Counting Sheep

 The Berreton Family

As we’ve been on this journey to create a small town, I’ve mentioned in each article that there are five founding families. Although I’ve only written up one of the families – the horse-loving Jaroths – I have named four of the five others and their field of expertise. Along with the Jaroths we have the wine-making Kalahan, the miners of the Merrick family, and the Llewellyn who made their fortune in lumber.  This week we’re going to add our fifth and final family, who raise livestock for a living, the Berreton family.

Farming in medieval Europe was in large part done by the serfs on the lands of nobles. Land was partitioned into plots for each peasant family to live on and tend, and although they weren’t slaves they weren’t really free either. All the crops belonged to the lord, a serf couldn’t sell his grain or his livestock without the lord’s permission. It wasn’t really until the 1800s and the enclosure system of farming that lands were divvied up to individual farmers and not used as communal farming, and that’s more of what we’re going with here in Nestletop.

The thing about these individual farms of the enclosure system is that a lot of the smaller farmers couldn’t raise much of their own livestock. Cows especially eat a lot of food, and sheep take up a lot of space for grazing. Larger families with more land, not quite nobles but definitely not peasants either, did a lot of the livestock raising because they had both the space to do it and the money to afford it.

The Berretons

The Berretons are one of the hardest working families among the five founders.  While the other families hire others to oversee the workers on their land and in their facilities, the Berretons take a hands-on approach. Even the current head of the family, Patreus, can be found in the fields with the shepherds or in the barn with the cows. His tanned skin and leathered hands speak of a man not afraid of a good day’s work.

Much like they did back on the other side of the mountains, the Berretons raise livestock. The foothills of the Earthspine mountains don’t leave a lot of space for raising large herds of cattle but it is ample for the animals the family does have. Their largest group of livestock is their flock of sheep, which supplies both food and wool for clothing. They also rear an assortment of goats and pigs on other parts of their land. They do keep a dozen or so cows both for milk and to sell the meat – mainly to the other founding families who can afford those prices.

Many of the shepherds with families live on small plots of land in one-room houses supplied by the Berretons. Unmarried workers share a communal bunkhouse closer to the barn. In general, the family is well respected by their workers who feel they are treated well – as far as medieval workers go.

The family also has a close relationship with Ableton Redrun of the Redrun Smithy, who performs a lot of the veterinary work for the family. He trains some of their workers so that he doesn’t have to go out there for every little thing, but he will come out to set a broken bone or treat a disease that is too much for the herdsmen. Rumor is that the eldest daughter of Patreus has taken a liking to Ableton, but he doesn’t seem to have figured it out for himself.

Patreus’ younger brother is well known for his love of dogs and he keeps a kennel of herding and hunting dogs behind the manor house. All of the current sheepdogs and collies that assist the shepherds were raise by Atrian. He even sells some of the trained dogs when the caravan comes through the mountains during the festival days. The canines are said to be well-liked back in the holy lands.

Who raises the livestock in your town? Do you use more of an early medieval model with serfs raising a lord’s livestock? Do you have free peasants who keep their own animals? Can they afford to keep large herds? Who tends to the animals’ medical needs? What kind of animals can thrive where your town is situated?

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