begin on start side of the river with wolf, goat , and cabbage - go across the river with the goat , leaving the cabbage and wolf behind (wolf won't eat the cabbage) , leave the goat on the target side , go back to the beginning side of the river (leaving the goat on the target side) , bring the wolf back with you and leave it on the target side , bring the goat back with you to the beginning side (leaving the wolf on the target side) , then , leave the goat behind on the beginning side of the river and bring the cabbage with you to the target side of the river , come back with empty boat , leaving cabbage and wolf on the target side of the river , return to the beginning side of the river to retrieve the goat , and then return to the target side of the river with goat, cabbage , and wolf , all intact ... easy 
Correct, but there's a shorter solution. Click here: http://brainden.com/crossing-river.htm there is a lot more where the riddle came from. Beautiful puzzles and - BTW: you're hired!
Why do we bitcoiners over complicate everything?
First step is to slaughter both the wolf and the goat on the shore. Now, the order of carriage is of no relevence. Where in the original requirements did it state that the wolf and the goat had to be alive on the other side? Was he starting a japanese petting zoo?
... (the heavy side of 6 could reveal that those 3 vs 3 of them are equal on the 2nd weighing , and leave you with an inability to determine who's the odd duck out of the 6 who weren't on the heavy side of the 1st weighing) ... it's a tricky one ... 6v6 was my first inclination as well , but the key is 1 of 12 is lighter OR heavier ...
