3 ms·
Mules are (generally) infertile. They're viewed as better beasts of burden than donkeys, but not if you need to keep creating them out of separate horse/donkey
by googlryas 4y ago
Mules are (generally) infertile. They're viewed as better beasts of burden than donkeys, but not if you need to keep creating them out of separate horse/donkey populations.
- madaxe_again 4y agoYeah, this. Mules, you’ve gotta buy with money from the rich dude with a horse. Donkeys, you just need two donkeys and a winter and you have three donkeys. You’d be amazed at what they’d stagger around under, particularly when people are getting firewood in. Not unusual to see little donkey-carts on the road, too - usually the man riding/driving and the wife walking alongside picking up whatever falls off, as that’s how they do things here - surprised they don’t feed their wives donkey bread too. I guess it ties to the same thing - poverty, and free labour and energy. Big families back in the day - the younger (60s/70s) generation all have seven siblings and a hundred cousins.
- gus_massa 4y agoBoth replies makes a lot of sense. Here in Argentina, many stories about the independence war have mules because "they are better in mountain terrain". Reading some material a few years later, IIRC there where big transport business from Argentina to Bolivia/Peru and Chile that have mule breading facilities. If you have a big transport business or military operation, it makes sense to separate your breeding animals and have specialize work animal. But if you are a farmer with only a few animals, you can't do that.