Invite Farm Animals to Liven Up Your Boring Zoom Meetings

Move over green-screen backgrounds and interrupting cats; there's a new trend in Zoom calls: livestock.

Farms across America are charging folks to surprise colleagues, friends, and family with animal appearances.

North Carolina-based Peace N Peas Farm and California nonprofit Sweet Farm are offering a variety of furry and feathered friends to join your next video conference.

Want to hang with mini-donkey Mambo or Eddie the horse? Maybe meet goat herd boss Juno? Sign up online to reserve a slot.

Peace N Peas, which suggests up to a 10-minute engagement for best results, offers half-hour windows between 9 a.m.

and 6:30 p.m.

ET Monday through Friday.

It's possible to book immediately via credit card or PayPal, or if you'd prefer to pay with Venmo or CashApp, send the farm a message to secure your time.

"Virtual happy hour with family and friends? Mambo will BYOB!" the ranch website said.

"[Eddie] may or may not wear a jacket, and definitely won't be wearing pants." Other guests include ducks, chickens, and a brown horse.

"So far everyone is enjoying the calls, because people are just surprised to see a funny horse or donkey when they expect to participate in yet another boring meeting," Mambo's owner Francie Dunlap told CNET.

As of Tuesday, April 21, the farm has set up about 50 calls, and is busy processing more.

"The donkey and the horse that makes faces are the most popular," Dunlap told Daxdi in an email.

"People are really enjoying the levity this little joke brings to their virtual gatherings!"

Sweet Farm, meanwhile, has curated the Goat 2 Meeting program—currently "overloaded" with requests.

Choose from a stablefull of animals (goats, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, a llama, a stallion) and four different call options: a 20-minute virtual private tour ($65 for up to six people), 10-minute corporate meeting cameo ($100 for unlimited guests), 25-minute corporate meeting virtual tour ($250 for unlimited guests), or a 25-minute VIP meeting tour ($750 for unlimited guests).

"People love it and it's putting smiles on everyone's faces, especially when it's a surprise to them to have a rescued animal just pop into the call.

Kids are asking amazing questions," Sweet Farm Executive Director Nate Salpeter said in an email.

"It's really a win win for everyone, especially the animals who are able to share their stories and educate people around the world, inspiring them to rethink what goes on their plates."

Move over green-screen backgrounds and interrupting cats; there's a new trend in Zoom calls: livestock.

Farms across America are charging folks to surprise colleagues, friends, and family with animal appearances.

North Carolina-based Peace N Peas Farm and California nonprofit Sweet Farm are offering a variety of furry and feathered friends to join your next video conference.

Want to hang with mini-donkey Mambo or Eddie the horse? Maybe meet goat herd boss Juno? Sign up online to reserve a slot.

Peace N Peas, which suggests up to a 10-minute engagement for best results, offers half-hour windows between 9 a.m.

and 6:30 p.m.

ET Monday through Friday.

It's possible to book immediately via credit card or PayPal, or if you'd prefer to pay with Venmo or CashApp, send the farm a message to secure your time.

"Virtual happy hour with family and friends? Mambo will BYOB!" the ranch website said.

"[Eddie] may or may not wear a jacket, and definitely won't be wearing pants." Other guests include ducks, chickens, and a brown horse.

"So far everyone is enjoying the calls, because people are just surprised to see a funny horse or donkey when they expect to participate in yet another boring meeting," Mambo's owner Francie Dunlap told CNET.

As of Tuesday, April 21, the farm has set up about 50 calls, and is busy processing more.

"The donkey and the horse that makes faces are the most popular," Dunlap told Daxdi in an email.

"People are really enjoying the levity this little joke brings to their virtual gatherings!"

Sweet Farm, meanwhile, has curated the Goat 2 Meeting program—currently "overloaded" with requests.

Choose from a stablefull of animals (goats, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, a llama, a stallion) and four different call options: a 20-minute virtual private tour ($65 for up to six people), 10-minute corporate meeting cameo ($100 for unlimited guests), 25-minute corporate meeting virtual tour ($250 for unlimited guests), or a 25-minute VIP meeting tour ($750 for unlimited guests).

"People love it and it's putting smiles on everyone's faces, especially when it's a surprise to them to have a rescued animal just pop into the call.

Kids are asking amazing questions," Sweet Farm Executive Director Nate Salpeter said in an email.

"It's really a win win for everyone, especially the animals who are able to share their stories and educate people around the world, inspiring them to rethink what goes on their plates."