Mixed farming is a type of farming which involves both the growing of crops and the raising of livestock.[1][2] Such agriculture occurs across Asia and in countries such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, South Africa, China, Central Europe, Canada, and Russia. Though at first it mainly served domestic consumption, countries such as the United States and Japan now use it for commercial purposes.[3]

The cultivation of crops alongside the rearing of animals for meat or eggs or milk defines mixed farming.[4] For example, a mixed farm may grow cereal crops, such as wheat or rye, and also keep cattle, sheep, pigs or poultry. Often the dung from the cattle serves to fertilize the crops. Also some of the crops might be used as fodder for the livestock. Before horses were commonly used for haulage, many young male cattle on such farms were often not butchered as surplus for meat but castrated and used as bullocks to haul the cart and the plough.[5][6]

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Notes

  1. ↑ Myrdal, Janken (2011). "Swedish agrarian history - the wider view". In Myrdal, Janken; Morell, Mats (eds.). The Agrarian History of Sweden: From 4000 BC to AD 2000. Nordic Academic Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-9185509560. Retrieved 9 November 2020. The fundamental characteristic of the European system of agriculture is mixed farming - the combination on each farm of arable and livestock farming.
  2. ↑ Compare: Singh, Chandan; Nath, Ravindra (1994). Vinay Kumar Verma (ed.). Farming System and Sustainable Agriculture: Agricultural Reform. Sgoc Publication (published 2020). ISBN 9788193567791. Retrieved 9 November 2020. Mixed farming is defined as a system of farming on a particular farm which includes crop production, raising livestock, poultry, fisheries, bee keeping etc., to sustain and satisfy as many needs of the farmer as possible
  3. ↑ "Annual Report on Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas in Japan" (PDF). Ministry of agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. 2007. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  4. ↑ D. B. Grigg (7 November 1974). "Mixed farming in Western Europe and North America". The Agricultural Systems of the World: An Evolutionary Approach. Cambridge University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-521-09843-4. Retrieved 9 November 2020. Mixed farming - or Commercial Crops and livestock [...].
  5. ↑ Devendra & Thomas 2002.
  6. ↑ Schiere, Ibrahim & Keulen 2002.

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