UB’s Doctoral Team Serves Providing Feed Processing and Biosecurity Training to Livestock Groups in Bantur

Lecturers of Universitas Brawijaya (UB) collaborate with the community through Doctoral Service (DM) activities. The team consists of Dr.Ir. Kuswati, MS., IPM., ASEAN Eng (Faculty of Animal Husbandry), Dr.Ir. Hermanto, M.P., (Faculty of Animal Husbandry), Rizki Prafitri, S.Pt.,M.A.,Ph.D (Faculty of Animal Husbandry), Onni Meirezaldi, S.Sos.,M.M.  (Faculty of Administrative Sciences), and drh. Herlina Pratiwi, M.Si (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine).

They provided counseling to the Giri Jaya livestock group in Bantur, Malang Regency, Saturday (31/7/2022). In the manufacture of silage feed and concentrates, as well as the application of biosecurity. The activity was attended by all members of the Giri Jaya group and Field Extension Officers from the Livestock and Animal Health Office of Malang Regency.

“Silage is forage for animal feed that has been preserved so that it can become a spare feed during the dry season. The reason is that in that season the supply of fresh forage is limited and abundant during the rainy season.  In addition, the  silage method can help breeders not to have to look for grass every day.  ” explained Dr.  Kuswati

The process of making silage is to make fresh grass and then chopped into smaller pieces to support the fermentation process and make it easier for livestock to consume.  So a chopper machine is needed to make it easier to enumerate grass and forage. On that occasion, the DM team also gave the chopper machine to the Giri Jaya livestock group.

Meanwhile, training and skills in making constituent feed are carried out by utilizing local raw materials that are widely available on site.  The use of local ingredients can reduce the cost of feed used by farmers so that livestock business will be more efficient and livestock income can increase.

In addition, to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD) which later attacked rumination cattle, the team gave a biosecurity exposure, although none of the livestock in the Giri Jaya group had yet been exposed.

Procedures that need to be carried out include spraying disinfectants, washing hands, and dyeing footwear for farmers before entering the pen or approaching livestock, as well as spraying disinfectants around the cage after cleaning.  In addition, the equipment used in maintenance is also cleaned regularly and sprayed with disinfectants periodically.

“This method can avoid the spread of FMD virus, especially in healthy livestock,” said Dr. Kuswati

“However, in livestock that has been infected with FMD, it is recommended to receive vitamins and feed that can be easily digested such as cow porridge.  To speed up the recovery of the livestock can return to walking,” she said (team/dta)