Areal livestock combinations on Finnish farms

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine the areal differences in the incidence of the various production combinations within animal husbandry on Finnish farms in 1969. For this purpose, two areal analyses of the structure of animal husbandry are performed. The first approach is to study areal variations in the proportions of the total livestock units accounted for by the various species, and the second approach to focus upon livestock combinations, i.e. how many species are found together on each farm. These methods require detailed areal statistics enabling the combinations of livestock to be assessed at the level of the individual farm, as are available in the case of Finland in the form of the original data for the Agricultural Census of 1969. The exclusive nature of the concentration upon cattle, which is obvious when examined in terms of livestock units, is underlined in the examina­tion of livestock combinations at the level of the individual farm, over half of all farms with livestock having no other category than dairy cows, while less than one tenth have other livestock but no cows. The most significant features to emerge in the regional study of the distribution of livestock combinations are the exclusive domination by cattle rearing in Northern Finland, the highly diversified pattern of livestock on the small farms of the interior of the country, and the moderately diversified character of animal husbandry in Western and South‑western Finland, with a con­centration of large‑sized farms specializing exclusively in pigs or poultry.