Why beat a dead donkey? I mean aside from the fact it is boring, it is really really pointless.
Why beat a dead donkey ?
Because it is part and parcel of a tried and true way of skinning it.
What ya do is, after carefully slaughtering the beast ButOfCourse, is make small slits near the hoofs, insert some sort of tubing just under the skin, then tie-off/secure.
Then you start beating the dead beasty while somebody (or yourself) blows into the tubing.
What this does is allow the skin to be separated from the meat.
As the process continues, the whole beast on the outside is kinda blown up like a balloon. In a hot climate without refrigeration it is wise to have others assist in the beating as well as the blowing as well as rolling the dead creature around on its back, etc, so that the skin can be evenly loosened near all over and removed and the animal butchers and distributed as fast as possible.
After the skin is well and truly loose, the clubs can be put down and the blowers get their breath back.
Tis then a simple matter of slicing the skin up the legs, across the belly, and around the neck, and it all basically falls off in one useful piece revealing the meat that can now be butchered and distributed, leaving next to nothing behind to show it happened other than a hole in the air and spare spot on the hitching ring/wall insert where a donkey used to be.
I've seen the age old process from start to finish and the most memorable aspect of it all (aside from seeing the dead creature being rolled around on its back with its legs up in the air as folk beat upon it from all sides) was seeing an urchin happily struggling off (presumably back to her family) with the donkey's severed head in her arms.
It was far from boring or pointless; I found it all to be quite fascinating, and I'm happy with the way my 8cents a day was spent to bring such knowledge / know-how to me.
In the words of SBS, "the world really is an amazing place", yes ?
Oh, and the same process apparently works well for goats too.

regarDS