Farming and hobbits

[Gilthalion]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/onering.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: Little Cows? Naw

Lilliputians were quite small, but could handle Gulliver.

And, in the Scouring of the Shire, Hobbits demonstrated they could handle Big Folk, for that matter.

The secret is teamwork, good dogs, and smart husbandry.

Surely they would have prefered smaller cattle, etc. for many reasons. But as someone else figured, they weren't driving Longhorns to Wyoming. More likely, they kept a smallish herd size.

If keeping a big bull was a problem, he might be replaced with a smaller, or a more docile bull. (Or both.)

I imagine they would tend to breed for those characteristics.

Also, the bull would not be &quot;handled&quot; frequently at all. You should bring the cow to the bull for breeding, not the other way around.

Excess bulls are slaughtered as fattened calves or (ahem) &quot;de-bulled&quot; and make into oxen. The cows are allowed to reach maturity for breeding and milk. Only the occassional prize breeding bull need be a concern, and I'm sure the Hobbitry could cope.

As for the rest of the livestock, no problem at all! (Except large hogs, and they get the same treatment as the bulls...)

Pastures are the result of clearing land and planting grasses, which in turn are cropped by the livestock. A good self-replenishing pasture takes years to create, and careful rotation of herds both to prevent over-grazing and for fertilization.

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As for Bilbo, he was a wimp. I'm sure Farmer Maggot or Farmer Cotton could deal with butchering a rabbit. Sam Gamgee had no problem! (But I notice he did send Smeagol to catch the rabbitses. Maybe Sam, being on the cheap side, bought whole rabbits from the butcher, rather than having them delivered neatly packaged!)

Obviously, Hobbits were organic farmers/gardeners. Livestock would be a necessity if only for the manure!

Now, Bilbo had gardens, but obviously had no livestock. One of the jobs of the Gamgees (or old Holnam before them) would have been to go out and get manure for the flower beds and the kitchen garden. I'm sure if Bilbo was too delicate for rabbit butchery, then he wouldn't have been mucking around with manure, either!

In other Hobbit Agricultural pursuits, we might also guess that they had their own vineyards for wine as well as fields of barley for beer!

So we have a picture of a complete agrarian society, with grains, vines, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, and with herds of sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, dogs, and cats. The fields were necessary to feed the livestock (not to mention feeding the hobbits!) and the livestock was necessary to fertilize the fields (not to mention feeding the hobbits!).

Once fully developed, as in Bilbo's time, the Shire was self-sufficient, and did not NEED to have commerce with the outside world (except for luxuries which by definition are not necessities).

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