On May 11, 8:34 pm, jl wrote:
In article ,
Féachadóir Féach@d.óir wrote:

Scríobh jl :
In article , Féachadóir
Féach@d.óir wrote:

Irish agriculture was much more pastoral than arable, which may have
meant we held on to forest for longer.

Not sure about that. Goats and sheep can devastate a landscape because
no new shoots get the chance to grow and young trees are quickly
nibbled to death.
The Olde Irish favoured cattle.

I suspect they favoured cattle - but a lot of the mountains here will
support nothing but sheep or goats.

I suspect that only the rich and powerful - those that could afford bards,
for instance - could also afford cattle. Mind you, cattle in those days
were tough and small beasts. It's only since the mid 18th century that the
meat of cattle fetched more money than the skins.

Jochen

--

------------------------------------
Limavady and the Roe Valley
http://www.jochenlueg.freeuk.com

No fridges in those days. Anyway, I lived in such a culture and
cannot remember eating 'meat' - lots of milk and butter though - salt
port was the big treat. I cannot agree your presumption that only the
rich and powerful could afford cattle; perhaps a political pre-
conception on your part. Every family had a cow.

There was an old couple who lived in a remote spot and had no
children. The Man of the house died and the Woman of the house made a
decision. She abandoned the holding and wandered the road with the
cow. She would visit her extended family in turn where the cow grazed
and gave milk. I'd like to write a full account of it as Ban Aon Bho -
much as I dislike speaking Gaelic in Christian Irish. I heard the
story from people who knew her and were young kids at the time.

Donal