Convertible husbandry

Convertible husbandry, also known as alternate husbandry or up-and-down husbandry, is a method of farming whereby strips of arable farmland were temporarily converted into grass pasture, known as leys. These remained under grass for up to 10 years before being ploughed under again, while some eventually became permanent pasturage. It was a process used during the 16th century through the 19th century by "which a higher proportion of land was used to support increasing numbers of livestock in many parts of England." Its adoption was an important component of the British Agricultural Revolution. Ley farming, a similar system of growing fodder on fallow plots of arable land, remains in use today. Convertible husbandry was a process that consisted of keeping arable land fallow for long periods as pasture for livestock. This system utilized fertilizer in the form of animal manure. Fertilizer was used in greater quantities due to the increase in animal husbandry and resulted in benefiting crop yields when it was time for tillage. Farmers sowed specific grass seeds to control the quality of their pasture. Before the 16th and 17th centuries, most farmlands in Britain used simple alternations of tilling and fallowing during different seasons over several years, while livestock was often kept on less productive land and commons. However, in the Midlands the rising population, density of settlements, lack of new areas into which cultivation could expand, and the 15th century enclosures of sheep flocks, led to a system of agriculture with increasing numbers of livestock. A possible factor that influenced the adoption of convertible husbandry was the changing skill levels of workers. In the words of historian Eric Kerridge, the combination of "floating of water-meadows, the substitution of up-and-down husbandry for permanent tillage and permanent grass or for shifting cultivation, the introduction of new fallow crops and selected grasses, marsh drainage, manuring, and stock breeding" were essential innovations of the British Agricultural Revolution.