Dear Elaine,

> When I think of your materials flow, it seems to me that it doesn't take
> enough factors into account- I don't know much about cattle
> as will be obvious- but I suppose that if your cattle are to be held
> for 100 days, you will handle about 350 a year-at what age are these
> cattle killed- that is,  how long are cattle owners raising them
> before they come to you

The cattle come in at around 18 months of age at 250 kg and are fed to
350 kg before their second birthday.

> - and where are they now- are these cattle
> newly introduced to Bali- if so, what do they displace?

Bali cattle (Bos sundaicus) are indigenous to eastern Indonesia. Hinduism
arrived in Bali perhaps a thousand years ago from India and was preserved
there after Islam overtook most of Java around 5-6 centuries ago. So the
local people venerate cattle to an extent, but they are not above eating
them (unlike Hindus in India) ; only the Brahmin caste cannot eat beef. The
cattle certainly don't displace anything; they have been a feature of Bali
agriculture for many centuries.

> and if they
> are now in Bali, what is the advantage of concentrating them in a feedlot
> instead of feeding them where they have lived    up to then?

Advantages are:

(1) Meat quality: we seek to reach suitable market weight at young age,
while meat colour is still light, tenderness is still acceptable, and
flavour is still pleasant. Village-raised cattle using the standard
cut-and-carry system are often 3-4 year old before reaching market weight,
and so their meat qualities are often unacceptable to the consumer, being
too strong tasting, dark, tough and dry.

(2) Meat yield; it costs a fixed amount to slaughter, dress and bone out a
beast. Lot-fed specimens will give us an extra 5% saleable meat product per
carcass compared to ordinary village cattle.

(3) Cost of gain. Given high interest rates at present (27%), acceptable
cost of liveweight gain compared to cut-and-carry systems due to rapid
weight gain and consequent turnover is a factor.

(3) Quality assurance. All cattle can be guaranteed to be free of anthrax
due to vaccination at entry into the feedyard; anthrax is a major consumer
fear in Indonesia amongst the middle class meat consumer. We can also
assure that cattle slaughtered haven't received antibiotics within the
normal slaughter withholding periods that any antibiotics may carry.

>Whether  its a question of adding  350 cattle per year to Bali or of
>concentrating them in one place, the problems of waste disposal are
>actually created by the project- is there a point in raising cattle in
>a crowded largely vegetarian or at least non-beef eating society?

That is a good question and I'm glad you asked. The Balinese are
"vegetarian" only if they can't afford to eat meat. If they have the money,
they will buy meat, chicken and eggs, like most poor folks in south-east
Asia, but if they don't have the cash they get by on tofu and dried fish as
their protein sources, by necessity rather than choice. Bali farmers get a
great deal of prestige out of raising their few head of cattle a year, and
given the lack of faith in banks, it serves also as "cash on the hoof", so
I don't have a problem in working within existing social norms for this
community. Bali IS crowded, so breeding systems are largely cut-and-carry
with stock on tethers, rather than free grazing.

The point to raising cattle in Bali, apart from prestige and utilisation of
poor quality crop residues, is to make money.  Indonesians are pragmatic
people; the Muslim pig farmers in Java who sell pigs to service the market
for affluent Chinese-Indonesian consumers are a case in point. Even if the
end product is something they don't like or can't afford to eat, if they
can make a living producing it, they'll make accommodations.

I can understand that some vegetarian participants in the conference may
see the project as a "problem", and I don't want to get into philosophical
fights about that; I respect your view but I don't necessarily agree. I see
it as a way of making money in the long term, and working with local
communities so that they can make a good  living also, while being
innovative about waste management so that we don't harm the environment (or
even enhance it), and even make money that way too.

Best wishes,
--
Dr.Simon E.F. Appleby B.V.Sc., M.V.St.
Managing Director