In Asia, the integration of livestock, fish and crops has proved to be a sustainable system through centuries of experience.Unfortunately, these systems tend to become more vulnerable to disturbance because mixing of resource flows makes the system internally more complex and interdependent.In this case the integration serves to make maximum use of the resources. Integration occurs most often, however, in LEIA farming systems that exist in many tropical countries where products or by-products of one component serve as a resource for the other – dung goes to the crops and straw to the animals.It occurs in mixed ecological farms of temperateĬountries (here called the mode of new conservation agriculture, NCA), but also in mixed, relatively low input farms of southern and southwestern Australia with grain-legume-sheep mixtures. Integration is done to recycle resources efficiently.In this case the mixing ofĬrops and livestock primarily serves to minimize risk and not to recycl resources. In particular, HEIA farmers can have pigs, dairy and crops as quite independent units.Diversified systems consist of components such as crops and livestock that co-exist independently from each other.The distinction between diversified and integrated systems is perhaps the most relevant one for this report.Model farm near Durban (South Africa) where the dung from the chickens is used to fertilize the algae growth in the fish pond.Cows and sheep grazing together in a pasture in the Netherlands to optimize biomass utilization and to reduce disease pressure.Examples of mixing between animals are found in chicken-fish pond systems where chicken dung fertilizes the fish pond in beef-pork systems where pigs eat the undigested grains from the beef cattle dung or in mixed grazing such as cow-sheep mixes to maximizeīiomass utilization or to suppress disease occurrence. Leaching of nutrients through the use of catch crops. Plants can also be intercropped to take maximum advantage of light and moisture, to suppress weeds or prevent.For example, a farmer has a grain-legume rotation to provide the grain with nitrogen or a potato-beet-grain rotation to avoid disease in the potatoes. Within-crop mixing takes place where crop rotations are practised over and within years.Both these systems occur frequently though they are not always apparent. Mixing within crop and/or within animal systems refers to conditions where multiple cropping is practised, often over time, or where different types of animals are kept together, mostly on-farm.Daily allocation of new land stimulated foraging activity and deposition of urine and faces in the.Rooting activity increased when soil moisture content increased or supplemental feeding was restricted.Requirement for energy, especially in young pigs, probably due to high levels The increasing live weight indicated a large maintenance.Mean daily weight gain varied between 626 g and 811 g for EPS and CPS, respectively.Grain yields were greater from the areas treated by pigs compared with mechanical tillage, when soil moisture content was high enough.Levels of tillage caused by rooting pigs and yields of winter wheat grain in the following year were significantly correlated.On-farm production of feed in the EPS reduced purchased inputs for feeds by 48 percent compared with CPS. Environmental loading in an ecological pig production system (EPS) was 64 percent less than in a conventional production system (CPS) but labour requirements were higher in EPS.They dealt with the behavior and performance of outdoor pigs on clover/grassland and with tillage effects resulting from rooting by pigs on winter wheat performance.Swedish farmers and researchers incorporated the natural behavior of pigs in the design of farming systems to improve crop and animal performance.The modes of farming refer to different degrees of availability of land, labour and inputs, ranging from Mixing within crops and/or animal systems.Three major categories, in four different modes of farming, are distinguished here. Geographical distribution, market orientation, etc. Internal factors relate to local soil characteristics, composition of the family and farmers’ ingenuity.Ĭlassified in many ways – based on land size, type of crops and animals,.External factors are weather patterns, market prices, political stability, technological developments, etc.Mixed farming exists in many forms depending on external and internal factors.Mixing within crop and/or animal systems.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |