Types of farming

There principal types of farming are:

1. Capital investment and labour.

• Extensive livestock farming: capital investment (in feed, farms...) is limited and productivity low. The livestock is mostly cattle and sheep, and grazes on large pastures in the open air.

• Intensive livestock farming: capital investment (in feed, farms...), labour and productivity are high. Mostly cattle, pig and poultry are farmed.

     2. Food and feeding methods.

• Grazing livestock: animals feed on grass. This is an example of extensive farming.
• Confined livestock: animals are kept in sheds and covered pens, and eat feed. This is an example of intensive farming.
• Semi-confined livestock: in summer, the animals eat grass; when there is not enough grass, they eat feed.

      3. Mobility of livestock:

• Nomadic herding: herders and their families are constantly moving with their animals in search of good pasture.
• Transhumance (seasonal migration of livestock): herders move their animals several times a year between winter and summer pastures.
• Sedentary livestock farming: animals don't have to move around to obtain food because farmers give them feed.