mixed farming

{{Short description|Economic activity}}

{{Dist|Mixed cultivation}}

File:Hoogkar_met_hooi.JPG

Mixed farming is a type of farming which involves both the growing of crops and the raising of livestock.{{cite book |title= The Agrarian History of Sweden: From 4000 BC to AD 2000 |last= Myrdal |first= Janken | editor1-last = Myrdal

| editor1-first = Janken

| editor2-last = Morell

| editor2-first = Mats

| chapter = Swedish agrarian history - the wider view

| quote = The fundamental characteristic of the European system of agriculture is mixed farming - the combination on each farm of arable and livestock farming.

| year= 2011|publisher=Nordic Academic Press |isbn= 978-9185509560 |page= 265 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=a3zMh4zpjpQC |accessdate= 9 November 2020}}

Compare:

{{cite book

| last1 = Singh

| first1 = Chandan

| last2 = Nath

| first2 = Ravindra

| year = 1994

| editor1 = Vinay Kumar Verma

| title = Farming System and Sustainable Agriculture: Agricultural Reform

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6bPkDwAAQBAJ

| publisher = Sgoc Publication

| publication-date = 2020

| page =

| isbn = 9788193567791

| access-date = 9 November 2020

| quote = 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

}}

Such agriculture occurs across Asia and in countries such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, South Africa, China, Central Europe, Nordic countries, Canada, and Russia. Though at first{{when|date=November 2020}} it mainly served domestic consumption, countries such as the United States and Japan now use it for commercial purposes.{{cite web

| url =https://www.maff.go.jp/e/pdf/fy2006_rep.pdf

| title =Annual Report on Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas in Japan

| date =2007

| publisher =Ministry of agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

| access-date =2023-08-16}}

The cultivation of crops alongside the rearing of animals for meat or eggs or milk defines mixed farming.

{{cite book|author= D. B. Grigg|title= The Agricultural Systems of the World: An Evolutionary Approach|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=16-ejysyRCgC&pg=PA152|accessdate= 9 November 2020 |date= 7 November 1974|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 978-0-521-09843-4|page= 152 | chapter = Mixed farming in Western Europe and North America | quote = Mixed farming - or Commercial Crops and livestock [...].}}

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.{{sfn|Devendra|Thomas|2002}}{{sfn|Schiere|Ibrahim|Keulen|2002}}