The Faculty of Animal Science UGM, in collaboration with the Prosperous Sleman Citizens' Prosperous Business Facilities Secondary Cooperative, organized the first semi-virtual dairy cow contest in Indonesia on 1 - 5 September 2020.
"The contest was held semi-virtual due to the Covid-19 pandemic," said UGM Faculty of Animal Science Lecturer, Ir. Yuni Suranindyah, MS., Ph.D., IPM., as the leader of the event on Sunday (13/9).
This activity was held in the context of implementing a Community Service Program based on the Utilization of Research Results and the Application of Appropriate Technology.
Each breeder group identifies and chooses livestock for the contest based on technical instructions uploaded on the Youtube channel in the early stages. She also added that this technical guideline is in the form of quantitative and qualitative measurements made by experts by taking into account the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) for dairy cows.
"Hopefully, this method is able to train breeders' ability to collect data on body size of dairy cows and the characteristics that reflect milk production," she explained.
The judging process and the winners' announcement were also held online and in-person with 72 cattle owned by breeders who are cooperative members.
According to Suranindyah, because the judging process was online, the cattle do not need to be transported to the contest location to avoid stress and production disruptions. Farmers also do not need to pay for transporting livestock. Besides, the real on-site assessment allows the judges to see the daily conditions of the farmers.
She revealed that this livestock contest was held to motivate breeders to produce quality dairy cow breeds and assist breeders in conducting seed screening within milk cooperatives' scope.
"The long-term goal of the cooperative is to be able to form a pattern for growing superior dairy cattle breeders independently. The quality of the seeds provided independently is better, guaranteed to be healthy and not infected with external diseases. You can choose the offspring of cows with high milk production," she explained.
Drs. H. Sri Purnomo, M.Sc., as a Sleman regent who attended the contest winners' announcement on Sunday (13/9), welcomed the dairy cow contest's holding. He also hopes that the community service activities by UGM Faculty of Animal Science in Sleman can remain to improve.
"We need still to optimize this cooperative. The hope is that with guidance from the UGM Faculty of Animal Husbandry, the dairy cows in Sleman have good quality so that the breeders will get better results," he said.
Dean of the Faculty of Animal Science UGM, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ali Agus, DAA., DEA., IPU., ASEAN. Eng said that the Faculty of Animal Science is committed to always supporting knowledge and technology transfer.
"The technological knowledge developed at UGM Faculty of Animal Science must be dispatched to the public, including dairy farmers since UGM is in Sleman," said Ali.
In this contest, the in-person assessment at the participant's location is carried out by applying strict standard health protocols. In contrast, the assessment from the qualitative aspects online is based on each cow's photos and the quantitative data measurement results.
Participants in the contest were members of the Sejahtera Citizen Business Facility Secondary Cooperative, which consisted of four dairy cooperatives, namely Warga Mulya, Sarono Makmur, Sapi Merapi Sejahtera (Samesta), and Kaliurang Farming and Milking Business (UPP). The livestock contest is divided into two categories, namely heifers and lactating cows.
Author: Gloria
Translator: Natasa A