Pangalengan farmer adopts ad libitum water trough
After seeing the success from a neighbour participating in the IndoDairy project, Pak Hermansyah took his own initiative to invest in an ad libitum water trough.
An example of the previous watering system that Pak Hermansyah had for his cows before the upgrade.
Pak Hermansyah is a smallholder dairy farmer in Pangalengan, West Java, and although he was not a direct participant of the project he observed the benefits from his neighbour, Bu Yani. At her farm in Bojonwaru village, Pangalengan an ad libitum water trough was installed as part of the IndoDairy Nutrition Study, with assistance from the Indonesian Centre for Animal Research and Development (ICARD).
During this study, ICARD provided the materials and guidance to modify the shed design and nearby farmers were able to see the positive impact of the water trough on farm production.
In addition to participating in the Nutrition Study, Bu Yani was also a participant of the IndoDairy Discussion Group (DG) in the Bojongwaru village, where she was able to share her learnings with Pak Hermansyah and other farmers. Then in March 2020 Pak Hermansyah was inspired to make the change on his farm, and build an ad libitum water system for his herd of 3 milking cows and 1 heifer.
The ad libitum water troughs built on Pak Hermansyah's farm.
Deciding to build a water trough requires a large upfront capital cost, which can be a barrier for many smallholder farmers. However, Pak Hermansyah saw the benefit and was able to finance this himself. In total it he paid Rp 3.5million (approximately $350AUD) to build the water trough on his farm.