Cattle Farming at Bawang Assan

Mdm Hi cattle farming at Bawang Assan. She and her partner has about 65 heads of cattle.

No buffalo, no Adan rice, so be ‘dung’ with it

BA KELALAN: Buffalo dung is a common sight in Ba Kelalan where its musky smell permeates and lingers in the cold morning air.

An outsider would wonder why the Lun Bawang community, known for their gentleness and refined manner would leave the animals, with their backswept horns, roaming freely on the range.

On closer look, the buffalo herd here does more than just discharge publicly on the road or dotting all the small concrete trails linking houses here, that the visitor might do well to dodge.

“Buffaloes are important to us. Without the buffaloes, we can’t produce the Adan rice that we are having now,” village chief of Long Muda Yudan Meru told the BAT IV team yesterday.

Every year after harvest between January and February, the paddy field will be left to lie fallow. During this time, buffaloes will be free to roam in the paddy field to ‘till’ the land as they trample on it leisurely while grazing on whatever is left after harvesting.

At the same time while ‘tilling’ and ‘clearing’, buffaloes also enrich the paddy fields with their dung. Adan rice is thus fully organic.

It is a natural cycle that has been taking place for hundreds of years and the Lun Bawang community has incorporated that natural cycle into their way of life.

For Yudan who has three plots of paddy fields of about two acres, two buffaloes are enough to execute the job. Buffalo dung is never a nuisance to the Lun Bawang community here, and so too it should be viewed by visitors. The Asian ox is, if anything, treated with quiet reverence.

The Adan rice would not taste as it is without the ubiquitous buffalo and its rich manure. And without Adan Rice, the Lun Bawang community will lose one of its distinctiveness and the main source of income.

The rice strain, according to Yudan, originated from Indonesia. It was the choice of the Lun Bawang forefathers, after testing many other rice species, stuck with it for its higher yield and the best texture. It is called as such after one of their ancestors by the name of ‘Adan’.

“Bario rice is actually Adan rice. They took the seeds from us. It is just that the Kelabit community managed to market it better than us. Now, Bario rice is more famous than Adan Rice and fetches better price. So if we want to fetch more, we have to packet our Adan rice as Bario rice,” said Yudan.

The cycle of planting must follow that the dates set by their ancestors – one that follows the rhythm of nature. After harvesting between January and February, the land will be left to lie fallow until Aug 9. Meanwhile, a nursery has to be prepared in July for transplanting of the seedlings in August. There can only be one crop each year. Any mess-up of the dates will result in scanty yield and poor harvest.

“For example, transplanting must be done from Aug 9 onwards and not earlier. A few families tried to start their nursery earlier and planting early. (And) Their crop ended up not growing well and yielded only half of what we usually harvested.

“That is why everyone now follows the dates set by our ancestors, whom we believe have tested everything and handed to us their most precious experience,” said Supang Gatum, 47, who has moved to Miri and has been employing farm hands to work her paddy field in Ba Kelalan.

Different from Bario, there is still quite a high number of young people staying put in Ba Kelalan. Young farm hands are not difficult to source locally and Adan rice planting is still vibrant, constituting to be the main income earner for the Ba Kelalan.

Supang, who has four plots of land, is able to harvest more than 60 gunny sacks of Adan rice.  She will keep about 10 of them for her family’s consumption while the rest will be sold as premium rice in Miri.

From The Borneo Post

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/07/28/no-buffalo-no-adan-rice-so-be-dung-with-it/#ixzz38kFGVaSV

Buffalo Farming In Ba Kelalan

BA KELALAN: Buffaloes are highly prized animals for the Lun Bawang community in Ba Kelalan.

According to Lun Bawang elder, Tagal Paran, besides being used to carry logs, buffaloes in Ba Kelalan are normally used to till the land, for meat and for dowry.

“The buffaloes that we tamed can be used for hard labour such as carrying logs from the jungle. I remember that I would not be able to build my house if not for the buffaloes,” he told BAT IV at his residence yesterday.

Tagal, who is fondly known as Pak Tagal among the local community, said buffaloes play a very crucial role in the paddy fields as well.

“In the paddy fields, the buffaloes are let to roam and stay in the paddy fields after cultivation. The buffaloes will eat the grass, paddy straws and help to fertilise the soil with their dung.”

He said unlike the hardship that the local people faced in managing their paddy fields when not many buffaloes were available in 1960s, the people now were much more “relaxed” because most works were done by these beasts of burden.

“In the 1960s, it took the farmers two months to clear the paddy fields to prepare for the next planting season. With the buffaloes around, it will only take the farmers two weeks. That’s why many people are rearing buffaloes here now.”

Tagal said a male buffalo weighing more than 100 kg could be sold for between RM1,800 and RM2,000 in Ba Kelalan, adding that a 200kg buffalo could fetch a price of up to RM4,000.

Meanwhile, Tagal is also a pioneer in rearing horses in Buduk Nur in Ba Kelalan.

He has three horses, with the first one bought from Tuaran, Sabah while the other two were purchased from nearby Bario.

“The horse I bought in Tuaran, Sabah was used for horse racing in Kota Kinabalu. The other two were bought from Bario. When Tan Sri Harris Salleh was Sabah chief minister, he gave six horses to Bario.

“The horses then multiplied and subsequently I bought from them to be reared here in Ba Kelalan.”

Tagal said he initially used the horses as a tourism product but they had turned rather wild as they were let to roam free in the village.

“Nobody dares to ride them now. A year after I bought the horses, an English girl came and rode one of the horses to all the nine villages in Ba Kelalan.”

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/07/28/buffaloes-are-multi-tasking-animals-for-lun-bawangs-community/#ixzz38kD8flR9

Cattle Greenlot Model in Oil Palm

New Greenlot Concept

Business based on greenlot concept is to generate fast income at low operating cost. Slaughtering house shall be located inside the Feedlot Farm for easy management and transportation. Feedlot business has no / less risk of diseases due to the breeding timeframe , 4-6 months per cycle. Short time breeding reduce treatment and medication costs. 

Integration Tree Crop Ruminant System concept is to focus on husbandry of breeder cattle and to grow the best local livestock for future Feedlot stock. “Integrasi” is the concept of planting Palm Oil trees to provide secured and healthy environment for breeding female species. Palm Oil leaves supply important food to cattle. Using greenlot system more cattle can be put in the plantation. 

Cattle , weighing between 200-250kg will be transfer to Feedlot Farm for food concentration and slaughtering.