Mixed farming

Mixed farming is a type of farming which involves both the growing of crops and the raising of livestock. This type of farming is practiced 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.[1]

The cultivation of crops alongside the rearing of animals for meat or milk defines mixed farming. For example, a mixed farm may grow cereal crops such as wheat or rye and also keep cattle, sheep, pigs or poultry.[2] Often the dung from the cattle is used to fertilize the cereal crops. 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.