[ti:Small Farm Animals Are Growing in Popularity]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:01.84]Americans are showing more interest
[00:04.28]in owning unusually small cows,
[00:07.20]goats, donkeys and other small farm animals.
[00:12.16]These animals are cute.
[00:14.04]They require less food and space.
[00:16.96]And they might even help cut the grass.
[00:21.08]People who farm for fun
[00:22.68]are known as hobby farmers.
[00:24.88]They are looking for easy-to-raise farm animals.
[00:29.84]Some just like the idea of having a little pig
[00:33.04]or a small sheep as a pet.
[00:36.12]The word for something
[00:37.40]that is unusually small is miniature.
[00:41.20]Animal breeders
[00:42.36]say sales of these little farm animals have grown
[00:45.60]since the COVID-19 pandemic.
[00:49.08]At that time,
[00:50.48]more people started raising chickens at home
[00:53.00]for fun and fresh eggs.
[00:55.88]Like chickens, mini farm animals
[00:58.52]appeal to beginners who want to try a rural lifestyle.
[01:03.72]Brian Gazda has a small farm
[01:06.20]in the western state of Idaho.
[01:09.16]He runs a YouTube channel
[01:10.80]called "Hobby Farm Guys" with two friends.
[01:14.60]Gazda said a lot of people
[01:16.76]do not have a large piece of land,
[01:18.76]but if they have a small area,
[01:21.20]"they can keep a miniature cow
[01:23.16]or a few miniature goats."
[01:26.16]Martin Fysh works for Tractor Supply Company.
[01:29.52]He said social media has brought attention
[01:33.20]to mini farm animals.
[01:35.84]But Fysh thinks their popularity
[01:38.20]also shows a natural path among customers
[01:41.96]who started out by raising a few chickens.
[01:45.68]"They're seen as part of the extended family," Fysh said.
[01:50.96]Some owners of mini farm animals
[01:53.40]turn their hobbies into money-making activities.
[01:57.56]They show the animals to visitors, breed animals,
[02:01.40]and write about their farming experiences.
[02:05.48]But newcomers to these activities
[02:08.04]need to weigh the pros and cons,
[02:10.40]or the good and bad effects, of hobby farming,
[02:13.52]Gazda and other hobby farmers said.
[02:17.00]Among the problems is the rising cost
[02:19.48]of miniature farm animals.
[02:21.40]While they are cute, they can also be aggressive.
[02:26.12]Brittany Snow is a high school English teacher in Florida
[02:29.88]who owns several small-sized Nigerian dwarf goats.
[02:34.36]She dreamed of living on a farm.
[02:37.36]Her family recently moved to a rural area.
[02:41.80]Thirty-two-year-old Snow
[02:43.76]started with four Nigerian Dwarf goats.
[02:47.80]Snow expected them to produce milk right away,
[02:51.36]but she learned that is not the case.
[02:54.80]Angelia Alden is a business operations manager
[02:58.68]for the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
[03:02.36]She said many people who buy mini goats
[03:05.32]sell them after a few years
[03:07.40]because their care presents problems
[03:09.76]and costs they did not expect.
[03:13.00]Rising animal feed costs can be one problem,
[03:16.28]as is finding farm animal medical care.
[03:20.52]The mini farm animals can also be heavy.
[03:23.44]Some of the popular miniature animals
[03:26.56]on social media are cows
[03:28.72]that can weigh between 220 and 270 kilograms.
[03:34.52]Twenty-eight-year-old Allie Sine
[03:36.60]started her own business
[03:38.16]breeding and selling mini cows in 2020.
[03:42.04]Social media videos showing some of her mini cows
[03:45.52]have gotten millions of views.
[03:47.68]Last year, she sold about 190 young cows.
[03:52.32]Each animal sold for
[03:54.04]between $2,000 and $30,000.
[03:58.28]"Everything just skyrocketed," Sine said.
[04:02.00]Kim Furches owns a farm with her husband, Ken,
[04:05.80]in West Jefferson, North Carolina.
[04:09.08]She has found similar success.
[04:11.36]Furches said they bred mini donkeys for about 20 years.
[04:16.04]Before the pandemic, they would usually
[04:18.56]sell about eight donkeys per year
[04:20.72]for less than a thousand dollars each.
[04:24.24]They now sell about 20 per year.
[04:26.64]The last mini donkey sold for $7,500, Furches said.
[04:33.36]Earlier this year, Jamie Campion,
[04:35.56]who is 41, and her husband, Jeff,
[04:38.40]bought two Southdown Babydoll sheep
[04:40.96]from a local breeder near their home
[04:43.20]in Thompson's Station, Tennessee.
[04:45.44]The animals cost $800 each.
[04:49.80]Jamie Campion said
[04:51.32]the sheep have become good at
[04:52.80]keeping their grass short.
[04:55.48]But more often,
[04:56.92]the sheep give her joy as would other pets.
[04:59.96]Once she took them for a walk in the snow.
[05:03.96]"They just followed right behind," she said.
[05:07.04]"There's a whole sheep and shepherd relationship."
[05:11.48]I'm Jill Robbins. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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