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title: "1.9.2 Food production important in many species"
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After WWII it was very clear that food production should have very high priority. The intention was that food of sufficient quality and quantity should be available to everyone at an affordable price. Therefore animals should become more productive. This could be achieved by selective breeding, but also by adjusting the management. Pigs en chickens were kept under controlled circumstances so that the feed they ate was of equal quality and feed intake could be assigned to production, and not to unnecessary things like keeping warm, or fighting infections. Consequently, animals were kept under very efficient and controlled circumstances, so confined and indoors. Farms specialised more into either (only a few types of) crops or animals. In those days it also became easier to transport large amounts of goods over long distances, especially over sea. In the Netherlands this meant it became possible to import large quantities of tropical crops like tapioca and soja. These relatively cheap products were used as replacement for (expensive) grains as raw material for production of concentrates. Where pigs used to be animals that were kept in combination with other types of farming because they could digest a lot of leftovers, the availability of these concentrates made it possible to start specialised pig farms. And the same story holds with respect to poultry farms. Because oxen were no longer needed, and growing them to slaughter weight was quite expensive, the calves that were not used for replacement in the dairy industry were becoming superfluous. Some farmers specialised in housing these calves and sell them at fairly young age and with that a new branch was born: growing veal calves.