SC - Pigs and agricultural practices
LrdRas at aol.com
LrdRas at aol.com
Mon Dec 11 20:48:07 PST 2000
In a message dated 12/10/00 6:13:05 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jenne at mail.browser.net writes:
<< Obviously, on the question of the free-range, unenclosed pigs in medieval
Europe, I can't ask anyone to take my word for it. When I stumble across
those pigs again in my research, I'll post the cite. >>
I agree with many of your points but I was mainly thinking of general care
aof animals. Hedges replace fences in many areas of England. Hedges, which,
BTW, are inpenetratible by any farm animals. These hedges are hundreds of
years old and enclose many acres of land containing both wooded and grassy
areas. It was those types of areas I was referring to. Where these fields
are crossed by roads in remote areas there are grates construsted across the
road which disallows the animals from wandering outside the farm area. While
technically they could be said to be 'free range' in reality the area
available to roam in is not by any stretch of the imagination infinite.
On another note, I would venture the opinion that technologically superior
plows, 3 field systems and moving planting seasons have little to do with the
manner in which pigs were raised. Similarly neither does the modern mass
commercial production of any type of animal. We are talking the average
holding here.
The records of the large number of animals sent to slaughter in Paris on a
daily basis, the high ratio of butchers to the general population, as well
as the recommended numbers of animals to be acquired for certain feasts lead
me to believe that agriculture simply was not the backwards inefficient
system some people seem to think it was. We are speaking of an agricultural
society here. That is a society whose existence and culture centered
entirely on agriculture in the SAME scope and ways that our current society
is centtered on technology.
Ras
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