The Rise of the European Emperor

There are also historical reasons why Europeans chose horse farming. In addition to the fact that they do not know how to use cow nose rings to make cows obedient, the efficiency of horse farming is also one of the important reasons why Europeans choose horse farming.

In fact, the most popular era of horse farming in Europe was the 18th century. In the 16th century, horse farming and cattle farming coexisted in Europe. Why? This has to say about the problem of agricultural production. In the early 16th century, agricultural yields were low and food was expensive. Keeping a horse is expensive to feed. Because the food consumed by a horse in a year is worth the cost of food for a family of five a year. Although cows have great appetites, they eat grass most of the time, and they only need to eat during work hours. The cost of feeding it is the same as the food consumption level of a strong man for a year. Therefore, in current Europe, horse farming is only used in noble estates. And some poor farmers and small landlords still use cattle to farm.

It's just that cattle farming is too difficult. Because there is no cow nose ring control technology, most cattle are not suitable for farming, and only a small number of good-tempered cattle are suitable for farming. Therefore, cattle farming is also difficult to popularize. Therefore, there is a situation where horse farming and cattle farming coexist.

In the 18th century, because the Dutch occupied Taiwan Island and Java Island in the 17th century and dealt with the Han people with the highest farming skills, they learned the technique of fertilization and triggered the so-called agricultural revolution. As a result, the food production of Europeans went up, and the cost of raising horses also came down. Then, horse farming was popularized.

Of course, horse farming also has limitations. That is, horse farming is mainly aimed at the cultivation of crops such as wheat. In the face of rice fields, it is not possible. Because, when cultivating paddy fields, hoofs must be soaked in water. Niu is okay to say that horses are very uncomfortable with ploughing paddy fields. Moreover, horseshoes are easily rusted and fall off when they are soaked in water, causing great problems.

In later generations, it was not that Marin had never seen a horse farm in the south. For example, in Jinyijiang, Hujian Province, there is a southern horse called Jinyijiang horse, which is adapted to the hot and humid climate and can be cultivated. However, ploughing horses generally do not have their shoes nailed. Otherwise, it will be easy to loosen and fall off as soon as it is soaked in the paddy field. Even if the horseshoe is nailed, it will be unloaded before ploughing the paddy fields. This is still a horse that is adapted to the southern climate, while European draught horses are generally not adapted to the subtropical humid and hot climate of paddy fields. Even if you adapt, it's useless. Because the paddy field is soft and silted up, it is difficult for horseshoes to focus. In paddy fields, a horse may not be much faster than an ox. Jinyijiang horses can only cultivate 4 mu of paddy fields every day, which is similar to that of cattle. However, the cultivation of dry land can reach 6 mu per day. Of course, Jinyijiang horses are smaller in size, and if they are replaced by European heavy-duty draught horses, they must cultivate more than 8 mu of dry land every day.

Therefore, relatively speaking, horse farming is suitable for dry land, while cattle farming is suitable for paddy fields.

But even if Marin knew that Ma Geng was suitable for Europe, there was nothing he could do. Like he told Mikel - he's out of horses...

He could buy the equivalent of cattle from the Crimeans for money, but he could not buy horses. The Mongolian horses of Eastern Europe in Crimea are small in size and may not be much stronger than cattle. The reason why ancient China did not develop horse farming was because of the lack of heavy horses in the eastern region. With the Mongolian man's height of 1.3 meters at the shoulder, the ability to cultivate land may not be as good as that of a mule. As for the Guanzhong horse in later generations,

It only appeared after the introduction of Western heavy horse hybrids. Among them, there is an important bloodline, that is, the French Berthuren horse, also called Perche horse. Bel Shuren has a large horse, strong limbs, fast speed and durability, and is resistant to severe cold and heat. In the 19th century, the world introduced Belshuram horses and local draught horses for crossbreeding, cultivating their own excellent draught horse breeds...

"That's right, Belshurama, how could I forget this!" Marin patted his head and said angrily.

Of course, the real Belshurama has yet to appear. Today, Marin can at most find the ancestral breed of the Bershuren horse in the Perche region.

However, even these ancestral breeds must have some of the advantages of the later Bershuren horses (Perche horses). As long as they are cultivated and oriented towards their merits (horses with less obvious merits are eliminated during breeding), breeds like the later Bershuren horses will naturally appear in the future.

"Hehe, why is it a French breed again?" Marin was directly amused. I feel that during this period of time, Marin was always digging corners with a hoe against France. Moreover, you can buy it with low-cost nickel-nickel-copper counterfeit silver coins, not too cost-effective.

It can only be said that the French animal husbandry technology in later generations is too powerful. Charolais, Limousin and Berthullen are excellent livestock breeds.

But now, the French obviously have not developed the awareness and action to cultivate excellent livestock breeds. So, let's nurture yourself...

Therefore, Marin asked Kohler and ordered him to send a spy from the North Sea Chamber of Commerce, carrying a large number of fake French silver coins made of nickel-nickel-white copper, to the Perche region of France to buy the original variety of Belshuren horses. Marin asked them to pay attention to the merits of "eat less, work more" when choosing a draw horse. This is very important for drawing horses. The horses eat food, and it would be better if they could eat less. And if you eat less and work less, it will not be worthwhile. Therefore, the Belshuram horse with these two characteristics will become a world famous horse in later generations.

Marin thought of the tall and strong Sharma, which is indeed tall and powerful. But it's special, and it follows that its food intake is also very large. All in all, it's not worth it at all. If it weren't for Sharma's potential to drag heavy artillery, Marin would not want to continue raising such a "big stomach king"...

Speaking of which, the requirement of "small food intake and more work" is really embarrassing, oh no, it's embarrassing. But this is a world dominated by people, not an empire of cattle and horses. Therefore, the horse can only be selected according to the standard of this embarrassing horse.

Fortunately, there is a breed of Belshuram to look for, otherwise, Marin will also be blinded.

In order to obtain and cultivate better breeds of draught horses, Marin ordered the recruitment of high-paying horse breeders and experts in Soma to go to the Perche region of France to find draught horses that meet the requirements.

Then, Marin will open up a breeding area for the Bershuren horses in the horse farm in the north of the city of Aurich, and gather a group of horse-raising and Soma masters to conduct fixed-point breeding in order to obtain similar later generations of Bershuren horses. excellent draught horse.

Marin didn't seek to breed an excellent draught horse with similar characteristics to the later-generation Belshuren horse, even if it only had some of the advantages of the Belshullen horse, Marin would not be at a loss.

Moreover, Eastern European Mongolian horses are also used as one of the samples for crossbreeding. why? Because Mongolian horses are resistant to roughage! If you don't work normally, Mongolian horses can graze on grass. Not as delicate as European horses, they often eat grain. If the advantages of Mongolian horses' resistance to roughage can be retained, even if they are not strong enough, Marin can accept them. After all, food needs money, but grass needs money? Therefore, it is also an important research direction to take the Eastern European Mongolian horse as the female parent, introduce the genes of other excellent draught horses, and cultivate rough-feeding draught horses... ()