Would this be something you'd watch?

[Sarahlou63]

Pre CV my DP worked away as a freelance project manager, I ran equine assisted training communication, team-building leadership courses with our lovely herd of horses. Obviously this work has come to a grinding halt and is unlikely to restart before next spring.

As an alternative to people physically visiting our farm we're thinking about using CCTV/webcams to livestream our horses (and chickens, goats and dogs). We've got about 3 hectares of wooded, hilly land with a track system that encourages the horses to meander around as they would in the wild and the chickens and goats have a large garden during the day. In addition to the cameras we'd show occasional training videos, drone flights and a chat room so people could ask questions about the animals.

Would this be something you'd watch? If you're WFH and frazzled, would watching animals doing not a lot other than being animals help? It wouldn't be pay per view as we've got the cameras for security (never used!) so all we'd have to do is move them to focus on the horses. What do you think?

YABU - waste of time

YANBU - yes, I'd tune in

Not personally, no.

I’m sure there’s a market for it though. People seem to like those zoo cams.

I wouldn't actively tune in but would chose it over soaps, this morning, Big Brother contestants sleeping, late night poker which all have an audience.

Maybe give the animals names & back stories?

I don't know about Livestream, but the thought of watching horses mooch about a field to switch my brain off in bed really appeals.

Could you do both a live version and a "catch up" version? I imagine watching a dark field and guessing what the horses are doing won't be very appealing.

@YesItsMeIDontCare - the cameras have night vision for insomniacs and we can also wander round with a video camera when there's a full moon, it's magical being with the horses at night.

@doobiedop - yes, all the animals have names, including the chickens and Bob the rooster

Forgot to add, we're in very rural central Portugal so it's also beautiful countryside.

Are they stealable? If so, I’d be concerned if it was obvious when no one was around. Sorry.

It sounds like you need Twitch and a YouTube channel.

Have you already looked on Twitch to see if there are any similar successful streamers?

I wouldn’t watch livestream, but if you filmed and made a documentary I would watch that. I watched one recently about a couple starting a small holding farm in California.

@Hopeisnotastrategy - not worried about them being stolen. With 7 dogs no-one can come near the house without us knowing about it.

This is a short video from this morning, while the boys were waiting for breakfast -

It’s a lovely idea but unless you’re a horsey person then no.
Maybe set it up anyway and put links on horse fb pages ?

I’m not a horsey person at all but I think as something to try to ‘switch off’ to I think a lovely idea!

My kids would enjoy watching it too.

Yeah. I'd watch that. Specially if you gave their names, a little backstory and something about their personalities.

Oh the sound is lovely!

A couple of local farms/petting zoos are already doing this in my area.

It's quite popular and they have a Justgiving page if people wish to donate, as they're struggling right now.

DP is still wrestling with the cameras so until we've got live footage I'm making daily videos...here's today's -

If your kids (or you!) are interested these are the horses...

Murphy - (very) well built bay and the boss of the bunch
Troy - brown with a heart on his forehead and a bit of one ear missing
Speedy - white with a pink nose
Bertie - tall with 3 white socks
Harvey - brown with one white sock and Bertie's best friend
Billy (Sweet William) - white and the baby of the herd!

Cheers OP. I actually watched the little clip last night when I went to bed and it did the job! I'll be following your link later.

I love this thank you!

I really enjoyed it. I particularly liked the birds chirping in the background. Did you say you have goats? They're fun animals.

I am not a horse person I do love them but they always recognise that I don't know what I'm doing and treat me with disdain
However it is a lovely idea and now you have named them I am invested
They are beautiful horses and it is lovely watching them

Thank you @IloveJudgeJudy - yes, the goats will be on tomorrow's video.

No, I have them outside my door!

However, if I had to stay away in a city or a room with no open view, then I'd probably pay to watch horses, provided there was an option to just watch them being horses without any commentary or training. No offence intended but when I'm away from home I crave the calm of just watching them being themselves.

@TrainspottingWelsh - that's the idea, no artifice, just horses being horses - scruffy as they are meant to be. Not going to charge, we just want to share our life.

Sorry, I should have been clearer, I know you didn't propose that op, it was more following up suggestions from pp about names, backstories etc. And yy to being scruffy, much as I enjoy mine looking their smartest for brief periods it's not the same as watching them enjoying themselves and behaving naturally.

YANBU. I love horses but don't know a thing about them. I'd watch videos of them just being themselves. That'd be lovely to see, especially with your other animals.

Not the same as yours, but I'm a big fan of Chunk & Nibbles the groundhogs. Lots of us really enjoy watching animals being natural.