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Renewable energy driven chopper of ruminant livestock fodder in Turi hamlet for the increase of cow milk production and improvement of the quality of ruminants
Project leader: Hariyo Priambudi Setyo Pratomo
Level of education and university: Master, The University of Queensland
Collaborating Organisations: -
Project Location: Activities of the proposed project will take place at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering of Petra Christian University and Turi hamlet situated at the very end of Geger village in the Sendang sub-district of Tulungagung district.
Activity Type: Research & Development and innovation
Sector: Animal Husbandry, Livestock Management
Project Rationale:
Turi hamlet is one of five hamlets located at the very end of Geger village in the Sendang sub-district of Tulungagung district, East Java. Most people in the remote area work in the farming and husbandry of ruminant animals. Almost of villagers in the region have dairy cows and goats. There are around 1,250 dairy cows and 700 goats. Milking of dairy cows is done manually every morning and evening. Meanwhile, goat farming produces meat goats which are sold. The hamlet produces around 12,500 litres of milk a day; making it East Java’s biggest producer of cow’s milk in 2021, according to the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. Furthermore, the Department of Animal Husbandry in East Java also reported that Tulungagung district was the third highest producer of cow’s milk in 2021 (as shown in the table) even though farming communities in Turi hamlet have been cultivating their livestock in a conservative way. With the high population of dairy cows in the hamlet, Tulungagung district thereby has the potential to increase cow milk production to establish better economic growth, in particular economic recovery after COVID-19. When looking back to 2019, the rate of economic growth in Tulungagung district was 5.32%. However, in 2020 the rate of economic growth in the district was markedly contracted until reaching -3.09%. In spite of that, in 2021 the rate of economic growth significantly rebounded to 3.53% as recently reported by Indonesian Government of East Java. Therefore, it is expected that economic growth in Tulungagung district could return to the same level as before the COVID-19 pandemic.
District/city Cow milk production (kg)
- Pasuruan 160,836,412
- Malang 142,966,104
- Tulungagung 49,510,354
- Blitar 34,313,406
- Batu 23,368,225
The crucial issues faced by villagers in Turi hamlet can be grouped into three problems.
- The first problem is efficient feeding for ruminant animals. Cow and goat forage can be either weed or elephant grass or any other plants that are usually consumed as fodder. In Turi hamlet, livestock forage is usually fed to cows and goats without being chopped. In fact, cows and goats are ruminant animals which should consume fine forage owing to their digestive systems. As a result, cows and goats take extra time in masticating their rough fodder and this can upset their digestion. In turn, milk productivity and the quality of ruminants can dwindle.
- The second problem is that the supply of livestock fodder during the rainy season is quite abundant but this is not the case in the dry season. Because of the lack of livestock forage during hot season, goat husbandry communities even sell their goats in order to obtain sufficient supply of livestock fodder. This situation has been common in Turi hamlet. However, if cow and goat farmers employed an animal fodder chopper, they could make fine forage and then store it to be consumed in dry season. Furthermore, fine fodder can also be fermented to be combined with probiotics. So far, ruminant animal farmers in Turi hamlet have not implemented fermentation of fodder. It has been widely accepted that fermented fodder, which in its production process requires finely chopped forage, when mixed with probiotics, would result in better quality of ruminant animals. On top of that, livestock fodder which is not chopped is not well digested by cows and goats and ends up wasted. Some animal farmers explain that if animal forage is well chopped then cows and goats eat so that fodder is not left or wasted. Therefore, the dairy cows would produce more milk, and the quality of meat goats and cows would also be better. This could also improve the health of cows and goats where foot and mouth disease has been rampant recently.
- The third problem is that people of the hamlet struggle every day with the limited supply of electric power. An average of only 900 VA is supplied to each household. Most farmers of dairy cows in the area milk their cows manually and only a few farmers have automatic milking machines which consume 220 to 500 VA of electricity. In addition, the installed electric voltage in average is below a standard value, i.e. 220 V and for daily use the peak load of the voltage can fall markedly to only 120 V. When such a substantial fall occurs, the milking machines cannot be operated. Consequently, some dairy farmers employ oil fueled-electric generators. However, this has a cost burden for them, as every hour needs around one liter of the most expensive type of fuel preferred by cow farmers.
Based on its latitude, Turi hamlet gets a lot of sunlight exposure. Other renewable energy resources such as the river, biomass, biogas, are also abundant in the region but they are still not used to support household needs and livestock farming activity. As the first stage for economic recovery after COVID-19 as well as economic growth in Tulungagung district, and with the capacity for ample sunlight exposure in Turi hamlet, this project proposes the development of a solar energy-powered chopper of ruminant fodder. From the aforementioned background perspective, this project is crucial for the mitigation of the first and second problems; thus the increase in cow’s milk production and the improvement of quality of ruminant animals in the hamlet can be established through the supply of finely chopped forage. What is more, the stock of fine fodder for ruminants both encourages the realisation of fermented forage and the abundant supply of livestock forage in dry season. Therefore animal farmers could save their time, effort, and income for productive activity such as developing a new business in the supply of fermented fodder for ruminants.
Project Beneficiaries:
The project will train dairy cow and goat meat farmers in Turi hamlet in cultivating their ruminant livestock with a solar energy-powered chopper for ruminant forage.
Priority Development Area:
Economic Recovery
Link with Australian organisation:
Not available
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