Lecture 3: Dairying under mixed farming and as specialized farming

Mixed Farming

It is a type of farming under which crop production is combined with livestock raising. Livestock enterprise is complementary to crop production and at least 10% of livestock must contribute to its gross income

 Advantages

• 1. Suited for adoption all the year round.
• 2. Income throughout the year.
• 3. Better use of land, labour and capital.
• 4. Maintains soil fertility.
• 5. Reduces risks due to failure, un-favourable market price, etc.
• 5. Regular and quick return.
• 6. Reduces transportation cost of products.
• 7. Removal of intermediaries rendered possible.
• 8. Complete use of industrial wastes and by-products rendered possible.

Disadvantages

• Inefficient of management
• Disease transmission from animal to plant and plant to animal.
• Better equipping of farm is not possible.

Large Scale Farming

• Increased efficiency and full utilization of labour.
• Lower machine cast as a result of greater annual use.
• Economical use of building.
• Economy in buying and selling.

Small Scale Farming

• Close attention and supervision.
• Efficient use of family labour.
• High productivity.
• Intensive cultivation
• Better use of farm by products.

Specialized Farming

When major resources are devoted to or income is derived from single enterprises called specialized farming. For example – dairy farming, poultry farming, sugar cane farming.

In a general sense, when only few enterprises are run by the farmer, in which he has acquired special knowledge, it is known as specialised farming. Specifically, specialised farming refers to only one kind of farm business such as raising food crops or rearing sheep or raising dairy cattle. Raising two to three crops makes it specialized. The motive behind specialized farming is profit.

Advantages of Specialised farming:

Marketing advantages:

Specialised farming always takes place on a larger scale, giving rise to bulk production. This leads to better marketing and convenient buying and selling of agricultural produce.

Efficiency advantages:
Specialisation leads to formation of skills that make work less bothersome, improve seeds and spare drudgery to the farmer. It leads to optimum utilization of farm resources and strengthens the standard of efficiency.

Capital advantages:
Specialised farming can be started with a smaller amount of capital, a smaller amount of fixed charges and a smaller amount of equipment.

Other advantages:
Smaller requirement of labour, smaller requirement of land as well. The management of the farm can be more efficient and leakages can be kept at a minimum.

Disadvantages of Specialised farming:

Market uncertainties:
Greater dependence on the market. If the market fails to clear the volume of production, the farmer may suffer heavy losses.

Uncertain crop conditions and irregular investment flow:
If a crop fails, it is a big set back to the farmer as he has nothing to fall back upon.

Other disadvantages:
Specialised farming may not be conducive to the maintenance of soil fertility. Limited use of labour and machinery leaves resources underutilized. There is a considerable dependence on the market for a large number of his requirements.