Abstract:

There were three main ways to earn a living in primitive society； collecting， fishing and hunting， and raising livestock. A major turning point for human civilization was the addition of plant cultivation as a means of earning a living. In primitive society， both animal husbandry and agriculture were invented by humans， and animal husbandry was developed from fishing and hunting. With the development of animal husbandry， the demand for fodder increased， which brought about the cultivation of forage. The need for fodder became more urgent as the amount of livestock increased. When people noticed that forage grasses accumulated in certain places， the idea of planting forage crops was born， and knowledge of planting and cultivation was obtained gradually by observations and trial and error. At first， certain wild grasslands were fenced and some cultivation techniques were used， and then grain fit for human consumption was found. In this way， wheat and millet became cultivated crops for human food and forage species were cultivated for livestock feed. In this study， we searched ancient Chinese texts for references to animal husbandry and plant cultivation. During the Xia， Shang， and Western Zhou Dynasties， animal husbandry was relatively well developed in China， and records of fodder cultivation and ruminant grazing appeared in The Oracle. Horses were important livestock during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties， and were fed with grain and millet. As pointed out by Guo Mo-ruo， in The Oracle Bone Inscriptions， the original Chinese character for the word “Tian” does not refer to a field of wheat and millet， but a field for planting fodder and hunting ruminants. That is， the earliest cultivation was for ranching. Records in The Book of Songs indicate that the conditions for the cultivation and utilization of fodder were already established at the time the book was written. The Book of Songs notes that， “The horse in the stable was fattened by food and grass”. This indicates that horses were fed with grain in ancient China， and is indicative of the long history of forage processing in China. In the Western Zhou Dynasty， fire was introduced as a tool for the ecological management of grassland. The Zhouli recorded “Burning the dead grass on the pasture in early spring”. In the Mozi， which includes records for the Chunqiu and Zhanguo Dynasties， it is noted that “All cattle and sheep were fed with fodder”. In the State of Lu， Chengtian was in charge of animal husbandry. These ancient texts provide evidence for， and information about， animal husbandry and the cultivation of food and fodder crops in ancient China.

Key words: forage grass, fodder, pasture, pre-Qin Period, primitive society