Farm Management and Feed Technology training

Goal

We focused on improving skills and knowledge of the training participants (farmers) by educating them on better farming techniques and feed formulation for increased animal production. After return home, the knowledge and skill that they get can be applied.

Description

Nowadays, Indonesian Government focuses on increasing animal production, especially beef cattle to fulfill the domestic need for meat. In the beginning the project was arranged for dairy cattle but because of the new policy of the government, the target of this project changed. The target audience is now Beef Cattle Farmers who become member of “USAHA TANI II” Group and “USAHA TANI III” Group from Janggan Village, Magetan District, East Java.

Objectives and specific targets proposed by this program is to introduce small holder farmers to good farming management and applying feed technology in order to maintain the availability of feed throughout the year and to increase the feed quality. The courses were held in Janggan Village for two days. Day 1 was for a class session and day 2 was for practical work. Our team conducted routine monitoring for 6 months to evaluate the progress of the farmers regarding application of feed technology and applying good farming management.

This project is supported by the Higher Education Directorate Of Indonesia.

Results

We tried to introduce good farming management in order to increase animal production and feed technology to solve the scarcity of feed during the dry season. The first 6 months we had a monthly remote evaluation. After 6 months we visited the farmers to evaluate the impact of our training. From 34 farmers 15% were making silage to preserve the surplus of grass production during rainy session. Furthermore, 10% applied Urea Molasses Blocked (UMB) as a supplement. However, they only gave UMB as a supplement to their cows during the training (1 month). After the stock of UMB was out, most of them never tried to produce it by themselves. The farmers who continued to give UMB to their cattle preferred to purchase it rather than to prepare it themselves. So, it became a new opportunity for the farmer groups to produce UMB and to sell it to their members.