SC - Ras? A Curmudgeon?

[Kappler, MMC Richard A.]

<"Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>>
>The difference as I see it is foraging as opposed to grain fed.  For most of
>"period", pigs were foragers, with possibly a little grain feeding before
>slaughter.  

I'm not sure I want to get too much into this, since my interest in
medieval piggery is fairly limited at this time (I'm still a bit more
focused on the cattle thing), but my understanding from things like Jay
Anderson's _"A solid sufficiency" : an ethnography of yeoman foodways in
Stuart England_ and such is that this more or less the case.  You bring in
your pigs for the winter starting in September and October, but for the
most part they feed on whatever "mast" they can root out for themselves.
The surplus animals that you are goin to sell (starting at Michaelmas) you
fatten up on "pease". (Thomas Tusser).

While I have not read these, I've had suggested to me

(forthcoming)  Malcolmson, Robert W.  The English pig : a history.  London
; Rio Grande, OH : Hambledon Press, 1998 

The Sheep and pigs of Great Britain : being a series of articles on the
various breeds of sheep and pigs of the United Kingdom, their history,
management, etc. 
London : "The Field" Office, 1877 

Stuart, Rob. Pigs, goats and poultry, 1580-1660  Bristol : Stuart Press, 1995 

Wiseman, J. (Julian) A history of the British pig London : Duckworth, 1986 

Diarmaid

I. Marc Carlson
McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa -or- Tulsa Community College West
Campus LRC
marc-carlson at utulsa.edu/lib_imc at centum.utulsa.edu/lib_imc at hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/athens/parthenon/5923
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