4. LOCAL LIVESTOCK FEED RESOURCES - Andi Djajanegara (Research Institute for Animal Production)

Andi Djajanegara
Research Institute for Animal Production, PO Box 221, Bogor 16002, Indonesia

Indonesia has a tropical environment with daily temperature ranging between 23 to 31^oC in the low plains and 18 to 27^oC in the highland areas; however, it is the variable rainfall pattern rather than temperature that determines the agricultural systems. Arable land for food crop production reached around 29 million hectares of the 130 million hectares available. It is apparent that food crop production will dominate the agricultural sector, particularly in Java. The use of crop residues has supported the production of livestock for centuries. While still regarded as traditional, the raising of farm animals has been integrated with the production of food crops. Within the intensive, but traditional food crop production systems based on production systems such as rice-rice-rice or rice-secondary crop-rice in the one year, one would expect that there is little opportunity to provide feed for the production of livestock in irrigated areas.

PRESENT LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

Indonesia, an archipelago of over 13,000 islands covering 5600 km from east to west and 1600 km from north to south, has a total land area of around 1.91 million km². The major islands are Sumatera, Kalimantan, Java, Sulawesi, the Nusa Tenggara Islands, Maluku and Irian Jaya. Of these, Kalimantan is the largest, with about 28 per cent of the total land area. The island of Java is relatively small (6 to 7 per cent of the total land area), but it is the most densely populated in terms of numbers of people and livestock.

On Java, the livestock and poultry population represent 70 to 80 per cent of the national livestock population that are raised in a traditional small scale production systems with three to four animals per farm. The animals are generally kept in barns and the income of livestock production provides less than 30 per cent of gross farm product. In the poultry business, the raising of the native breed of chicken has been the backbone of the businesses that supply chicken meat and eggs. It is quite common in the production of poultry, for farmers to raise only a few hens (less than 10 birds per farm). With such small production units that are also scattered through the country, the distribution of farm inputs and products is important. In contrast, the development of the modern poultry business with improved breeds of chicken has seen the production scale of commercial chicken farms reached 10,000 to 200,000 birds per farm, starting from the production of day old chicks that cater for medium and large layer and broiler operations. The poultry industry has developed dramatically in the past decade. However, the 1997 economic crisis severely affected all poultry farms. Many (60 to 80 per cent) were facing bankruptcy in the late 1990s and may not be able to maintain their production levels. The major problem is high feed costs, because the major ingredients in rations, such as fish meal, soybean meal and corn are imported. The impact of the crisis highlights the importance of using locally available feedstuffs to feed animals.

Increasing demand for beef has stimulated the establishment of large feedlot operations of up to 10,000 head per farm. These farms have relied on imported feeder cattle and consequently these were severely hit by the economic crisis. Similarly, the demand for milk has increased dramatically, but 60 per cent of the milk used by the milk processing manufacturers has been imported. Hence, they also face problems. The dairy production system has changed little over the years with almost all dairy farmers members of dairy co-operatives. Average production is 8 to 12 litres of milk per farm, but with the low price of milk there is no incentive for dairy farmers to improve their production capacity. The price of milk is determined by the dairy co-operative of which the farmer is a member. These collect the milk and distribute it to the processors and consumers.

The production of ducks has moved towards a mere business oriented operation. However, it is likely that this industry will also face problems similar to those facing the chicken industry. Raising of ducks has previously been based on a nomadic production system where the birds are moved around to find feed in recently harvested rice fields.

Cattle, buffaloes, horses, sheep and goats in the eastern islands of Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi are allowed to graze on vast grassland areas. The low reproductive performance of the animals has often been associated with poor nutrition. However, the lack of improvement of productivity and the low quality of forage is a major limitation as the animals are grazed on communal grazing lands. The introduction of improved management practices and the utilisation of improved grass and legume species have had has little success with the uncertain management system. Individual farmers do not feel responsible for the management of the grassland areas.

In Sumatra and Kalimantan, thousands of hectares of land area are under plantation crops such as rubber and oil-palm (Table 4.1). It has been known for years that the cover crop biomass under the trees is a potential fodder source for ruminant animals. Plantation workers who raise cattle are able to cut grass under the trees at regular intervals, but the animals are not allowed to enter the plantation area and those that do are considered pests. Research and development activities in North Sumatera have shown the advantages of an integrated sheep-estate production operation, in which sheep are allowed to graze under the trees. This has provided an added value to estate land. Consequently, there is at present a growing interest in raising sheep under rubber and oil-palm trees. The demand for breeding animals obviously will increase. However, shortages of supply limits further development of this production system.

Table 4.1. Land use in Sumatra and Kalimantan

Item	Land area (ha)
Housing	5155422
Dryland for crop	11368507
Grasslands	1889399
Ponds	604720
Fallow land	6967938
Woodland	9555010
Estates Crop	13835746
Irrigated rice fields	8484687

Source: BPS (1996)

In the subsistence traditional systems, feed for animals is not a particular activity and it is the ability of the farmer to obtain feed that determines the amount of feed available. This has limited the number of farm animals raised by farmers who do not follow any feeding standards. Farmers are more often concerned with keeping the animals alive since they provide a source of income through the selling of the animals. The amount of feed offered does not take into account efficiency measures and depends heavily upon the available forage that grows naturally in the surrounding areas. Feed collected from surrounding areas is not of a guaranteed quality nor is continuity of supply guaranteed. Forage production for ruminant animals is not a common practice due to limitations in land ownership. Hence the farmer is dependent on whatever he can get.

In food crop producing areas, fibrous agricultural residues have become the main feed source for ruminant animals. Materials that can be fed to animals are already used and this is particularly apparent in densely populated areas with high stocking rates like Java. If materials are not fed to animals this is generally due to the distance between the supply area and where the animals are raised. Transportation of the material to where the animals are would result in a price that may not encourage its use by low income farmers. An exception is the use of rice straw in Gunung Kidul where 50 to 60 trucks loads are delivered to farmers (Diwyanto, personal communication).

In agricultural producing areas, of the important residues available for feeding livestock, rice (Oryza sativa) straw is the most abundant. This is seen from Table 4.2.

Table 4.2. Feed resources and utilization

Name	Product	Utilization	Availability*
Fibrous feeds
Oryza sativa (Rice)	Straw	Fresh/dried	36547000 t
		Stored for 3-4 months
	Bran	Fresh
Manihot esculenta (Cassava)	Leaves	Fresh/wilted	10407000 t
	Stalks	Fresh/dried
Zea mays (Corn)	Leaves	Fresh/dried	5275000 t
Saccharum officinarum (Sugar cane)	Tops/Leaves	Fresh, out ribbed	83800 ha
Napier grass	Leaves	Fresh	na
Native grass	Leaves	Fresh/dried	na
Musa paradisiaca (Banana)	Leaves	Fresh
	Stem	Fresh	2192060 t
	Peelings	Fresh
Carbohydrate Feeds
Oryza sativa	Bran	Fresh
	Broken rice	Fresh
Manihot esculenta	Tuber	Dried
Zea mays	Grain	Dried
Saccharum officinarum	Molasses	Fresh
Cocos nucifera (Coconut)	Cake	Stored	3246200 ha
Leguminous feeds
Leucaena leucocephala	Leaves	Fresh	na
Gliricidia sepium	Leaves	Wilted	na
Calliandra callothyrsus	Leaves	Fresh	na
Glycine maximum	Expeller	Stored	na
Sesbania sp.	Leaves	Fresh	na
Non-conventional feeds
Hevea (Rubber)	Seeds	Dried	2540600 ha
Cocoa (Cacao)	Pods	Dried	336000 ha
	Peelings	Fresh/Dried
Oil palm	Palm pressed fibre	-	-
	Palm kernel cake	-	-
	Palm fronds	-	-

Notes: Values in this table are total crop production or land use for conversion purposes. The amount used as feed is unclear; na = not available.

Source: Adapted from Rangkuti and Djajanegara. (1995).

Table 4.3. Productivity of major food crops in Indonesia

Item	Harvested area (000 ha)	Production (kt)	Average production (t/ha)
Rice	11519	50575	4.39
Corn	3680	9142	2,495
Cassava	1406	16910	12.0
Sweet potato	213	2029	9.5
Peanut	696	746	1072
Soybean	1276	1510	1183

Source: BPS (1996)

From the nutritional point of view, corn stover or corn cob appears the most attractive source of roughage for ruminants. Partnership-style operations between feedlots and corn farmers have been set up and in these corn farmers supply corn stover to the feedlots.

In the poultry business, the use of corn, soybean meal and fish meal as basic ingredients in the ration has been generally recommended, but this has resulted in a disaster with the high cost price of imported feed ingredients. With the drop in the exchange rate of the rupiah against the dollar, the use of imported feed ingredients in mixed feeds is not feasible. The price ratio between feed and livestock products that was at one time favourable for livestock producers has not been maintained. It has sometimes been the case that the negative impact of using imported feed ingredients has been overlooked.

If locally available feedstuffs are to be used as substitutes for imported feeds, cassava (Manihot esculenta) would need to be relied on, despite its low protein quality. A possible approach is the use of protein enrichment technology where cassava is used as a base material. Treatment of carbohydrate rich feed showed that it is possible to increase protein content from 3 to 4 per cent to 20 to 40 per cent in a solid state fermentation process using Aspergillus niger (Kompiang et al., 1994). Cassava is one of the richest starch producing plant of the tropics and when the roots are dried it is offered to animals in the form of cassava chips. Indonesia produces over 6 million tonnes per year and over one million tonnes is exported despite the problems of fungal growth and cyanide content. The use of cassava chips in Indonesia has not been popular as other feed ingredients are available. Under present conditions, the use of cassava as a locally produced feed source requires the provision of protein rich materials and vitamin A supplements. Aflatoxin problems have not been reported and the toxin is generally not detected in cassava chips. T² toxin can be detected in cassava chips at concentrations below the level of 0.32 to 0.64 mg per kg live weight and this is reported to cause enteritis to ruminants (Lynch, 1979). The leaves of cassava are already extensively used to feed animals and these are abundant at harvest time. Sudaryanto et al. (1983) investigated the method of harvesting of cassava leaves. It was found by leaving 15 leaves at the top part of the cassava plant there was no effect on the cassava root. The major aim of this research was to determine whether it is possible to produce cassava leaves throughout the year for a year round supply of leaf material. Leucaena leucocephala is a natural tropical legume that produces leaf meal with a reasonably high protein content of 16 to 17 per cent. Poultry feed manufacturers use leucaena leaf meal mainly as source of pigment. The introduction of the Hawaiian giant leucaena cultivar to preserve forest areas has increased the production of leucaena leaves. However, problems with psyllid (jumping lice) a decade ago limited its production. The use of byproducts from pineapple canning factories for feeding animals has occurred in Lampung. Residues from pineapple canning were fed to cattle in feedlot operations. Neighbouring farmers have the opportunity to use the products through a collaborative arrangement with the canning industry.

Of the many concentrate feeds, rice bran is an agro-industrial by-products that is of limited value for human consumption. It contains the aleuron layer, endosperm, scutellum and germs of rice. Rice bran is the most important feed ingredient locally available and this is due to the fact that it is in abundance and contains a reasonably high (12 per cent) protein level with a fat content of around 15 per cent. The limitation of using rice bran as a concentrate feed is that the high fat content causes rancidity as the fat is readily hydrolysed and may affect calcium balance. In addition, inclusion of hulls is a problem associated with the poor milling facilities at village level and manipulation of rice bran quality. Feeding of rice bran to animals is a common practice after the rice products are milled. Those rice farmers who have no animals leave the bran at the rice mill as part payment for the rice being milled.

Wheat by-products, in the form of pollard and bran, are available and they are a major feed component in rations for poultry and dairy cattle. Dairy co-operatives and poultry feed mills obtain wheat pollard from the one factory that produces wheat flour. A small proportion is also exported. As only one company is involved in milling wheat, the quality of wheat pollard and bran is consistent.

Coconut meal is another byproduct that is sometimes exported. It has been extensively used in poultry and dairy cattle rations in Indonesia. Copra, the dried form of coconut, is not commonly used as feed. The major problem with coconut meal is the oil content which means it easily becomes rancid due to with the presence of mycotoxins. This no doubt lowers the value of the coconut meal produced in Indonesia.

A feed ingredient that is available in the villages of Central and East Java in small quantities is kapok seed meal. Kapok seed is used in the production of kapok oil for export and the meal contains a high protein content of 25 per cent. The fat content is high - 8 to 10 per cent - and this is due to the poor extraction process. Kapok seed meal is believed to contain components that are toxic to monogastrics. Reportedly these are degraded in the rumen making them non-toxic to ruminants.

PRETREATMENT OF FIBROUS AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES AND CONSTRAINTS TO ADOPTION BY FARMER

For sustainable livestock production systems, in particular large ruminants, land use planning is important. A firm land use plan for livestock production needs to be established. Presently, a problem is that livestock operations often have to be moved to other areas due to a change in land use priority setting. These include community development, food crop production and industrial crops.

Availability of agricultural residues such as corn stover, sugar cane tops and cassava leaves results a problem of continuous supply as these are only available during the harvest time which is often once a year. Storage of the material also creates problems due to space and transport limitations. Forage products that have a high moisture content (over 30 per cent) cannot be safely stored without special treatments. With the humid tropical conditions, spoilage due to microorganism is a problem. In the field, sun drying is common and inexpensive. However, the quality of the dried product is uncertain. In addition, during the rainy season, sun drying is not possible due to the uncertain rain pattern. In view of the variable agroecology and processing methods, the quality of agricultural residues varies widely and this will impose difficulties in formulating feed rations. The low protein and energy content associated with the use of fibrous agricultural residues require feeding of additional supplements. Most fibrous agricultural residues are bulky and this creates problems when they are transported for further processing in feed mills or when they are pelleted. Pretreatment, for instance physical pretreatment like pressing, will assist in increasing the density of the residues and will improve the feed intake of animals. However, the cost of processing may limit its application.

The various pretreatment technologies available to improve the nutritive value of fibrous agricultural by-products - in particular straw - have so far not been practiced by farmers (Ibrahim, 1983; Doyle et al., 1986). While it is evident that the technologies to improve straw quality have been successful in breaking the ligno-cellulose complexes, Djajanegara (1986) reported that the benefit of urea pretreatment of rice straw could also be achieved by infusing similar amounts of urea into the rumen.

Feeding pretreated rice straw can only meet the maintenance requirement of the animals. Hence, although the treatment would increase straw intake and digestion, the use of supplementary feeds is important to achieve higher production levels. The only advantage, but an important one, of pretreatment of straw to support maintenance requirement, is that it results in a significant reduction in weight loss. The use of alkali treatment with NaOH and urea (4 per cent urea to straw dry matter) was introduced to farmers in the early 1980s but the adoption of the technology has been rather poor.

The microbial pretreatment technology to preserve roughage through ensiling has been known for decades. The technology has been introduced to farmers but appears to have never been completely implemented by small farmers. To speed up the process of ensiling at the initial stages, a commercial inoculant is available in the market. It contains lactic acid producing bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum (Anonymous, 1992). Other microbial pretreatments have been identified, but contamination by other microbes under field conditions cannot be avoided. Research efforts have now focused on finding microbial compounds that improve the digestibility of low quality roughage. Winugroho (1994) investigated the process for selection of microbial population that have adaptated to low quality fibrous substrates environments. Increased weight gain of cattle was reported by feeding the preparation once in three months. However, in these experiments, the animals had been fed on high concentrate rations.

A different approach to the use of microbial treated rice straw involved a mixture of microbial compounds by one farmer in Central Java, (Suharto, 1997). The straw was treated under an aerobic environment and the material was fed to animals after being milled. The compound (commercial brand Starbio) was claimed to reduce odour pollution in livestock farms. Better weight gains were also obtained when the treated straw was fed to cattle. The material is now being introduced in Bali and in other parts of Indonesia.

The reasons that have been offered for farmers not using pretreated fibrous agriculture residues include:

• the relatively small amount of straw collected to feed animals;
• a lack of storage facilities;
• the additional costs to treat the straw; and
• the necessity for a redrying process and a shortage of labour.

No storage facilities and labour shortages during harvest time are major reasons why only a small amount of straw is collected. At harvest, farmers are busy caring for the recently harvested rice. The production of rice by the small land owners does not encourage mechanisation as it will not be feasible for smallholders, most of whom are poor. It is also apparent that farmers prefer to feed their animals on the other feeds available, like fresh roadside grass, since this is more palatable than straw. The distance the straw has to be carried to the animals with the present infra-structure does not allow all available straw to be collected. Djajanegara (1981) reported that to collect one tonne of wet straw, which is a relatively small quantity, took nine mandays during the rice harvesting season.

Alternative uses of rice straw are probably more convenient. These include burning, which results in its use as a fertiliser in paddy fields, or its sale to other users. Other users include vegetable producers who use the straw for mulching; mushroom growers who use it as substrate; the production of single cell proteins through acid hydrolysis producing sugars; livestock and poultry farmers who use the straw for bedding material; paper manufacturers who use it as a fibre source and construction materials; and fuel to produce heat. No data are available on the proportion of straw put to these uses.

One point to note is that rice farmers in Central and East Java keep straw to feed animals. Feed is generally scarce when the rice fields have been planted with rice crops and so the straw becomes the prime feed available when green roughage cannot be found. The straw used is was generally stored for three to six months. It is most probable that the nutritive value of the straw may have improved during storage.

In irrigated rice fields, the availability of water allows farmers to immediately replant the land for the next planting season. If irrigation is not possible, particularly during the dry season, the uncultivated rice fields becomes excellent grassland area for cattle, and it is generally the case the animals are in a better condition. Collection of forages could take place 10 to 20 km away from the farm, but the amount collected by one farmer in one day will only be sufficient to meet the animals’ requirement for one to two days.

The implementation of pretreatment techniques is not popular since the relatively small amount of straw being collected can be fed to the animals for only a short period. One tonne of straw will only provide feed for about 50 days if the farmer has two head of cattle. Sheep and goat farmers do not feed straw to their animals. When collection of feed becomes a burden to the farmer, the selling of animals is the last resort to meet household financial needs.

FUTURE SCOPE

In looking into the future, the opportunities to produce local feed ingredients in an agribusiness setting must be taken into account. Chances exist to produce complete mixed rations for ruminant animals that include the provision of fibrous feed materials in the ration. The challenge for large scale feed milling operations will be to do this economically and to distribute the feed. There is always the opportunity to export a complete feed mix to neighbouring countries as they also face the pressure of limited land resources. With regard to this, Indonesia has the land resources in less populated islands like Sumatera, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya. For small scale operations, under a co-operative scheme, the type of production scheme could be managed by co-operatives that are equipped with a small processing unit. Individual farmers, raising only a small number of cattle or sheep and goats, could join the farmer’s co-operative in the distribution of the feed.

Of interest is the integrated production scheme in an Integrated Livestock-Estate-Crop Production Systems (ILEPS) approach. The vast plantation areas found in Indonesia, where the biomass growth under the estate trees provide excellent forage resources, has potential for such a scheme (Table 4.4).

The use of residues from pineapple canning is a good example of how to produce feed for ruminants from local materials. Results from rubber plantation areas in North Sumatra where sheep are raised under rubber trees suggest this could also become a promising production systems. The animals could utilise the forage biomass that has been regarded as weeds by the plantation operations. This material is, in fact, an excellent forage resource for ruminant animals. The shading provided by the trees also protects the animals from problems associated with heat stress. In the oil palm plantation areas, apart from the under growth, the supply of fibrous residues is abundant. The palm pressed fibre can be used, and the palm fronds (leaves and petiole) have been found to contain 15 per cent protein. When these are fed to cattle, the animals gained close to 900 gm per day. With the vast plantation areas, the scope for producing local feed material is wide open. For a feed mill operation, the problem of distribution may not present a big problem as long the selling price makes the approach viable for farmers. From the processing of estate crop products, residues such as palm kernel cake could also be fed to animals in limited amounts.

Table 4.4. Planted land area and production of estate crops, Indonesia

Crops	Large holder estate			Smallholder estate
	Number	Planted area (000 ha)	Production (000 ha)	Planted area (000 ha)	Production (kt)
Perennial Crops
Rubber	465	538.3	334.6	2942.0	1178.6
Coconut	265	137.6	52.8	3584.0	2651.2
Oil palm	457	1146.3	2569.5	722.5	1105.9
Coffee	157	46.7	26.5	1099.7	440.2
Cocoa	280	129.6	47.0	416.4	202.1
Tea	127	61.5	80.1	62.1*	36.6*
Kapok	24	6.4	0.4	278.7	69.3
Cinchona	7	2.2
Annual Crops
Tobacco	23	4.3	7.1	196.6	133.6
Sugar cane	72	400.0	2160.1
Rami/Rosella	13	6.9	4.9

Notes: *12% of land area can be used for grazing
Source: BPS (1996)

Over the centuries, small holder farmers have existed using feed materials found within the surrounding areas. That production systems could be regarded as a no cost feeding system. Hence, to compete with this type of production is very challenging. Almost all available feed materials have been used by small holder farmers. However, there will be changes with the increasing pressure to use land resources more efficiently. Farm animals need to have access to a sufficient and continuously available feed supply if they are to obtain a reasonably high production performance.

REFERENCES

Anonymous (1992) Evaluation of Agros Biological Additive on Low Sugar Autumn Ryegrass Silage. Final Report. Iger Welsh Plant Breeding Station. Plan Chemistry, Aberystwyth Dyfed Sy 423 3ed.

BPS (1996) Statistik Indonesia 1996. Biro Pusat Statistik Jakarta, Indonesia.

Djajanegara, A. (1981) Laporan Penelitian Introduksi Perlakuan Urea-Jerami Padi di Subang. Lembaga Penelitian Peternakan, Bogor, Indonesia.

Djajanegara, A. (1988) Intake and Digestion of Cereal Straws. PhD Dissertation. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Doyle, P.T., Devendra, C. and Pearce, G.R. (1986) Rice Straw as Feed for Ruminants, International Development Program of Australian Universities and Colleges Limited (IDP). Canberra, Australia.

Ibrahim, M.N.M. (1983) “Physical, Chemical, physico-cehmicaland biological treatments of crop residues”, in G.R. Pearce (ed.), The Utilisation of Fibrous Agricultural Residues, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia.

Kompiang, I P. et al. (1994) Casapro hasil pengkayan protein pada singkong sebagai pakan ernak. Balai Penelitian Ternak, Ciawi-Bogor, Indonesia.

Lynch, G.P. (1979) “Biological effects of mycotoxin on ruminants”, in: Proc. Symp. Interaction of Mycotoxins in Animal Production, National Academy of Science, Washington, D.C.

Rangkuti, M. and Djajanegara, A. (1995) Livestock feeding and adoption of technology by farmers in Indonesia. Paper presented at the International Seminar on Indigenous Feed Resources for Sustainable Livestock Productivity, June 20-25, The Philippines.

Sigit, Nur Aini, Lily A. Sofyan, S. Harini, A, Djajanegara and Sutama, I.K. (1998), Pengaruh pemberian asam siklopropenoat terhadap reproduksi pada kambing perah. Laporan Kerjasama Penelitian IPB-ARMP. Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Pertanian.

Sudaryanto, B., Kuswandi dan A. Djajanegara, (1983) Pengaruh pemetikan daun singkong terhadap produksi ubi dan daunnya untuk makanan ternak. Buletin Fakultas Peternakan, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Juni 1983, VI (1-4)-VII (1-2): 43-46.

Suharto (1997) Starbio. Paper presented at the “Pertemuan Ikatan Sarjana Ilmu-ilmu Peternakan Indonesia”, Fak. Peternakan Purwokerto, Indonesia.