Post by Herb on Feb 1, 2009 13:06:16 GMT -5
Questions about livestock have come up in other topics, most recently about watering, in the Exodus from the Alamo thread. Rather than, taking that topic or any other further off track, I thought to continue the discussion, here.
During the past few weeks, I've tracked a bit more specifically, the amounts of hay and water consumed by my cattle.
There are a couple of points that need to be raised first. My cattle are English cattle, Angus, Herefords, and Angus Crosses, the Alamo cattle were Spanish Cattle ie Longhorns. Longhorns' are famous for being more hearty and requiring less in the way of feed and water than today's modern English breeds. On the other hand (and why they are not prevalent, today) is they provide much less meat. Range Longhorns, did not resemble the modern Longhorn herds such as are trailed daily, today, at the Fort Worth Stockyards. They neither stood as tall and definitely did not carry the beef their modern descendent's do.
The point here is that the Alamo Livestock would not have required the minimums I am providing, today.
The second point, is to do with hay and is rather obvious. Hay is dry matter, animals consuming hay instead of grass drink a lot more water. One of the reasons Travis, and the rest of Texas, thought Santa Anna wouldn't invade until at the earliest mid March, was waiting for the Spring grass to begin growing. However, dried grasses from 1835, mesquite beans, etc. would have provided life sustaining forage for the animals prior to the growth of the more nutritious Spring grasses. However, by not supplementing with grain and hay - horses especially would soon break down into an unservicible condition. This is probably why Santa Anna had to seize the private horses belonging to his officers to remount his cavalry before the attempted surprise seizure of Bexar by Sesma.
Anyway, here's the data, for modern cattle in a typical East Texas winter month. One last point, I have both natural springs and metered water for my cattle in the winter. They mainly use the metered water as it is the closest to where I feed hay, but they are still consuming slightly more water than I recorded per day.
Hay: Optimal, 50 lbs a day, maintain spring/summer conditioning. Economical, 33 pounds a day, maintain a healthy animal through the winter. Minimal, 20 lbs a day (guesstimate) barely keep an animal alive.
Water: 11 gallons a day, could be cut in half (guesstimate) if not feeding hay.
For the Alamo Garrison's herd, of 30 beeves you're therefore looking at a rough requirement for 300 gallons of water per day and 600 lbs of hay (minus the animals slaughtered). Add in the probable handful of horses - and it's not an insignificant effort to provide the bare necessities for the garrison's livestock.
During the past few weeks, I've tracked a bit more specifically, the amounts of hay and water consumed by my cattle.
There are a couple of points that need to be raised first. My cattle are English cattle, Angus, Herefords, and Angus Crosses, the Alamo cattle were Spanish Cattle ie Longhorns. Longhorns' are famous for being more hearty and requiring less in the way of feed and water than today's modern English breeds. On the other hand (and why they are not prevalent, today) is they provide much less meat. Range Longhorns, did not resemble the modern Longhorn herds such as are trailed daily, today, at the Fort Worth Stockyards. They neither stood as tall and definitely did not carry the beef their modern descendent's do.
The point here is that the Alamo Livestock would not have required the minimums I am providing, today.
The second point, is to do with hay and is rather obvious. Hay is dry matter, animals consuming hay instead of grass drink a lot more water. One of the reasons Travis, and the rest of Texas, thought Santa Anna wouldn't invade until at the earliest mid March, was waiting for the Spring grass to begin growing. However, dried grasses from 1835, mesquite beans, etc. would have provided life sustaining forage for the animals prior to the growth of the more nutritious Spring grasses. However, by not supplementing with grain and hay - horses especially would soon break down into an unservicible condition. This is probably why Santa Anna had to seize the private horses belonging to his officers to remount his cavalry before the attempted surprise seizure of Bexar by Sesma.
Anyway, here's the data, for modern cattle in a typical East Texas winter month. One last point, I have both natural springs and metered water for my cattle in the winter. They mainly use the metered water as it is the closest to where I feed hay, but they are still consuming slightly more water than I recorded per day.
Hay: Optimal, 50 lbs a day, maintain spring/summer conditioning. Economical, 33 pounds a day, maintain a healthy animal through the winter. Minimal, 20 lbs a day (guesstimate) barely keep an animal alive.
Water: 11 gallons a day, could be cut in half (guesstimate) if not feeding hay.
For the Alamo Garrison's herd, of 30 beeves you're therefore looking at a rough requirement for 300 gallons of water per day and 600 lbs of hay (minus the animals slaughtered). Add in the probable handful of horses - and it's not an insignificant effort to provide the bare necessities for the garrison's livestock.
