Zeng Tianshun, a villager from Fengle Village, drove a bullock cart to deliver the tall hay piled in the cart to No. 3 Manor in Xujiazhuang, not far away.
These hays were collected by him from the tidal flats by the river, in uncultivated wastelands, and on various hillsides and fields before the cold winter officially arrived. In previous years, they were all weeds that no one wanted and that cattle and sheep could eat freely, but
Ever since Xujiazhuang announced unlimited purchases at the price of 1 penny and five pounds.
Weeds that were usually not taken seriously by people suddenly became hugely popular. Every household carried sickles and baskets on their backs and went all over the mountains and fields to find, harvest, and then sell them to Xujiazhuang. All of them were harvested from New Manor No. 1 to No. 10.
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Now all the weeds in Xinghua County have suffered. Although the purchase price of one penny and five kilograms is not high, for the weeds that can be found everywhere, with a little diligence, it is not a problem to cut a hundred or ten kilograms a day, and sell them for twenty
The copper coins sent here can buy more than two kilograms of coarse rice, which is enough for an adult to eat for a day.
It's just that during the slack period, more and more people are cutting weeds, and the competition is becoming more and more fierce. In the end, no one can cut any grass. Zeng Tianshun, who made a lot of money last year by collecting and selling grass as a second-hand dealer, this year
I'm afraid I won't be able to earn that much anymore, it will only be half of what I did last year.
Zeng Tianshun is an old widower. He is forty-one years old this year. His parents died young. He once had a wife, but she disliked him for being lazy and not seeking to make progress, so she married him and left him with another man. They did not even have any children.
For more than ten years, he has been living a life where one person has enough to eat and the whole family is not hungry. He has never thought about changing. He feels that such a life is not bad.
According to modern people, he is just a salted fish, one of the lying-down people in ancient times.
Over the years, he has engaged in many occupations. He has helped during the farming season, herded cattle for landowners, run a small business in the county, and run boats on the canal, including the past two years of buying weeds and selling them.
Xujiazhuang - Although he didn't save much money, he traveled around for decades. In terms of vision and experience, ordinary farmers can never compare to him.
The business of buying weeds has become more and more complicated in his eyes.
He realized that he could no longer continue in this line of work and had to consider changing careers, otherwise he would not be able to provide food and clothing in the future. Although he was very Buddhist and could not endure great hardships, he still had to do the work he should do in order to survive.
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Through careful observation over the past two years, he found a more promising and not particularly strenuous occupation - raising cattle.
Learn Xujiazhuang’s model of raising cattle.
Because in the past two years of weeding, he had interacted a lot with Xujiazhuang Cattle Farm. Through careful observation, he found that the future here was simply unimaginable!
The "Angus beef cattle" raised in Xujiazhuang Cattle Farm have strong digestion ability, fast growth rate, good meat quality, and a meat yield rate of 60% to 65%. As long as sufficient feed is ensured, they can gain one kilogram a day.
They reach sexual maturity at 12 months and can be ready for slaughter in about two years, with a weight of 700 to 800 kilograms.
In addition, we also raise a type of cow called "Holstein cow", which is specially used for milk production and has extremely high yield. With sufficient feed and nutrition, it can produce an average of 11,800 kilograms of milk a year, which is equivalent to an average of 32 kilograms of milk per day.
It is not surprising that some powerful ones can reach 50 liters, and the milk production cycle is long and can reach seven lactations.
But for Zeng Tianshun.
If he can raise that kind of Angus beef cattle, for example, if he raises 50, even if only 30 can successfully survive and be slaughtered after two years, the meat yield will be 700 kilograms per head, multiplied by 60%.
A total of 12,600 kilograms of beef can be obtained, and based on the price of beef on the market, one thousand taels of silver should be earned, which is an average benefit of 500 taels per year.
If you raise 50 "Holstein cows", and they start to produce milk after more than two years of breeding, even if only 30 of them survive successfully, each cow will produce an average of 20 liters of milk per day, which is 600 per day.
Liter of milk.
Assuming that the value of one liter of milk is equivalent to three kilograms of polished rice, this is definitely not an overestimation. It is equivalent to the production of 1,800 kilograms of polished rice every day.
Nowadays, 1,800 kilograms of polished rice on the market is equal to 14.4 shi and is worth 10 taels of silver. There is no problem.
That is, as long as he raises fifty Holstein cows, after more than two years, he can earn ten taels of silver per day, and this will continue for more than seven years, and the efficiency is no worse than raising Angus beef cattle.
It's just that his vision is so good. Doesn't raising cattle cost nothing? Doesn't it require a lot of labor and energy?
The cost will definitely have to be paid, and it is not small.
But he discovered that besides finding ways to spend money to buy calves from Xujiazhuang, the biggest cost was actually fifteen acres of cultivated land.
It doesn't require very fertile farmland, just ordinary dry land or barren thin land will do.
Then, on these fifteen acres of land, a kind of pasture plant called "Giant Juncao" from Xujiazhuang was planted, which would ensure that the fifty cows would not go hungry and that they could be fed.
How is it possible to raise 50 cows on just fifteen acres of pasture?
Zeng Tianshun didn't believe it before, and thought it was impossible, but after seeing it with his own eyes on the pasture in Xujiazhuang, he slowly began to believe it.
Because the yield per mu of Giant Juniper is very high, it can be harvested every thirty days during the growing season, and can be harvested five to seven times a year. It is cold and drought-resistant, and can grow up to seven meters. The annual yield per mu can reach an astonishing 30
tons, and the crude protein content is as high as 10.8%, as well as 3.4% fat, as well as various vitamins, crude fiber, etc. One acre of giant mushroom grass is equivalent to at least ten acres of corn... Zeng Tianshun does not understand what these data represent.
But we know that giant mushroom grass contains a lot of nutrients. Cows grow meat quickly and produce more milk after eating it.
And the most important thing is that Giant Juniper is a perennial herb. As long as the roots below the tillering area are not cut off, it can be continuously grown and harvested for 15 years, saving a lot of energy to take care of.
This is the place that touches Zeng Tianshun’s heart the most.
That is to say, as long as he has calves, has land, and plants giant mushroom grass, raising cattle does not cost much for him. He only needs to feed and take care of fifty cattle every day.
In the past few years, he has traveled around and accumulated some coffin books. He can't do anything big, but buying fifty calves should be no problem.
As for the land, the worst possible thing is to spend money to rent a tractor from Xujiazhuang and reclaim fifteen acres of wasteland.
The biggest problem depends on whether Xujiazhuang agrees to sell him calves, sell him giant fungus seeds, and teach him his experience in raising cattle and growing grass.
Generally speaking, in this era, it is impossible for any family or individual to sell their secrets of making a fortune or tell their "secrets that are not passed on". Otherwise, if they teach the apprentices and starve the master to death, it is better to let some experience and
The skill is lost.
But Xujiazhuang's style of doing things is different, and it has brought a lot of light and hope to people.
So Zeng Tianshun came to the main village of Xujiazhuang and expressed that he wanted to see Master Xu and expressed his request to raise cattle, but he really couldn't kowtow to Master Xu.
Unexpectedly.
The bodhisattva-like Master Xu quickly agreed to meet him and have a talk in person.
…
“You want to raise cattle?”
In the living room, Xu Yuan looked at this middle-aged and elderly man with a rough face but still energy and asked.
"Master Xu, kind-hearted living Bodhisattva, please give me a chance to try..."
Zeng Tianshun directly kowtowed to the ground and expressed his desire to raise cattle. He hoped that Xujiazhuang could provide calves, giant mushroom grass and help reclaim wasteland.
"How much silver can you take out?" Xu Yuan asked.
"150 taels, I only have so many coffin copies." Zeng Tianshun said.
"Not enough. According to your requirements, the investment must be at least 300 taels. This is only the cost price." Xu Yuan shook his head.
Zeng Tianshun's eyes suddenly dimmed.
"However, I see that you are the first to be interested in raising cattle. I can sponsor this project for you. I will provide you with calves, giant mushroom seeds, and land! When you raise cattle and make money,
Just pay me the principal you owe me, and you don’t have to pay interest.”
Xu Yuandao, in fact, he has been vigorously promoting animal husbandry, but the people here in the late Ming Dynasty were generally only interested in farming, and few were willing to engage in breeding. Today, since there is someone willing to try, Xu Yuan is of course willing to support him
Take a handful and then promote it as a benchmark.
Because eating meat equals fighting power.
Drinking milk equals national strength!
It cannot be valued enough.
"Thank you sir, thank you sir!"
Zeng Tianshun sincerely knelt down and knelt down to worship. It was great, it was so great. This benevolent Master Xu was really a saint like a Bodhisattva. He was his great savior and great support. I just wanted to build a shrine for him.