Victorian Farm; BBC TV

Justamum

Raksha wrote: »

I wish they'd learn to handle a horse with a bit more sympathy - poor lad was really lame, and making him twist a tight circle in the field can't have done it any good. I'd have been yelled at good and proper for making a sound horse move off like that, let alone one that was lame

They didn't use the lame horse for that - they borrowed a retired horse from the owner. He obviously didn't like being taken out of his comfy retirement though :rotfl:

Justamum

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

I've been enjoying this series but tonight I had to miss the end,it did upset me to see the lovely pig reduced to a smashed up mess lying on the kitchen table.
I'm also wondering what they are going to do to help the poor sheep with the infected foot.I know that they're trying to live by the ways of that era but surely if the sheep can be helped by modern medicine it should'nt have needed to suffer at all.I draw the line in any of the animals having to do that.

They cleaned up the foot and bound it and it got better.

voiceofreason

rosieben wrote: »

in fact the horse would almost certainly have been treated better than the labourers, but only because its a valuable tool, much like a farmer might look after an expensive tractor.

I think that's the point I was trying to make - you seem to have done a better job of it

When I say "respecting the horse" or whatever, this is the kind of thing I'm on about - not some soppy, animal-loving-for-animal-rights'-sake nonsense.

[Deleted User]

I find the whole series so good.It makes the lifestyle that many of us have today to look so soft.Yet so many folk are complaining about how hard done by they are at the moment .
The one thing I've noticed ,along with the drama series 'Lark Rise to Candledford' is that true folk of that age didn't have what many of us take for granted nowadays, and that is good teeth. Most folk lost their teeth early on in life, and few could afford either a dentist or false choppers.
Look at portraits or photos of your gt-granddads and gt-grannies and they all have that tight-lipped look:rotfl:
But none the more for that its a great glimpse of what life was possibly like 150 years ago. Although maybe not quite so happy as the performers were last night. Most farming folk worked very hard from dawn to dusk and the women even more so as they also had a brood of children to manage with as well so not a lot to smile about. With the coming of the industrial revolution life didn't improve that much for the working class,they just swapped the toil of the land for the toil of the factory in probably far less healthy working conditions.But mechanisation had come to farming as well so agriculural laboures were thrown out of work so it was the factory or the workhouse.The workhouse was made as uncomfortable as possible to put you off going in there and encourage you to find work, and a roof over your head yourself.A great deal different today I think

mardatha

mY DAD USED TO TALK ABOUT HIS DAD WHO PLOUGHED WITH HORSES. hE SAID THE HORSE MADE THE COLD WINTER MORNINGS BEARABLE BECAUSE YOU HAD COMPANY
i'M SURE THEY HAD GREAT TREATMENT FOR SHEEP WITH BAD FEET ANYWAY - SHEEP ALWAYS HAVE TROUBLE WITH THEIR FEET.
i THINK IF THE MEN USED A NICE TONE OF VOICE THEN THEY WOULD GET ON A LOT BETTER WITH THE HORSES
bUT i'M 100% SURE THEY HAVE A VET HOVERING VERY NEAR - THEY DON'T WANT BAD PUBLICITY FOR THE BBC.
oh god yelling - sorry !

THIRZAH

My mother always made brawn whenever we had a pig killed but she didn't put the eyeballs or brains in it.I think that the eyeballs may have been removed in the abbatoir.I'm not sure what happened to the brains.

We ate just about everything else .

maltesers_2

THIRZAH wrote: »

My mother always made brawn whenever we had a pig killed but she didn't put the eyeballs or brains in it.I think that the eyeballs may have been removed in the abbatoir.I'm not sure what happened to the brains.

We ate just about everything else .

This reminded me of our poverty days. I bought half a pigs head because it was cheap. It didn't have brains or eyes and the butcher had placed a slice of orange over the hole. I thought if I boiled it for long enough the meat would fall off and I could make gravy from the stock. When I looked in the pan I couldn't cope with it. It was a skull like object grinning at me with what looked like huge teeth. My husband had to help out and scavenge what he could - but it didn't taste very nice. I shall not be repeating the experiment.

Primrose

My grandmother made brawn and during the war I remember my mother making it too with the kitchen windows all steamed up for hours with condensation from the simmering pot. I never liked it much and the only way she could get us to eat it was by serving it with chips, which must have been difficult to produce as cooking fat was heavily rationed during the war. But I'm intrigued to know where the participants all really stayed while the filming took place. The inside cottage scenes all look too neat and tidy (and too small) for three people to be permanently living there, as well as accommodating the film crew.

phizzimum

primrose, I think I read that they stayed on the estate but not actually on the farm where they are filming. Also I think they were only there for 3 days a week.

I was thinking about that aspect of the programme. If they had to live there 7 days a week under "authentic" conditions it would change the tone of the programme. It might end up being more like Big Brother or I'm a Celebrity - just them moaning about being hungry, cold and missing families. I suppose also going home every week allows them to do research into issues as they arise. But if they're only there 3 days a week then other people must be looking after the lifestock etc when they're away.

phizzimum

Raksha wrote: »

1sue23 - I was talking about when the lad was leading the lame horse in the field. He appeared to take him from a standing position and make him turn sharply, putting all his weight on the injured leg and making him twist on it - this can injure a sound horse, let alone one who is already lame.

thanks for that clarification - I see what you mean.