Export of Sheep and Animal Feed Pellets to Algeria

Algeria plans to import up to 1 million sheep to meet the needs of Eid al-Adha. This is because domestic demand is large while domestic supply is insufficient. This is because in recent years there has been a drought, which has resulted in a shortage of animal feed and an increase in feed costs. And because animal feed is a major component in the livestock sector, the shortage of feed and the increase in feed costs will have a major impact on the sheep products that produce meat. The price of sheep and lamb meat has become very high. By choosing to import in large quantities, the government aims to overcome the shortage of supply in the market and suppress the sharp increase in livestock prices.

Indonesia has the opportunity to become an exporter of these sheep. As long as feed is available, sheep farming will not experience significant obstacles. These sheep feeds can be attempted in many places in Indonesia, even with a tropical climate, producing sheep feed should not be difficult. Moreover, currently a number of energy plantations have been created with these energy plantation plants also producing animal feed from their leaves such as calliandra and gliricidia. The area of ​​these energy plantations which reaches tens of thousands of hectares will also produce a lot of sheep feed. It is also possible to export feed pellets in the form of these leaf pellets, and while the wood from these energy plantations is used for the production of wood pellets. 

Source : Hidayatullah

Optimizing Calliandra Energy Plantations for Energy, Food and Feed, Is It Possible?

Calliandra energy plantations as the name implies are indeed prioritized or for the main purpose of producing energy from biomass, either wood pellets or just wood chips. This is because wood is the main product of the energy plantation, while leaves and flower nectar are by-products or are considered waste from the wood pellet or wood chip business. However, if the use of leaves for animal feed and flower nectar for honey production has an economic value that approaches or even exceeds the wood pellet product, then it will be a different story. Calliandra leaves, like indigofera leaves and glicidia / gamal leaves, have a high protein content, while this protein element is the most expensive source of nutrition of all the elements in animal feed products, while calliandra honey is one of the best quality honeys compared to other honey products such as acacia honey, kapok honey, rubber honey and so on.

Synchronization between honey and wood production is very important in the energy plantation to maximize profit. In honey production, the first time the calliandra flowers and the next flower cycle are very important. Don't let it be that just because of ignorance of the flower cycle, many benefits that should have been obtained are lost. In addition, for sustainable and optimal honey production, not only calliandra nectar is needed, but also a number of certain plants as support, both for additional bee feed and for making beehives. When all that is available is calliandra nectar, honey production will be maximized but will not be sustainable because the bee colony will shrink and then disappear. This is the importance of plantation engineering with a number of species or types of certain plants if honey production is also an important product in the calliandra plantation-based business.

Calliandra leaves in abundance will automatically be obtained when the calliandra trees are cut down or harvested. The calliandra leaves need to be separated from the wood and twigs to be used for animal feed. Animal feed products from calliandra leaves can be in the form of fresh leaves or processed leaves in the form of pellets, or hay. This makes it possible to have a leaf pellet factory in addition to the wood pellet factory. With an estimated leaf volume of 1/4 of the wood but the price of leaf pellets is around 3 times the price of wood pellets. So the profit from utilizing leaves into pellets (leaf pellets) is very large, estimated at 1/2 to 3/4 of the wood pellet turnover. This is certainly a serious consideration and cannot be ignored.

A comprehensive understanding of calliandra plantations for energy, food and feed is indeed very important to maximize profits from calliandra plantation-based businesses. This will encourage the calliandra energy plantation to grow further. In addition, the legality aspect and land selection for the location of the calliandra plantation. This is because, especially for wood pellet products in general, it is for export orientation and especially for Japan and Europe, environmental or sustainability certification is very important and even required so that the legality aspect (which is clear and clean) and land selectivity according to its designation including the history of the land are also very important. So optimizing calliandra energy plantations for energy, food and feed is possible if the terms and conditions are met.

Unlike Honeybees, Why Does the Development of Energy Plantations Get Little Attention from the Goat/Sheep and Cattle Livestock Industry?

Along with the global decarbonization trend, energy plantations are increasingly developing in Indonesia. The creation of these energy plantations has the main purpose of producing biomass fuels such as wood chips and wood pellets. Wood chip production because it is easier and the production equipment is easier and cheaper is usually done before wood pellet production and for more details can be read here. In addition to the use of wood as the main product of energy plantations, by-products that can be produced from energy plantations are animal feed from the use of leaves and honey from honey bee farms. And with the utilization of all parts of the tree (whole tree utilization), the energy plantation-based business is not only more profitable, but can also remain sustainable.

The honey production that can be produced from the development of energy plantations will also be very large, namely tons or even hundreds to thousands of tons in proportion to the area of ​​the energy plantation. Moreover, the plants cultivated are red calliandra whose nectar will produce one of the best quality honey. Regarding the development of the energy plantation, even API (Indonesian Beekeeping Association) responded optimistically to the development of the energy plantation, because in the next 5 years it is targeted that honey production will increase by 300% so that the import of tens of thousands of tons of honey from China can be reduced and even be sufficient, more details read here. In addition to honey, several derivative products will also be produced from honey bee farming, namely royal jelly, bee pollen, bee wax and bee venom which also have many benefits. The motto "Gertakanlah" namely the Bee Feed Planting Movement is very much in line with the development of this energy plantation.

But this condition is different from the world of animal husbandry, especially ruminant livestock, namely goats/sheep and cattle. In fact, Indonesia's meat needs are also very large, most of which are still met by imports. Unlike beekeeping which is responsive to the development of the global decarbonization trend, namely more specifically with the energy plantation, the world or livestock industry players have not responded to this, even though the production of feed from this energy plantation will also be very large. Even the main element of animal feed from red calliandra leaves is protein and protein is the most expensive element of animal feed nutrition. In addition, with this livestock, it is also possible for integration to occur as in the diagram above. Integration will provide optimal benefits and production becomes efficient, thus providing even greater benefits.

Leaf Pellets from Energy Plantations

Calliandra leaf pellets
With an estimated leaf volume of 1/4 of the wood but the price of leaf pellets is around 3 times the price of wood pellets. So the profit from utilizing leaves into pellets (leaf pellets) is very big, estimated at 1/2 to 3/4 of the turnover of wood pellets. Whereas calliandra leaves are usually only considered by-products or waste in energy plantations.

And almost the same as gliricidia leaf pellets, if these plants are planted in the energy plantation.

As a reference for indigofera zollingeriana leaf pellets:

Both calliandra, gliricidia and indigofera are groups of legume plants whose leaves are suitable for animal feed rich in protein. Protein is the most expensive nutrient element in animal feed.

Don't Choose The Wrong Machine: Wood Pelletizer With Feed Pelletiser, and Wood Extruder With Charcoal Extruder

The visual appearance alone can sometimes be unbelievable. Two things can visually appear the same or very similar but turn out to be different. This often happens in the production of wood pellets and wood briquettes (pini kay briquette / uncarbonised briquette). And what's worse, this machine is the heart of the industrial production process, namely the pelletiser in the wood pellet industry and the extruder in the wood briquette industry (pini kay briquette / uncarbonised briquette). So that errors in selecting the machine can also have fatal consequences, namely not only is the production target not achieved, even the product in question is not successfully produced. This is why the buyer or user of the machine must be careful about the machine that will be purchased and used.

In the wood pellet industry, mistakes often occur, namely pelletisers are used for animal feed but are used for wood pellets. As a result, wood pellets may not be formed at all because the power for feed pelletisers is much smaller compared to pelletisers for wood or wood pellet production. Offers of cheap prices often make buyers or users tempted and do not look further, so that as a result they will be disappointed.

Likewise in the wood briquette industry (pini kay briquette / uncarbonised briquette). Wood extruders also have much larger motors than charcoal extruders. Briquettes produced with a wood extruder apart from not requiring additional adhesive are also denser and harder due to the use of a high-powered motor. The mistake that can occur is that a charcoal extruder is used for a wood extruder and this also usually happens because the price is cheaper. The briquettes produced from the wood extruder can then also be made into charcoal, producing the final product in the form of charcoal briquettes. Although charcoal briquette production using a charcoal extruder will also produce this product, the process route and product quality are different. Below is the route for the charcoal briquette production process.

The raw material used in route 1 is wood dust such as sawdust which is then pressed or compacted with a wood extruder. With strong pressure and high heat, no additional adhesive is needed, but lignin, which is a natural polymer found in wood, acts as an adhesive. The resulting briquettes can then be charcoaled in a carbonization furnace and the final product is charcoal briquettes. Meanwhile, in route 2, the raw materials are charcoaled or carbonized first, then the charcoal is mixed with adhesive, usually starch and pressed or compacted using a charcoal extruder. The use of additional adhesive is because in charcoal, lignin has been decomposed in the previous carbonization or carbonization process. The final product produced is charcoal briquettes. The quality of the charcoal briquettes in the route 1 process is better than the route 2 process because apart from being denser so the burning time is longer as well as the heat produced.

So, in order not to make the wrong choice, buyer / user have to be careful and precise about the specifications of the machine, as well as knowing the raw materials and production process and don't be easily tempted by offers of cheap prices. The greater the production capacity, the greater the need for pelletiser and extruder equipment, so that if the wrong choice occurs, the risk is fatal, because these machines are expensive. It is also important to note that the equipment purchased also comes from a manufacturer that has been tested so that it has reliable performance.

Selecting Sheep Species for Animal Husbandry

In general, there are two ideal types of sheep, namely the meat type and the wool type. The type of wool sheep is currently not in demand by breeders in Indonesia. This is probably because meat production is still a top priority and Indonesia's tropical climate is not suitable for wearing wool. Based on these conditions, the selection of meat sheep is more suitable for Indonesian conditions. Moreover, coupled with the demand for meat in Indonesia that has not been met. The demand for lamb meat for aqiqah and satay stalls/restaurants is still largely unfulfilled. In addition, the need for Eid al-Adha which is celebrated by Muslims every year can double. The need for exports is no less large, even reaching millions of head each year, such as during the Hajj season for the dam it is estimated that the need will reach 2 million heads.

Southdown sheep

Sheep of the meat or slaughter type have the following characteristics: dense body shape, wide and deep chest, short neck, and straight back and waist lines. In addition, it also has short legs and the whole body is densely muscled. Some of the sheep that belong to the meat type include Southdown, Hampshire and Oxford. Indonesian native sheep cannot be classified into one of the ideal types of the two types above. Even so, sheep in Indonesia generally tend to the type of slaughter or meat. Several sheep are considered native to Indonesia because they have long been cultivated in Indonesia, namely the thin-tailed sheep, fat-tailed sheep, Garut sheep, Wonosobo sheep (dombos) and Batur sheep. 

Dorper sheep

Improvement of genetic quality to increase livestock productivity is also carried out through crossbreeding, for example Suffmer sheep resulting from crossing Merino sheep and Suffolk sheep, then St Croix sheep resulting from crossing West African sheep with local sheep in the Virginia islands in the United States, then Katahdin sheep the result of crossing 3 types of sheep namely St. Croix with Suffolk and Shire sheep. And the popular sheep in Indonesia recently namely Dorper is a cross between the Black Head Persian sheep and the Dorset Horn sheep.

Sheep and goats, although they are quite similar, are actually (species) different. A number of regions in Indonesia have a favorite menu of sheep while other areas have goats. The Special Region of Yogyakarta is an area that has a favorite menu of lamb meat, and you can find lots of stalls or restaurants serving lamb dishes, especially satay. Uniquely in Yogyakarta, even though the name of the stall reads goat satay, the fact is that what is slaughtered or used is lamb. Meanwhile, in areas that are developing Bali cattle breeding, sheep cannot be kept or are prohibited from being raised for fear of Jembrana disease. Areas such as the provinces of South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan are examples of areas where sheep farming is prohibited because it breeds Bali cattle.

Large-scale sheep farming has been carried out in Europe and this should also be done in Indonesia. Integrating sheep farms with energy plantations is a surefire way to create these massive sheep farms. Wood from energy plantations will be a wood pellet product with an export orientation. According to Hawkins Wright's data, from 2020-'21, the demand for wood pellets for the global industry grew by 18.4%, with production only growing 8.4%, especially now with the disappearance of Russia whose volume reached nearly 3 million tons, more details can be read here. While the leaves are used for animal feed, especially sheep farming or it can also be processed into animal feed products such as feed pellets. With the global population predicted to reach 9 billion people in 2050, the need for food, especially protein such as meat, is also increasing as the population increases. Sheep farming and animal feed production are very important as part of fulfilling this food, especially protein, for more details can be read here.