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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2017
Sheep in West Java, Indonesia, are raised by smallholders using labour-intensive, cut-and-carry feeding of indigenous grasses. Flock sizes are small, ca. 5 sheep per household and animals are permanently housed in thatched sheds. The sheds are elevated on stilts and are fitted with slatted floors beneath which the excreta and feed refusals (ca. 400 g/kg offered) are composted. Compost is an important fertiliser for smallholders' crops.
Cutting and carrying grass is labour demanding (eg 2.1 h/sheep.day [Thahar & Petheram, 1983]; 1.4 h/sheep.day [Hill, 1973]); allowing sheep to refuse ca. 400 g/kg of grass offered would therefore appear wasteful. However research on feeding barley straw (Wahed, Owen, Naate & Hosking, 1990) has shown intake to increase when sheep and goats are allowed to refuse 500 g/kg offered instead of the more conventional 200 g/kg refusal-rate.