31/05/2026
Beyond the feedlot: The Indonesian households relying on Australia’s live cattle trade
By Lydia Burton, Beef Central
The people in Indonesia supported by live cattle exports from Australia are often overlooked in the debate about the future of the trade.
It was recently highlighted at the Australian Brahman Breeders Association conference that one feedlot in Indonesia, filled with Australian cattle, supports more than 12,000 Indonesian families.
Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) with their Joint Venture Partner Dicky Adiwoso owns and operates two feedlots in Indonesia – Lampung Feedlot and Farm and North Sumatera Feedlot.
The Lampung feedlot has a capacity of 28,000 head, while the North Sumatera feedlot has a capacity of 7,500 head.
The two feedlots rely on more than 600 people who are employed to keep them operating.
“These team members do everything from animal handling and animal health, pen cleaning, feeding, planting and harvesting corn,” Muhammad Isnan Musrian from one of CPC’s feedlots in Indonesia told The Week in Beef.
“When you include the farmers supplying feed, bedding, truck drivers, butchers, government staff, vets, port staff and so on – there’s more than 12,000 Indonesian families who rely on JJAA for their livelihood.”
Mr Musrian said agriculture is an attractive industry to work in for Indonesian people and an industry they are proud of.
“People want to work in agriculture, not just feedlots but also on farm and in commodities (and other subsidiary industries),” he said.
CPC CEO Troy Setter said given the growth in cattle on feed in the company’s Indonesia feedlots the number of families supported could have grown to 18,000.
He has said for many years, the social responsibility of the business in Indonesia is extremely important and something we are proud to support with training and development extending beyond the feedlot.
“We also have over 100 local cattle farmers in our program where we provide them with cows and teach them about cattle breeding and production, and then they keep the calves,” Mr Setter said.
“In our supply chain in Indonesia we have 99 abattoirs and eight depots. Between December and March our Animal Welfare Officer team trained 640 people who work in these abattoirs and depots about good animal welfare and slaughter.
“We also regularly vaccinate thousands of cattle for FMD and L*D not only in our feedlots, but across thousands of local farms too.”
Live cattle trade helps feed 280 million people
Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia with a population of over 280 million people.
Northern Territory cattle producer Brad Inglis said Australians need to remember the live cattle trade with Indonesia is feeding families who might not have access to protein otherwise, helping get kids educated in Indonesia, all while lifting animal welfare standards.
“We are supplying protein to nearly 300 million beautiful people, it is a big deal and something our industry should celebrate,” Mr Inglis said.
Australian cattle are considered best in the world
Mr Musrian said Australian Brahman cattle are considered the best in the world by Indonesians.
“We need tropically adapted cattle that can do well in our feedlots, Brahman cattle from Australia have good average daily gain (ADG), which means we can make money,” he said.
“We like Brahman because it is low fat and we need low fat beef for our traditional cuisine like Bakso balls and Rendang, we use the good fresh meat.
“If the meat is not fresh, we cannot produce our cultural cuisine.
“That is why our preference is lean meat, not the marbling meat, because 70 to 80 per cent is being used in our traditional Indonesian food.”
Check out the interview here:
https://www.beefcentral.com/live-export/beyond-the-feedlot-the-indonesian-households-relying-on-australias-live-cattle-trade/
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