Strategies to improve local beef cattle industry supply chains during the pandemic of Covid-19

Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of the local fresh-food supply chains especially with respect to food that cannot be stored or where access to overseas sources is closed. Meat is one fresh-food commodity greatly affected. Beef production is one of the most effective commodities for alleviating poverty for smallholders and if they can more directly participate in the supply chain, they can reap good financial rewards. Farmers usually formulate cattle feed rations on cheapest cost inputs, rather than on a least cost basis which still meets metabolisable energy (ME), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) requirements. The ACIAR project, Profitable feeding strategies for smallholder cattle in Indonesia, has investigated rations that promote high live weight gain and low feed conversion (FCE, kg feed/kg gain) and determined that high ME rations are required at high intakes if low FCE and high income over food costs (IOFC) are to be achieved. The prices and availability of ration ingredients vary markedly across Indonesia and so a flexible system of ration formulation is required to take advantage of local price fluctuations. A Least Cost Ration (LCR) formulator and a least cost App (Beefupp) have been developed which can be used by entrepreneurial farmers, co-operatives and small commercial feed companies to formulate and alter rations quickly as circumstances change. The application of these principles has led to two-fold increases in IOFC for farmers. Government support for farmer led initiatives in the grinding, formulating, mixing and/or pelleting will support effective local co-operatives, farmer groups or small commercial feed companies.