BANTUL – A research group from Faculty of Veterinary Medicine conducts reproductive health education and dissemination of appropriate technology in the form of utilization of fermented rice straw as cattle feed. Mentoring program in quality improvement and livestock capacity is applied to the 'Sidodadi' farmer group in West Kepuh hamlet, Wirokerten, Banguntapan, Bantul regency.
Dr. drh. Yanuartono, MP said that the utilization of fermentation straw is intended to help farmers who have difficulty in getting forage feed during the dry season. In addition, farmers are encouraged to make use of straw waste which is abundant during rice harvest season. "More importantly, farmers do not need to spend more time to collect grass, so they can use their spare time for other work," Yanuar said on the sidelines of the briefing, Friday (3/8).
He described the making of fermented feed is fairly simple. Mix the dry straw with polar in a ratio of 10: 2, added with enough water. The mixture of polar and straw is put into the tube to be fermented for a week. "The cow feed is ready for harvest, indicated by a fragrant aroma and unchanged texture," he said.
This feed, according to Yanuar, accelerates the absorption of nutrients in cow’s body, beecause the cow takes fermentation time of the whole foods in the rumen. "This alternative feed has already undergone fermentation," he said.
Drh. Erif Maha Nugraha in the briefing explained the amount of cow feeding every day is at least 10 percent of the total weight. When the feed given is less than 10 percent, it will disrupt the reproductive health of cattle. "If feeding is difficult, the reproductive system will be damaged," the professor of Obstetric and Gynecology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine UGM, said.
Hartono, 35, a farmer, said the mentoring conducted by UGM researchers have been running for three years. Some results of appropriate technology have been used directly by farmers including regular health check-up, the use of manure waste to be processed into biogas and organic fertilizer. "Biogas has been used by us for the cattle," he said.
Meanwhile, the fermented feed has just been introduced. He said the feed is considered sufficient to become an alternative to livestock feed. "The cattle like so now I regularly make it," he said.