和牛経営における飼料経済性

(1) Beef bread cattle in Japan are called the Japanese Native Cattle, even though they also have been kept on many farms as work cattle. Work cattle as they are,the number kept is very small suitable to the size of farm; ordinarily one or two heads per farm.

But in recent years their utilities as work ones have been greatly decreased with the diffusion of power cultivators on every farm, and coping with the decrease in receipts of cattle products it has been necessary to expand their numbers as beef cattle.

In this paper factors affecting the efficiency and economy of feed utilization are considered in connection
with expansion of the size of keeping cattles.

(2) The feedstuffs for work cattles are generally composed of by-products or residua of the farming and wild grasses, but for the beef cattles in the expanded size of keeping the feedstuffs must be raised intentionally or purchased. And yet the feed production of forage crops or pasture plants are generally more expensive than of wild grasses, therefore on the livestock farming such as the breeding of cattles on whose productivity the quality of feed does not have direct influences the economical feeding by forage crops can not be expected too much.

(3) In fattening of cattles the feedstuffs depend upon the purchased. The purchased feeds are more expensive for farmers than the forage crops or pastute plants, but by over-feeding of purchased feeds especially of the proteins the quality of meats can be elevated and the beef cattle per head be sold at a high price. This is characteristic of fattening of the Japanese Native Cattle.