Cattle Production on Small Holder Farms in East Java, Indonesia: II. Feeds and Feeding Practices

A survey on feeding practices was conducted with thirty-one cattle farmers belonging to three categories: households without land and no income from agricultural labour (Class 100;10 farms), households without land but deriving considerable income from agricultural labour (Class 101;10 farms), and households with land and without income from agricultural labour (Class 110;11 farms). Information on the types of feeds given of one year. In addition, samples of the feeds offered and refused were collected every two weeks and analysed for dry matter, organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and in vitro organic matter digestibility (OMD). Grass was usually cut at an early stage of growth, as such the CP(11.8%) and OMD (62%) were relatively high. All types of rice straw (whole, lower and upper part) and sugarcane forage (tops and leaves) were low in CP (<6 and <8.9%, respectively) and OMD (<45 and <47%, respectively). Rice bran and tofu waste was of much better quality than any other feed. The average number of different feeds in the rations (mean of all farms) was 1.98, with a lower value for class 101 (1.80), than for classes 100 and 110 (2.11 and 2.02, respectively). Of the total amount of OM consumed, 42% was rice straw, 21% grass, 19% maize forage, 10% sugarcane forage, <4% other forages (soya and groundnut straw), 1.3% rice bran and 2.9% tofu waste. The total amount of OM offered varied from <80 $g/kg^{0.75}/d$ in August/September to 1.5 times as much in May (P<0.01). The intake of digestible organic matter (IDOM) for farm class 110 ($37.7g/kg^{0.75}/d$) was significantly (p<0.001) lower than that for classes 100 and 101 (44.1 and $41.3g/kg^{0.75}/d$, respectively). The highest CP/IDOM ratio was recorded for farm class 101 (0.201 as compared to 0.181-0.184).