DanceswithCows
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Sorry, that was me I read the date wrong!!
Experiments in Medieval Livestock Management:
- Thread starter CAD
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ohiogoatgirl
True BYH Addict
i read a book on a situation similar to this original post. it was about a handful of people who studied the agriculture of the early iron age. they all got together on a certian amount of land with certian animals of certian breeds, etc. they had the whole thing down to a T of how life of the time would have been. they built the house by hand with the tools and techniques of the time.
it was great!
though i can't remember the title or author...
it was great!
though i can't remember the title or author... Interesting to see this pop up. Reading the original post and seeing all kinds of things put forward that just are not Medieval thinking! Land belonged to the Lords, who kept it for the King. The local Lord would ALLOW the settlement of peasants or serfs to keep his castle, fort, manor house supplied with food. However, the animals belonged FIRST to the Lord, with peasants usually getting the short end of the deal food wise. The Lord's horses got any hay put up, so they could ride to protect the lands, fight off invaders or bandits, other Lords in times of strife.
Most of the herds were slaughtered in fall to provide food over winter. Along with no barn space, there was no storage for large hay stacks. Grain was pretty much for the PEOPLE, not animals so much. Peasants and animals shared the housing. Predators were big and didn't hesitate to kill unguarded livestock in those cold winters.
Wild animals in the forests WERE NOT available to the common folk. They were for the nobility to hunt, often sacred to the King. Robin Hood was an outlaw because they killed the King's deer in the forest, along with being a supporter of King Richard the Lionhart who was on Crusade for MANY years! Basicly, he was politically incorrect in not supporting Prince John. If the common folk got caught poaching there were many horrible punishments, from cutting off limbs to death. And this was in both the UK and European countries. Even poaching rabbits and pheasants was forbidden. Peasants didn't get much meat in their diet, one reason they tended to be smaller people than the nobles. Permission to run animals in the forest to graze was not commonly given.
Villages had Commons, an open grazing area near the center for all to use. The children usually had to keep track of the animals grazing, no fences! And while the people worked comunally for the nobility in the fields, they did have their own birds, maybe goats, raised on the small area around their homes. That work at home was done on THEIR time, AFTER the Lord's field work, craft work, was all done. A good manager kept his peasants in good shape, well fed, because he got better results out of them. But many people were kept poorly, with the Lord taking most of the results (taxes) from their production. Ill-fed people died easily from the many diseases that abounded in poor conditions. An old person was 40 years!!
Communal SOUNDS good, but has never been a huge success in group living thru history. The strong get more, while the weak get shoved aside and starve when doling out those portions. This is where your nobiiity puts management into play, controling who gets what from the animal slaughter and harvests.
And the nobility had to pay the King his tax portion as well. Some rulers like Prince John, later King John twisted everyone for the last cent available. So did MANY other of the nobility in ALL the places back then.
As written, the OP needs to toss his numbers of head, species to use, available land cleared, out the window and start over. Just too much wrong starting out, to continue. Peasants and village people by forts or castle towns didn't often OWN horses of ANY kind, totally for rich folks, merchants who needed them to transport things. Expensive to feed with no return. No one wasted horses on PLOWING! Oxen or people did that, cheaper and better returns for food invested. Oxen could also pull a cart, be eaten at any time. Horses were only for transportation, which peasants didn't need because they never went anyplace! The roads were only trails, except for the old Roman roads. No carriages, few carts, to move things, so pack animals were commoner for transport.
Wow, this could go on forever, and OP is not even here!
Most of the herds were slaughtered in fall to provide food over winter. Along with no barn space, there was no storage for large hay stacks. Grain was pretty much for the PEOPLE, not animals so much. Peasants and animals shared the housing. Predators were big and didn't hesitate to kill unguarded livestock in those cold winters.
Wild animals in the forests WERE NOT available to the common folk. They were for the nobility to hunt, often sacred to the King. Robin Hood was an outlaw because they killed the King's deer in the forest, along with being a supporter of King Richard the Lionhart who was on Crusade for MANY years! Basicly, he was politically incorrect in not supporting Prince John. If the common folk got caught poaching there were many horrible punishments, from cutting off limbs to death. And this was in both the UK and European countries. Even poaching rabbits and pheasants was forbidden. Peasants didn't get much meat in their diet, one reason they tended to be smaller people than the nobles. Permission to run animals in the forest to graze was not commonly given.
Villages had Commons, an open grazing area near the center for all to use. The children usually had to keep track of the animals grazing, no fences! And while the people worked comunally for the nobility in the fields, they did have their own birds, maybe goats, raised on the small area around their homes. That work at home was done on THEIR time, AFTER the Lord's field work, craft work, was all done. A good manager kept his peasants in good shape, well fed, because he got better results out of them. But many people were kept poorly, with the Lord taking most of the results (taxes) from their production. Ill-fed people died easily from the many diseases that abounded in poor conditions. An old person was 40 years!!
Communal SOUNDS good, but has never been a huge success in group living thru history. The strong get more, while the weak get shoved aside and starve when doling out those portions. This is where your nobiiity puts management into play, controling who gets what from the animal slaughter and harvests.
And the nobility had to pay the King his tax portion as well. Some rulers like Prince John, later King John twisted everyone for the last cent available. So did MANY other of the nobility in ALL the places back then.
As written, the OP needs to toss his numbers of head, species to use, available land cleared, out the window and start over. Just too much wrong starting out, to continue. Peasants and village people by forts or castle towns didn't often OWN horses of ANY kind, totally for rich folks, merchants who needed them to transport things. Expensive to feed with no return. No one wasted horses on PLOWING! Oxen or people did that, cheaper and better returns for food invested. Oxen could also pull a cart, be eaten at any time. Horses were only for transportation, which peasants didn't need because they never went anyplace! The roads were only trails, except for the old Roman roads. No carriages, few carts, to move things, so pack animals were commoner for transport.
Wow, this could go on forever, and OP is not even here!
