Planning Long-Term Feed Supply

Feed is the highest cost component in animal husbandry with a share of about 70%. Thus, feed has an important role for the sustainability of the business. Planning in the provision of good feed will reduce the risk of failure, including a decrease in the production of these farms. Maintaining the high performance of the livestock industry is not an easy thing, of course, including maintaining the quality and quantity of the feed. Feed planning for long-term supply needs to be done carefully and comprehensively so that livestock business can be optimal. Seasonal factor is an important factor in the availability of the feed. The success rate and the amount of profit earned can also be predicted better.

In commercial business, ruminant feed, especially sheep, goats and cattle, is generally easier to obtain than poultry or chicken feed. Imports of soybean meal have been carried out for the poultry or chicken feed. Chicken meat is still ranked 1st as a source of animal protein in Indonesia with a portion of around 70%. Whereas for the ruminants above, generally the feed can be provided by local food sources such as grasses and legume plants. But along with the narrowing of the land that can be used for forage crops, the more limited the availability of feed for livestock, especially for pasture. This condition makes it difficult for ruminant farms to be developed in large capacities or industry-oriented. Energy plantations with an area of up to thousands of hectares are expected to be a solution for this.

The development of energy plantations itself is closely related to the use of renewable energy, especially biomass, both locally / domestically and globally. In line with the bioeconomy era, the use of fossil fuels as well as for the manufacture of various other products is reduced, so biomass will receive more attention and will be increasingly used. This should be in line with the growth of the ruminant livestock sector and the halal industry in general. Related to animal feed, there are 3 important things that need to be considered, namely nutrition, safety and sustainability. Apart from these factors, technological, logistics and good management factors also play an important role in the long-term sustainability of the feed supply. If all the elements of feed (fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, etc.) can be fulfilled from local / domestic sources so that the price is cheaper, the livestock business will be more competitive. Meanwhile, if it depends on imports, the cost of feed will be expensive and the livestock business will be less competitive so that the output of meat and milk products as a source of protein will also be expensive. And don't let the domestic animal feed production grow, say 5 times but imports of raw materials 15 times.