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See photographs of Dexter cows from today's Forcegarth, the closest are the closest example to the cattle reared then.
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Forcegarth: Animals
Although there is no evidence for cattle rearing at Forcegarth because of the acidic soil conditions,
which have disintegrated the bone, archaeologists would expect that it was going on. The shorthorn cattle,
which were raised in the Romano-British period are now extinct. They were much smaller than the cattle of today.
Dexter cows are the nearest modern equivalent to the Romano-British cattle. They would have been used for pulling
ards (ploughs) to cultivate the fields and would have been normally yoked around the horns.
Although they are quite small they would have been able to plough over half and acre a day easily.
Cattle would have also been used for meat and milk.
The type of sheep kept in northern England during the Roman period would have been similar to the Manx Loughtan.
The term Loughtan describes the bracken brown colour of the wool. The sheep were plucked in April for their wool,
before the weather got too hot. Sheep were also kept for meat and milk.
There is no evidence for fowl at Forcegarth but if there had been they probably would have been the silver dorking
breed.
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