UGM Make Burger for Cow Victims Merapi

The research team Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Gadjah Mada University has developed a "burger" feed cattle owned by residents of Mount Merapi eruption victims in Yogyakarta and Central Java.

"Burger feed cows to cope with the threat of shortage of fodder. Tens of thousands of cattle in Yogyakarta and Central Java who were evacuated from the disaster the current eruption of Merapi threatened shortage of feed," said team coordinator, Ali Agus, in Yogyakarta, on Thursday (11/11/2010) .

According to him, feed the cow burger is a mixture of various ingredients are mixed so that sufficient nutrients and do not need additional livestock feed ingredients include forages except drinking water.

"Burger cow feed made with raw materials as much as 70 percent of rice straw, wheat bran or wheat pollard (20 percent), molasses and microbial solution (10 percent) to assist the fermentation process," he said.
He said the selection of main feed ingredients derived from rice straw because the price is still relatively cheap and easily available to victims of cattle Merapi.

In fact, for the process of fermentation only lasts 24 hours so it is relatively fast when compared with silage forage feed production technology that takes three weeks.

According to him, the fermentation process "burger" or "complete feed" feed the cow will be successful is marked with a fragrant aroma and texture has not changed or remained the same as the original and does not arise mushrooms.

Manufacturing techniques are also quite easy. After the rice straw and wheat pollard material mixed evenly and then molasses (molasses sugar cane) that has been mixed with microbial solution is splashed on it evenly.
"Furthermore, these compounds included the size of 25-30 kilograms of plastic and tightly bound. Food that can be stored up to six months," he said.

He said, "burger" is a solution to overcome the shortage of cattle feed threat Merapi disaster victims. Moreover, to meet food needs is not easy.

To meet the needs of 65,000 cattle forage minimum required 1300 tons per day if each tail requires an average of 20 pounds per cow per day.

"Similarly, for the needs of feed concentrates, if every cow on average five kilograms per head per day, it is necessary to concentrate as much as 325 tons per day," he said.

According to him, "burger" that cow feed has been distributed around two tonnes of dairy cows to shelter locations in the field Tlogoadi, Mlati, Sleman. Based on observation, the cow like animal feed.

"We are optimistic that if the technology will be adopted to reduce the problem of food insecurity during the crisis of Merapi. Every day now produced about two tons of burgers," he said.

He said the fast food production could be increased significantly. Steps that need to be done is to transfer technology to the farmers and the manufacturing process can be done at a location close to shelter livestock.
"It could give ranchers activity which is also displaced so as not saturated in the evacuation," he said.