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Primum in bubulo genere aetatis gradus dicuntur quattuor,
prima vitulorum, secunda iuvencorum, tertia bovum novellorum,
quarta vetulorum. Discernuntur in prima vitulus et vitula, in
secunda iuvencus et iuvenca, in tertia et quarta taurus et vacca.
Quae sterilis est vacca, taura appellata; quae praegnas, horda.
Ab eo in fastis dies hordicidia nominatur, quod tum hordae boves
immolantur. Qui gregem armentorum emere vult, observare debet
primum, ut sint eae pecudes aetate potius ad fructus ferendos
integrae quam iam expartae; ut sint bene compositae, ut integris
membris, oblongae, amplae, nigrantibus cornibus, latis frontibus,
oculis magnis et nigris, pilosis auribus, compressis malis subsimae,
ne gibberae, spina leviter remissa, apertis naribus, labris subnigris,
cervicibus crassis ac longis, a collo palea demissa, corpore
bene costato, latis umeris, bonis clunibus, codam profusam usque
ad calces ut habeant, inferiorem partem frequentibus pilis subcrispam,
cruribus potius minoribus rectis, genibus eminulis distantibus
inter se, pedibus non latis, neque ingredientibus qui displudantur,
nec cuius ungulae divaricent, et cuius ungues sint leves et pares,
corium tactu non asperum ac durum, colore potissimum nigro, deinde
robeo, tertio helvo, quarto albo; mollissimus enim hic, ut durissimus
primus. De mediis duobus prior quam posterior in eo prior, utrique
plures quam nigri et albi. Neque non praeterea ut mares seminis
boni sint, quorum et forma est spectanda, et qui ex his orti
sunt respondent ad parentum speciem. Et praeterea quibus regionibus
nati sint refert; boni enim generis in Italia plerique Gallici
ad opus, contra nugatorii Ligusci. Transmarini Epirotici non
solum meliores totius Graeciae, de etiam quam Italiae. Tametsi
quidam de Italicis, quos propter amplitudinem praestare dicunt,
victimas faciunt atque ad deorum servant supplicia, qui sine
dubio ad res divinas propter dignitatem amplitudinis et coloris
praeponendi. Quod eo magis fit, quod albi in Italia non tam frequentes
quam in Thracia ad melana kolpon, ubi alio colore pauci. Eos
cum emimus domitos, stipulamur sic: "illosce boves sanos
esse noxisque praestari"; cum emimus indomitos, sic: "illosce
iuvencos sanos recte deque pecore sano esse noxisque praestari
spondesne?" Paulo verbosius haec, qui Manili actiones secuntur
lanii, qui ad cultrum bovem emunt; qui ad altaria, hostiae sanitatem
non solent stipulari. |
First of all I remind you that in cattle species four classes
of age are recognized, the first includes
calves, the second heifers, the third young cattle, the
fourth adults. They class in the first bull calves and cow calves,
in the second steers and heifers, in the third and fourth bulls
and cows. A sterile cow is named taura;
the pregnant one horda. Hence we call hordicidia the
sacrifices in which in holy days pregnant cows are sacrificed. Who wants to purchase
a herd of cattle, must first observe if dams are healthy
and in the right age to calve rather than
old enough to be culled; they must have a good conformation,
with healthy limbs, a long body, wide, with black horns, a broad
forehead, wide black eyes, hairy ears, tight jaws,
with nose slightly arched rather than humpbacked, with a slightly
hollow back, open nostrils, blackish lips,
a thick and long neck, from which the dewlap hangs, a good chest,
broad shoulders, fine buttocks, a
feet-reaching tail, with its end covered with thick curly hair,
legs rather short and straight, with knees slightly
arched outwards and spaced out,
feet should be not broad and not directing outwards when stepping,
with not open hooves, fine and levelled, the skin must not be
rough nor tough, rather black, or reddish as a second choice,
or even brown and after all white; actually light skin is as
mild as the black one is tough. Between the two other colours, reddish is better
than brown, and both are more spread than black and white. And
since it's not negligible that bulls be good sires, it must check
both their conformation and that of their progeny, to verify
if they meet their parents' traits. It's moreover important the
region they come from; in Italy those of better breed for working
are generally Gaulish, while those from Liguria are poor, compared
to them. Cattle from oversea Epirus
are not only better than all from
Greece, but also of the Italian ones, although some sacrifice
the latter, that they judge of greater dimensions, and they keep
them in store to offer them to the gods; and there's no doubt
they must be preferred for the religious rituals by the sumptuousness
brightness of their dimensions and their color. And this happens
all the more reason, since in Italy white cattle is not as frequent
as in Thrace is, near the black gulf, where there are few cattle
with a different colour. If we buy them tamed, we stipulate the
contract this way: "it is guaranteed that those oxen are
healthy and without damages"; if we instead buy them not
tamed it is this way: "you guarantee that those steers are
healthy and come really from a healthy herd and are without damages?".
The butchers, who follow the formulas of Manilius, and who buy
cattle for the slaughter, are a little more verbose; those who buy
cattle for the altars do not use formulas on the health of the
victims. |
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Pascuntur armenta commodissime in nemoribus, ubi virgulta et
frons multa; hieme cum hibernant secundum mare, aestu abiguntur
in montes frondosos. Propter feturam haec servare soleo. Ante
admissuram mensem unum ne cibo et potione se impleant, quod existimantur
facilius macrae concipere. Contra tauros duobus mensibus ante
admissuram herba et palea ac faeno facio pleniores et a feminis
secerno. Habeo tauros totidem, quot Atticus, ad matrices LXX
duo, unum anniculum, alterum bimum. Haec secundum astri exortum
facio, quod Graeci vocant lyran, fidem nostri. Tum denique tauros
in gregem redigo. Mas an femina sit concepta, significat descensu
taurus, cum init, quod, si mas est, in dexteriorem partem abit;
si femina, in sinisteriorem. Cur hoc fiat, vos videritis, inquit
mihi, qui Aristotelem legitis. Non minores oportet inire bimas,
ut trimae pariant, eo melius, si quadrimae. Pleraeque pariunt
in decem annos, quaedam etiam plures. Maxime idoneum tempus ad
concipiendum a delphini exortu usque ad dies quadraginta aut
paulo plus. Quae enim ita conceperunt, temperatissimo anni tempore
pariunt; vaccae enim mensibus decem sunt praegnates. De quibus
admirandum scriptum inveni, exemptis testiculis si statim admiseris
taurum, concipere. Eas pasci oportet locis viridibus et aquosis.
Cavere oportet ne aut angustius stent aut feriantur aut concurrant.
Itaque quod eas aestate tabani concitare solent et bestiolae
quaedam minutae sub cauda ali, ne concitentur, aliqui solent
includere saeptis. Iis substerni oportet frondem aliudve quid
in cubilia, quo mollius conquiescant. Aestate ad aquam appellendum
bis, hieme semel. Cum parere coeperunt, secundum stabula pabulum
servari oportet integrum, quod egredientes degustare possint;
fastidiosae enim fiunt. Et providendum, quo recipiunt se, ne
frigidus locus sit; algor enim eas et famis macescere cogit.
In alimoniis armenticium pecus sic contuendum. Lactantes cum
matribus ne cubent; obteruntur enim. Ad eas mane adigi oportet,
et cum redierunt e pastu. Cum creverunt vituli, levandae matres
pabulo viridi obiciendo in praesepiis. Item his, ut fere in omnibus
stabulis, lapides substernendi aut quid item, ne ungulae putrescant.
Ab aequinoctio autumnali una pascuntur cum matribus. Castrare
non oportet ante bimatum, quod difficulter, si aliter feceris,
se recipiunt; qui autem postea castrantur, duri et inutiles fiunt.
Item ut in reliquis gregibus pecuariis dilectus quotannis habendus
et reiculae reiciundae, quod locum occupant earum quae ferre
possunt fructus. Siquae amisit vitulum, ei supponere oportet
eos, quibus non satis praebent matres. Semestribus vitulis obiciunt
furfures triticios et farinam hordeaceam et teneram herbam et
ut bibant mane et vesperi curant. De sanitate sunt complura,
quae exscripta de Magonis libris armentarium meum crebro ut aliquid
legat curo. Numerus de tauris et vaccis sic habendus, ut in sexaginta
unus sit anniculus, alter bimus. Quidam habent aut minorem aut
maiorem numerum; nam apud Atticum duo tauri in septuaginta matribus
sunt. Numerum gregum alius facit alium, quidam centenarium modicum
putant esse, ut ego. Atticus centum viginti habet, ut Lucienus. |
The herds graze very well in the forests,
where there are many leafy branches and leaves; they pass the
winter by the sea, in summer they are led on wooded mountains.
About the calving I usually behave this way. Before the mating
for one month the cows must be not satiated of food and drink,
since somebody thinks that a lean cow conceives more easily.
On the contrary to the bulls two months before the mounting I
give grass, straw and hay in abundance and I separate them from
the females. I have as many bulls as Atticus has, two for seventy
dams, one is one year old, the other two years old. I make this
according to the rising of the star, which the Greeks call Lira,
and we call Fides. Then I lead back the bulls in the herd. You
can understand if it has been conceived a male or a female by
how the bull comes down after mounting, since, if it's a male,
he comes down from right, if it is female from left. Why this
happens, he said, see about it yourselves
who read Aristotle. It must not
let the cows be mounted before the second year of age, so that
they calve at three years, or even better at four. The greater
part of the cows calve within the tenth year, someone also beyond.
The better season for the conception starts with the rising of
the constellation of the Dolphin to the fourtieth successive
day, or little later. Those who conceive in this period, in fact,
will calve in the mildest season, inasmuch as the cows calve
at the tenth month. With regard to this I have found an amazing
note, according to which the cows can conceive if mounted by
a bull which has just been castrated. The cows should graze in
green places and with water. It must take care they are not too
close or they hurt or fight one other. Then, since in summer
they are often disturbed by the gad-fly and by those small animals
growing under the tail, somebody use to enclose them in pens,
so that they are not annoyed. As a bedding in the couch it must
put leaves or something similar, so they could rest more softly.
In summer they should be led to watering twice a day, in winter
just once. When they start to calve it should store some fodder
close to the stable, so that when they go out they can taste
it, since they become particular. It must provide that the place
in which they are sheltered is not cold; in fact cold and hunger
make them lose weight. For the feeding of cattle it must take
care of these things. The suckings must not sleep with their
dam; in fact they could be crushes. It must take them to the
dams in the morning, and when they come back from the pasture.
When the calves have grown it must relieve the dams giving in
the manger some green forage to the calves. Also their stables,
like all the others, should be paved with stones or something
other, so that the hooves don't rot. Since the autumn equinox
they will graze with their dams. They don't have to be castrated
before the two years of age since, if you make in other way,
they hardly recover; those who instead are castrated late, become
hostile and useless. Like in the other herds and flocks, every
year it must estimate and choose the heads to cull, since they
hold the place of those who can give fruits. If a cow lost her
calf, it must put under her another one whose dam can't feed
enough. To the six months old calves wheat bran, barley meal
and tender grass are given, and it must also take care they drink
in the morning and in the evening. The sanitary rules are many
and I take care that my cowherd read some of those written by
Mago. About the number of bulls and cows it must try to have
a bull of one year for sixty cows, and the other bull should
be two years old. Someone has some more bulls, some other less;
in fact Atticus has two bulls for seventy cows. Each one chooses
the consistency of his herd his own way, someone, like me, think
that one hundreed be the right number. Atticus, as Lucianus,
rears one hundreed and twenty. |
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last updated:
March 25th 2006