Recent Changes in the Farm-management of “Koiwai-ranch”, Iwate Prefecture

Abstract

The Koiwai ranch, is on the mud-flow at the southern foot of Iwate Volcano. Since 1891, the ranch has supplied a number of milch cows to the farms in Tohoku, Kanto and Hokkaido, and its farm-management has been well known as one of the western style farms which are very few in Japan. Whole area of the farm is 2, 600 ha, containing 1, 800ha of the forest land.In 1954, 201 bulls and excellent cows of Holstein breed for artificial breeding, 133 sheep, 160 turkeys and 1, 400 hens were bred in this ranch, and 156 cows, 31 labour cattle and 75 sheep were rented to the surrounding farms. And also, several kinds of feed crops were grown on the cultivated land of about 286 ha, hay producing land became about 410 ha and pasture land for cows and sheep became 57 ha by 1960.From 1960 to 1963, the above states changed and in 1969, 193 bulls and cows of Holstein breed, 262 cows excluding 390 cows rented for milkig, 67 beef cattle and 222 sheep for grazing were kept in this farm. An area of 293 ha was used for hay-producing, 216 ha for pasture and 228 ha for hay-producing and grazing.These drastic changes of management of this ranch preceded the general changes of dairy farms in Japan.This change of the management is one of the measures to develop the real dairy farming in Japan, in the way as it is in Europe and America. However, there are very few farms in Japan that can make such a change following the example shown by Koiwai ranch.