Female village official Tan Zhenjuan leads villagers to prosperity through cattle farming

Entering February, many rural areas in Duchang enter the winter slack season after the autumn harvest, but in a cattle shed in Hubin, Hushan, Cailing Town, Duchang County, there is still a bustling scene. Dozens of cattle stand in a row in front of the fence drinking water and eating fodder, while a young woman in work clothes carrying a large bucket is adding feed to the beef cattle in the shed. She is the locally well-known university graduate village official—Tan Zhenjuan. It is hard to imagine that such a “weak woman” is not only a “female village official” rooted in the countryside, but also a self-taught technician, self-financed entrepreneur, and self-made market pioneer who has “made a fortune from cattle” and become a prosperous “strong woman.”

Leaving the “official post” to become a “cowherd” Speaking of her entrepreneurial story, it begins in September 2012, when she participated in the public selection of university graduate village officials and went to Jiepai Village, Mingshan Township, Duchang County, to serve as assistant to the village committee director. At that time, Tan Zhenjuan not only had to manage all kinds of village affairs well, but also often went into villages and households to talk with the masses, listen to farmers' demands regarding production and life, resolve various problems and conflicts, and seek a path for village development. At that time, a large number of outstanding university graduate village officials' successful entrepreneurial deeds emerged across the country, and Tan Zhenjuan could no longer contain her passion. After comprehensively considering various factors, she locked her entrepreneurial direction onto the cattle farming industry. Tan Zhenjuan said: “In early 2012, my father planned to raise cattle and asked for my opinion. I strongly supported him. At the Dragon Boat Festival in 2012, we first introduced 8 Jiangnan small water buffaloes from Leping. Through half a year of cattle farming practice, I mastered knowledge of preventing and treating common cattle diseases. Looking at the beef market in recent years, I found that the cattle farming industry will usher in business opportunities in the next five years. For this reason, I decided to go all out to start my second career and embark on my ‘cowherd’ path.” Crossing the river by feeling the stones, self-learning techniques and self-raising funds Because the place where Tan Zhenjuan raised cattle was all deep mountains, she adopted the deep-mountain free-range method. After 3 months, she found that the cattle grew slowly. Later, after consultation, she learned that the grass quality and climate in the deep mountains were not very suitable for the growth of water buffaloes. So in the spring of 2013, she moved the cattle to the fields for free-range raising. After 3 months, she found that the growth was still not obvious. After consulting relevant materials, she discovered that it was actually the characteristics of Jiangnan water buffalo themselves that determined their limited growth rate. For this reason, she traveled north and south to introduce improved breeds of cattle from various places. In May 2013, she purchased 12 Murrah large water buffaloes from Pengze and Hubei respectively. According to observation, their growth rate was 2 times that of Jiangnan water buffaloes. In 2013, beef prices soared, and the prospects for the cattle farming industry were booming. Tan Zhenjuan not only spent all the family savings, but also raised funds everywhere to expand the scale of cattle farming, which led to the fact that by the severe winter season, there was still not a single brick or tile to shelter the cattle from wind and rain. When she was extremely anxious, she heard that the state had support policies for university graduate village officials starting businesses. In October 2013, with the strong support of the organization and the full assistance of friends, she was fortunate to obtain a 100,000 yuan entrepreneurial loan. After the 2014 Spring Festival, she used this fund and all the family savings to purchase 25 Murrah large water buffaloes in Zaoyang, Hubei. The number of newly purchased and original cattle totaled 45, and from then on her cattle farming industry embarked on the path of large-scale development. Establishing a cattle farming professional cooperative to lead villagers to prosperity together On May 18, 2014, Tan Zhenjuan had the honor, as a representative of village officials from Duchang County, to participate in the 2014 Rural Practical Leaders Training jointly held by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Ministry of Agriculture. Through this training, she not only broadened her horizons, but also developed the awareness of leading the many to prosperity with her own small prosperity. After the training ended, Tan Zhenjuan actively mobilized villagers to participate in the cattle farming industry. Through her efforts, on September 3, 2014, the Duchang County Hushan Improved Breed Cattle Farming Farmers Professional Cooperative was established. At present, the cooperative has five members and total funds of 830,000 yuan. The establishment of the cooperative marked that the local cattle farming industry had embarked on the path of marketization. Now Tan Zhenjuan's cattle farming base raises 64 water buffaloes. In terms of breed, they have transformed from the originally small Jiangnan small water buffaloes into today's large and sturdy Indian Murrah large water buffaloes. In terms of the nature of the industry, her cattle farming business is now a professional organization with five members, rather than a pure breeding household. Regarding the future, Tan Zhenjuan is full of expectations. She said: “Although the scale of my family's cattle farming industry is not yet large, the related hardware facilities and software technology are not complete, and the role of the cooperative has not yet produced its due benefits, I will, with an entrepreneurial spirit that is never satisfied, continuously innovate ideas, strive to expand the scale, turn small prosperity into prosperity for the many, and truly contribute my modest strength to building a new socialist countryside.”