Talk:Easy keeper

A fact from Easy keeper appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 3 October 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that an easy keeper (pictured) is a term used to decribe a horse, pony, or other equine that can live on relatively little food?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2007/October.

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http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=17234

Other livestock?

Why is this only about equids? How about cattle, goats, camels...? Interlaker (talk) 15:37, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Good point. Would you like to amend the article? Richard New Forest (talk) 19:23, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I've not heard the term used for any other kind of livestock(?) Montanabw^(talk) 21:00, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It is sometimes used in conjunction with cattle. -Cgoodwin (talk) 21:13, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think it (or rather, in BrEn, "good doer") could be used with any animal – for example I'd describe Labradors as good doers. When I first got a working sheepdog, he lost weight rapidly at first – I was starving the poor chap because my recent experience had been with a Lab and I was only giving him half the food he needed! Even my current two sheepdogs need significantly different amounts of food, despite being virtually identical in shape, size and activity. I think we talk about it more with horses, because it's a feature which varies more in them than in most food animals. Richard New Forest (talk) 23:30, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And we don't see massive weight gain as a good thing the way we do for meat animals! I did some google searching on "easy keeper" and found the term is used over here to describe cattle, sheep and goats, though I personally don't hear it a lot out here. But then, this is beef country and everything is intended to be an "easy keeper!" I think the term is used more in dairy and wool animals, where the animals are kept for many years. The overwhelming number of links were related to horses (probably due to the problems associated with obesity in horses) But I'v certainly never heard "easy keeper" used for dogs. Montanabw^(talk) 18:12, 10 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A "good doer" (as we call them) cow may be one that is doing so at the expense of a good milk supply to her calf. Sheep bred to produce wool Merinos are very likely to blow their microns (and reduce fleece value) it they are overfed or have rapid feed changes etc. - Cgoodwin (talk) 04:43, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like the suggestion to add other critters may be in order. However, I'm afraid I haven't the time to do much with this, but if someone else does, I'm OK with it. I do think that due to the greater relevance to horses, probably other animals should get their own sections. Montanabw^(talk) 04:28, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

For example, Corriente cattle and Finnsheep link here, and most less-derived cattle breeds and other livestock landraces (generally known for their frugality and hardiness) are easy keepers. --Roberta jr. (talk) 11:12, 12 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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