People Are Renting Donkeys & Other Farm Animals To Crash Their Virtual Meetings
An enterprising North Carolina farm is letting people hire their animals to surprise and prank others during quarantine.
By Jessie Schiewe
What if the next time you log into a conference chat with your boss, you see a donkey staring back at you? (Photo: Peace N Peas Farm)
Running a farm isn’t easy. It requires a lot of capital and a lot of creativity to make that capital — and keep it coming.
Francie Dunlap knows this. A co-owner of Peace N Peas Farm in Indian Trail, North Carolina, she’s been running it with her husband, Mark, for almost 15 years.
They make their income selling fruits and vegetables they grow, eggs from their chickens, and honey collected from their bee hives, and they also offer high-level dressage horse training.
But their business ventures aren’t solely limited to the farm. As Dunlap put it, “We have several things going on.”
In addition to operating Peace N Peas, the couple also leases food trucks, rents out a beach condo, sells health insurance, and does freelance web design work.
And now, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dunlap’s have found another way to make cash: by renting out their farm animals.
For $50, you can reserve 10 minutes of time with a Peace N Peas animal who will join any virtual meeting you invite them to — usually as a surprise to others. Your choices include: Mambo, an 8-year-old mini donkey; Heiren, a brown 6-year-old Hanoverian horse; Eddie, a 13-year-old white show horse; Zeus, a large brown horse; or just a lot of chickens.
Since launching on Saturday, April 18, the farm animals have been staying busy, crashing virtual happy hours amongst friends, surprising online middle school classes in Texas, landing interviews with news outlets, and confusing countless unsuspecting employees as they slog through yet another staff meeting.
At the end of April, OK Whatever emailed Dunlap to learn more about her farm’s latest enterprise, where the idea came from, and how people react when they see a long snout and a furry face staring back at them on their screen.
OK Whatever: How many animals does the farm have in total?
Francie Dunlap: We have 5 horses, 1 mini-donkey, 20+ chickens, a couple of dogs, a cat, a parakeet, and a snail. And our neighbor's ducks are always over, except now they started nesting.
Why aren’t all of your farm animals available to rent to crash a virtual meeting?
A couple of the horses are not very personable, so we don't use them much. The donkey and a few of the horses are attention hogs and they will always get in on the action. Except once in a while when they are just done with me, then we all get a nice view of their rear ends.
How did the idea to offer this "service" even come about?
I was sitting on my back porch doing Zoom happy hours with friends and they would hear the donkey and rooster in the background and ask to see them and the other animals. Then they suggested I should rent out my animals to other virtual meetings, so I built a website.
Francie Dunlap posing for a selfie with Mambo the donkey. (Peace N Peas Farm)
Right. You rent them through the website "dangrooster.com.” Did you build that website specifically for this purpose?
I have owned the URL for a long time. I used it as a staging site for web development. So it was not created for this business, and it shows. I only used it because I was quickly slapping up a site to amuse my friends — not because I seriously thought it would take off and become this big. I made it Saturday, April 18, and told my friends about it that night. It started getting passed around in the media by Sunday.
What kinds of meetings have Mambo, Eddie, Heiren, and Zeus been invited to crash thus far?
They’ve attended:
All ages of virtual classrooms, from preschoolers to college
Lots of staff meetings
Happy jours
Family parties
Birthday parties
Very large corporate meetings with big names
Medical and health field meetings
How do people react when they notice there’s a donkey in their Zoom chat?
Most people are surprised. Some don't say a word and are wondering if others see what they do. Some start laughing hysterically.
Some people think they are being Zoom-bombed because they have either seen it or heard about it. We've been kicked off before because of that.
Some groups immediately guessed correctly the person in their chat who probably invited the donkey.
Does everyone usually see the humor in these farm animal pranks?
Not always. Some people have absolutely no sense of humor and don't give the prankster the desired reaction. That is a little embarrassing for everyone involved because most people see it as a way to have a lighthearted moment or two before delving into business.
How do you get the animals on camera?
We just stick a phone in their faces
Has anything funny or unexpected happened while an animal has been on camera?
Surprisingly, the donkey does not poop or pee while in the barn aisle! The horses would, but we've been lucky.
One funny thing that happened was during a live media interview. I leaned over and the donkey pushed me over (it doesn't take much because I have bad balance), and then the horse behind me nudged my head, and then me and the camera both flopped over. So it looked funny to those watching us.
What have you learned since renting out your donkey and horses to essentially prank others?
It really does make people smile and laugh.
I see some people who do not want to be in another virtual meeting get on and their faces totally transform into laughter. Some people get on happy to see their friends at a party, but get more than they anticipated when they see a silly donkey (or the back of one).
People enjoy animals, and, in this tense and uncertain time, even seeing us for a few minutes petting, scratching, snuggling and feeding one can be very calming and relaxing and fun.
Even in difficult times, people need to find a couple of laughs. It turns your mood around for a little while.
Do you think you'll continue offering this service once quarantines have been lifted and life returns to semi-normal?
I think this is a short-lived, fun fad that went viral. Once quarantines are lifted, people will want to get on with business and try the next fad. But don't listen to me — I did not expect it to actually take off and fill my calendar the way it has!
JESSIE SCHIEWE IS THE EDITOR OF OK WHATEVER. SHE BELIEVES IN MERMAIDS AND THRIFT SHOPS FOR EXERCISE.
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