Livestock Entrepreneurship

Mixed systems occur in several forms. For example, pastoral systems have experience in the management of mixed herds and of livestock with feed resources. One form of mixing occurs where livestock is kept on grazing lands distant from cropland in the EXPAGR mode where land is abundant. Mixed systems can also occur as a combination of specialized farms that exchange resources among them, particularly in HEIA.This report focuses on the kind of mixing that is found in integrated crop-livestock systems. Diversified systems are a combination of specialized subsystems that aim to reduce risk in conditions of variable but relatively abundant resources. Strong integration is associated with LEIA and NCA conditions where use of resources such as fertilizer and fossil fuel is restricted because of problems with pollution. This gives clues to development workers and policy-makers: cheap resources lead to specialization, restricted use of resources leads to mixing. An important aspect in promoting mixed farming is that the yield of the total enterprise is more important than the yield and/or efficiency of the parts. This is elaborated in the next chapter in which the technologies are presented