MANAGEMENT OF SIZE OF HERD
The House for the Goats and Goatherds could easily
have sheltered one hundred goats. It was probably used
primarily for the purpose of milking and breeding the
goats. Shortly after the young were born in the spring, and
had gathered sufficient strength, they were no doubt taken
out to pasture by the goatherds, a breed of men who,
Columella stipulates, should be "keen, hardy, and bold . . .
the sort of men who can make their way without difficulty
over rocks and deserts and through briers . . . men who do
not follow the herd like the keepers of other breeds of
cattle, but precede it."[642]
The rooms in the eastern aisle of
the House for the Goats and Goatherds on the Plan are
large enough to accommodate, besides the permanent goatherds,
a considerable number of extra hands who during
the warmer months of the year took care of the herds that
were out to pasture.
