The Efficiency of Mixed Farming

English: , Most Island family farms practiced “mixed farming.” Rather than specializing in one agricultural sector early farms kept a variety of animals and planted many different crops. These small farms were remarkably self-sufficient, producing meat and vegetables for the family and grain and hay for the livestock. Most farms could sustain themselves without money changing hands. , On the mixed farm, products , or even waste , from one sphere of activity would find some useful purpose in another. Cattle provided the family's beef, milk, and butter. Some disposable income was provided when products were sold. Keeping animals in the barn all winter produced piles of manure which provided fertilizer for the fields. Crops were generally rotated on a three year basis with potatoes on year one, then oats under-seeded with clover and grass to provide hay in year three. This crop rotation worked well as the mixed farmer needed the clover for his cattle and the straw for bedding the barns. Once this straw was soiled in the stalls, it went back on the land., Today, farmers have much more acreage and specialize in one crop; the efficiency of a small self-sustaining farm is no longer a reality.,