Tri Satya Mastuti Widi

Current situation and future prospects for beef cattle production in Indonesia — A review

Increasing demand in developing countries for animal sources of food including red meat is predicted to double by 2050. In Indonesia, there has always been a gap between supply and demand of beef with national beef production only satisfying about 45% of demand. This paper aims to describe the current features and prospects for beef production systems in Indonesia. The first part of the article reviews and analyses Indonesian beef cattle production systems. The second part addresses issues related to the current systems for beef production that could become important for future development of the beef industry in Indonesia. Recommendations to improve breeding and reproduction, to empower smallholder farmers, to improve the capacity of industry-related institutions to enhance technology transfer, and to develop systems for industry development such as integration of palm oil or plantations with beef cattle production are briefly discussed.

Postpartum Oestrus Variation of Local Cows at a Village Breeding Centre in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

In order to improve the genetic quality and conserve Ongole cattle as one of the local cattle in Indonesia, the government has been developing village breeding centres in the selected areas. Performances of the cows in the breeding centres should be improved and better than in the conventional farms. Postpartum oestrus (PPE) is one of the indicators of reproductive performance. This study was aimed to investigate the PPE variation of Ongole cows belonging to smallholder farmers in village breeding centres. Thirty heifers in late period of pregnancy were selected and observed at calving until showed their PPE. The background and general information of the farmers, management of cattle keeping, feed intakes, body condition score (BCS), birth body weight and average daily gain of the calves before the cows showed PPE. The results showed that PPE of Ongole cows was largely ranged from 41 to 130 days, with an average of 103.53 ± 25.11 days after calving. If the PPE target is 90 days, only 25% have the standard of PPE. It was concluded that PPE of the Ongole cows in Yogyakarta Province was varied and might be a result from varied managements of cattle keeping by smallholder farmers and growth rate of their calves. If the management of cattle keeping by smallholder farmers didn’t upgrade, to improve the quality of Ongole cows based on PPE for breeding stocks, 75% of the cows have to be replaced with better cows.