Mechanization of Feeding in Relation to Feeding Systems

Abstract

The purpose of cattle production is to convert crops and crop by-products which cannot be sold directly for human consumption into products which can be consumed. Cattle may also be used to increase the value of some crops which can be consumed directly, especially where the cattle enterprise is soundly based on crops which have no direct sale value; and where the cattle are highly productive (e.g. high-yielding dairy cows, calves, young growing and finishing cattle). Occasionally market circumstances may enable cattle to be fed entirely on crops which can be consumed by man, as in the all-concentrate beef system. Essentially, however, cattle production is a by-product enterprise, i.e. it is an adjunct to other farming enterprises or is undertaken in circumstances where there is no alternative method of utilizing land.