[Northkeep] OK, here is a Lenten question...maybe Talana?

peachycowqueen at gmail.com peachycowqueen at gmail.com
Fri Mar 11 14:20:45 PST 2011


This would also be true of dairy. A good cow or goat by standard today will go a year and can be stretched to two if properly handled. Historical breeds would have higher butter fat and less yield and procure over less time. Modern farming breeds that produce like today were not bred until the 1950's when manufactured farming practices started taking over. 

Having raised hens and dairy goats the Lenten practices described make sense. I had no lights on the hens and while my chicks were hatched and raised early under lights in February, this would be unheard of in medieval times. The hen would raise her chicks naturally in the early spring. 

Traditional farming practices slaughter the bulk of their calves/kids at the end of the year and chickens at 3 months. Modern frankenchickens ready to butcher in 3 weeks would not enter the picture until bred after the 1950's.

Nadine 


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We're not looking at beaucoups of battery hens in a modern hatching facility - we're talking about what a household/manor/poulterer supplier could afford to raise.  Also, hens lay fewer eggs in winter, and increase production as spring comes on and the days get longer.  In modern egg facilities, the lights are kept on twenty-four hours a day to fool the hens into producing more eggs.  So during the winter and early in Lent, the hens weren't going at it great guns.
 
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