A Year-round Grazing Model to Develop Beef Breeding Farm

Abstract

The use of paddy for feed production has become an important issue in Japan on the grounds of adjustment of rice production, restoration of abandoned cultivated land, conservation of cropland resources and farming environment as well as improvement of feed self-sufficiency. In this era of high wages, high material cost, and depreciation of farmland under population decline, low-input, labor-saving, and land-extensive farming techniques such as grazing are more advantageous than intensive techniques. It's also indispensable to practice an intensive technique like forage rice production because stored feed is needed for winter feed and most farmland is paddy in Japan. Therefore, an optimal combination of grazing and forage rice production on paddy is essential for improvement of feed self-sufficiency, development of cattle farming, and enlargement of farmland managed.