Ceny Ramm – Regional Director, Northern
Across the feedlots we visited, we saw cattle that were content, inquisitive, very well fed, fat and shiny!
But equally impressive were the people working with them.
There was a noticeable sense of pride among the stockmen and women responsible for the cattle. They knew their animals, understood their behaviour and were proud to explain how they were handled and managed.
At JJAA in South Lampung, we had our first opportunity to see Australian cattle in market on a significant scale.
The operation accommodates feeder, breeder and dairy cattle and was an impressive introduction to the scale and diversity of the Indonesian feedlot industry.
After changing our shoes and clothing as part of JJAA’s biosecurity protocols, we headed into the feedlot to see how the cattle were managed and fed and speak directly with the people responsible for their daily care.
The facilities were impressive – enormous sheds, fresh bedding and full feed troughs, with outside pens allowing cattle to be rotated out while the main pens were cleaned.
Modern feed wagons and commodity handling facilities supported the feeding operation, and the cattle even had a pretty impressive view across the gully.
For all the infrastructure and scale, what stood out was how settled the cattle were and the obvious pride the staff took in looking after them.
We also visited GGL feedlot, where cattle production is integrated with other agricultural enterprises. Agricultural by-products including pineapple and cassava form part of the cattle feed ration, turning what would otherwise be waste into a valuable value adding resource.
Our final feedlot visit was with AAM in Jakarta, where the cattle were being specifically prepared for Indonesia’s modern market.
We learnt about research being undertaken to better understand and enhance eating quality through management across the entire production process – from feeding and cattle management in the feedlot, right through to processing and preparation of the final product.
We were lucky enough to sample AAM’s beef on our final night. After seeing firsthand the work going into producing a quality end product, we got to experience the result for ourselves and it was delicious!
The Indonesian livestock industry isn’t new to Australian cattle. They have decades of experience importing them, feeding them, managing them and adapting their operations as markets and conditions have changed.
The abattoirs we visited continued that impression.
They were professional, well oiled operations with animal welfare at the forefront.
We were able to follow cattle from lairage, through livestock handling, onto the kill floor and through to processing. Nothing was off limits.
For a group of cattlemen, animal welfare was obviously something we were watching closely. The cattle were incredibly well handled, the facilities and processes were well managed, and what we saw exceeded all of our expectations.
The businesses took great pride in showing us their operations, and I think some of the staff secretly enjoyed having an audience there to watch them show their skills.
Taken together, the feedlots and processing facilities gave us a real appreciation for the maturity of the Indonesian cattle industry, not only in the infrastructure and systems, but in the knowledge and experience of the people working within them.
Recognising familiar cattle brands thriving thousands of kilometres from home was pretty special.
English was scarce at times, but we quickly discovered there is a shared language among good cattle people, regardless of which side of the Timor Sea you’re standing on.
The pride in their cattle, the care they showed them and the big smiles while doing it are pretty universal – and we recognised them immediately.
