The Roman authors on agriculture provide quite detailed informations on ploughing with oxen or cows in Roman antiquity:
Suitable animals for training on all kinds of draught work should not
be younger than 3 and not older than 4 years (Varro lib.1, XX,1) or
not start before their third or after their fifth year (Columella lib.6, 2,1)
A pair of well trained oxen was able to plough one iugum or iugerum, which meant appr. 2500 sqm, per day (Varro lib.1, X, 1-2; Plinius nat. 18, 9).
A bull at the age of 12 and a cow at 10 was no longer suitable for breeding, as they are "debilitated by their age" (Columella lib.6, 21,1 and 24,1) and I suppose that these specifications delimit also the working life of draught cattle.
best,
Gerhard
Prof. Gerhard Forstenpointner
Unit on Comparative Morphology and Archaeozoology
Department of Pathobiology / Anatomy
University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
Veterinaerplatz 1
1210 Vienna, AUSTRIA
ph. +43 1 25077 2503
fax +43 1 25077 2590
-----Original Message-----
From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marta Moreno García
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 9:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] cattle and ploughing
Dear all,
A friend of mine wrote to me yesterday to query about cattle used in
ploughing. Since I did not have a straight answer I am asking for your
help. Here are the three questions:
1) Are there any estimations on the working life of cattle used in such
activity?
2) Which is the age they usually start working?
3) How many hectares can a couple of animals plough on a single day?
I would appreciate very much if you could send me any references dealing
with this topic.
Best,
Marta
-- the three questions
Dra. Marta Moreno-García
G.I. Arqueobiología.
Instituto de Historia
Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS). CSIC
Albasanz 26-28. 28037 Madrid. Spain
Tel: +34 91 6022384
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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