The prolonged dry season in recent months has caused sudden collapses of cattle in several areas in Java. Lecturer of the UGM Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, drh. Surya Agus Prihatna, M.P, believes the cows are experiencing nutritional deficiencies. He mentions that about 10-15 percent of collapsed cow cases occur in each region. "We expect about 10-15 percent of cows collapsed," said drh. Surya Agus Prihatna, M.P. which met on the sidelines of Workshop on Reproductive Disorders and Caesaria Section on Cow, which was held at the Prof. Soeparwi Animal Hospital, Tuesday (25/10).
Based on his observation, some areas that are experiencing many cases of collapsed cows are Bantul, Sleman, Blora, and Wonogiri. One symptom of collapsed cow is that cows are unable to stand again and always lie down. In addition, pretty drastic weight loss occurs. "Breeders directly sell his cow at a low price," he said.
Apart from the feed difficulty, low cow price in the market is another reason of farmers’ reluctance to seek quality feed for their cow. It is possible that the purchase cost of feed is not worth the price of live cattle.
He also proposed to the government to assist farmers by providing food aid, especially forage. Because the difficulty of forage feed source also encourages farmers to use any feed available. While in fact, the feed is risked to be contaminated by source of disease. "I found that in 10 inbreeding cows, about 60 percent of them are infected by aspergillus fungus. This is because of feed," he added. Because it was infected by fungus, most likely the cows are experiencing abortion.
Director of Prof. Soeparwi Animal Hospital, Prof. Dr. drh. Ida Tjahajati, MS, said many cases of cow reproductive disorders found in the field due to feed problem that caused the death of calf or even the parent. "Of course, this is very detrimental to farmers," she said.
To solve the case of collapsed cow and reproductive problems in cows, her party held a workshop presenting veterinarian practitioners from different regions to help deal with reproductive disorders in cow. Some veterinarians invited are from Yogyakarta, Magelang, Semarang, Demak, Wonogiri, Klaten, Banjarnegara, Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, and Riau.