The ubiquitous ass

Horses work optimally with a load not exceeding about twenty percent of their bodyweight. Overload a horse and you’d have some severe expenses at the vets, if not at the old backyard pet cemetary. Donkeys however seem to be able to survive loading abuse and still live to work another day – go figure.

The lowly donkey is almost gone from Tobago now, there cannot be more than four animals here – the one in the picture is the only working beast though. I hear Montserrat has some spare asses walking around, maybe I should get some for the cocoa farmers here.

Donkeys are about the only load carrying mechanism that can function with damaging the steep slopes of the north country, the area where the cocoa plots exist. If donkeys were to be allowed to come in, the breeding could be controlled, but in my opinion goats and sheep do more harm to the slopes than the ‘noble creature’.