staycation, usually supplements its income by hosting weddings and educational visits, but coronavirus restrictions closed that side of the business down. As a result, Dot, who took over the business from her mother about five years ago, came up with the idea of hiring out her flock to brighten video calls by briefly having them butt in as a surprise.

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The service, which she described as the "greatest of all time", sees a goat of choice join a scheduled meeting via the video-conferencing service's invitation system with a little help from farm staff. The goats have proved to be popular participants for meetings ranging from Facebook management and NHS staff to virtual church services.

Farmer Dot McCarthy films her goats at Cronkshaw Fold Farm, the goats can be hired for zoom meetingsFarmer Dot McCarthy films her goats at Cronkshaw Fold Farm, the goats can be hired for zoom meetings
Farmer Dot McCarthy films her goats at Cronkshaw Fold Farm, the goats can be hired for zoom meetings
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Dot said: “Goats on Zoom started as a joke. We did not think it would go insanely global and be on TV, radio and in newspapers around the world. It was awesome but totally unexpected. It’s allowed us to raise enough money to achieve the first objective we had when I took over the family farm - stop using fossil fuels. We’ve used ‘Goats On Zoom’ as a very bizarre rocket ship to project us towards where we want to go with our environmental and sustainability goals, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Her goats have now appeared in virtual meetings all over the world, including in the US, Russia, China and Australia, with some people donating far more than the £5 charge for an appearance. Some of the goats available to choose from include Mary who is “totally fine peeing in front of you”, Daisy who has “rage and affection in equal measures” and Jackie who “hums Britney Spears songs subconsciously”.

To book a goat CLICK HERE.

With credit to Digital Adoption.

Related topics:Britney SpearsLancashireZoom