Cattle Ranch

In Celtic society a man’s wealth was measured by the size of his herd, making cattle an important symbolic part of everyday life. Large herds provided milk, meat and strong bulls to pull ploughs and act as sacrifices to the gods. In ancient Ireland the freshly-flayed skin of a bull was worn to induce a sacred sleep that allowed druids to have visions of their future king. The breed of cow farmed by the majority of ancient Celts is thought to be the now-extinct Celtic Shorthorn. Archaeologists studying Danebury hill fort in England have looked at the animal remains found within the fort and concluded that two thirds of the meat eaten there was probably Celtic Shorthorn beef.