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Cut-and-Carry Feeding – /kət-and-‘kerē/ – noun  

May 22nd, 2019

Definition: An alternative to “open grazing” when raising livestock. Farmers grow or forage livestock feed (cut) and bring the food to the animals (carry) rather than having them roam for food.

Cut-and-carry represents a smart, blended livestock management approach that is healthier for the animals, more profitable for the farmer, and better for the planet. The farmer can provide more high quality fodder for the animals like mulberry and caliandra (pictured).

In the developing tropics, families typically use walls, thorny branches, poles or multi-purpose living fences to keep cows, sheep, and goats enclosed. This keeps them from wandering and protects them from people, pests, diseases, and the hot sun.

Benefits of Cut-and-Carry Feeding:

• More efficient use of available land
• Improved gains and productivity
• Reduced risk of damaging the ecosystem
• Increased feed efficiency
• Reduced input cost and replacement of costly animal feed
• Healthier for animals with higher quality fodder readily available
• Better disease management and protection
• Efficient manure management
• Increase quality of certain products such as meat and milk
• Able to be implemented with 100% appropriate (i.e. locally available) technology