How can beef cattle be raised and selected to maximize profits?
As China continues to open up beef imports, the future beef cattle farming industry will inevitably enter an era of “global competition.” China's beef cattle farming industry must gradually make up for its current shortcomings in order to remain invincible in the fiercely competitive environment of the future. So, how can farmers maximize the profits of the beef cattle farming industry? How should cattle be raised and how should good cattle breeds be selected? What little tricks for getting rich by raising cattle need to be mastered?
I. The current state of farming in China and its problems
1. Problems of beef cattle farmers
In the past, China's beef cattle industry was in a situation where there was no worry about selling what was produced, but that is no longer the case. We must understand what kind of beef cattle breeds the market needs and what kind of farming model can make money; you cannot just raise cattle on a whim. Farmers need to change their way of thinking. First look at the beef products that are relatively popular on the market: raise whatever kind of cattle produces the beef that sells best and makes the most money; raise whatever kind of cattle fits the feed resources you have on hand. If there is a kind of cattle that your family has and other families do not, that is your differentiated, specialty product, and then you have your own pricing power.
2. The current state of beef cattle farming
China is one of the countries with the most cattle breeds in the world. Chinese people's demand for beef is very large, and the market tiers are quite numerous, so it can be said that a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend. In fact, farmers do not need to consider whether they should sell their cattle to first-tier major cities. They should first think of the second- and third-tier cities, or even fourth-tier cities, that are relatively close to the cattle farm; the market space in these cities is larger. Why say this? Because what is close by is what has the lowest cost. For example, if a county town consumes 50 head of cattle per day, you only need to sell 3 head of cattle, and over a year you can sell more than 1,000 head of cattle. That sales volume is already quite substantial. Furthermore, if one head of cattle can sell for 20,000 yuan and the profit is around 45%, the farmer's life will be very good. But if you want to sell beef to distant cities, the transport cost is very high and will eat away your profits outright. Therefore, looking at it from another angle, raising cattle is an industry with very large profits.
Manure disposal is also a issue of great concern to the state now. Can the resource utilization be raised to the maximum through circular agriculture?
The integration of farming and animal husbandry that we advocate now is not some new concept, but a farming method that our ancestors already used for thousands of years. Why did manure problems not arise when we raised cattle before? This is because the family's own straw was used as feed for the cattle, and the cattle manure produced every day was directly returned to the fields after fermentation treatment. This is a priceless treasure summed up for us by China's several thousand years of agricultural civilization, and it is also the lowest-cost and most reasonable approach.
II. For farmers, what scale gives the highest profit?
1. Everyone knows that a farming scale of more than 50 head of cattle requires an environmental review. Therefore, a scale of at least 20 head and at most 50 head is the most profitable. Why say this? First, your own straw can be used as feed, and even if you need to buy straw, buying it from nearby villagers is relatively cheap. Second, a scale of 50 head of cattle does not require building a large cattle farm. Beef cattle do not need a beautiful, high-grade cattle farm in the first place; just putting up a cattle shed so they are not rained on and can eat and drink is enough, and the investment is very small. Some large cattle farms have not yet made money, yet they invest high costs to build high-grade cattle sheds, and as a result the huge cost expenditure drags the large cattle farm down.
2. If one person finds it too hard to work in the cattle-raising industry alone, they can find someone to cooperate with, and the scale can reach 100-300 head of cattle. Forming a cattle-raising association or a small cooperative is a very good form, and it can also develop its own distinctive features. Large-scale farming enterprises or large cattle farms cannot develop distinctive features; in the end, the market is decided by whether the beef tastes good. Therefore, the scale of cattle farm you want to operate must be based on a certain foundation and within your means.
III. How should good cattle breeds be selected?
1. Our country has more cattle breeds than any other country. China's yellow cattle alone has 78 breeds, and 27 have been introduced from abroad. But now many cattle farms use foreign breeds, such as Simmental, Limousin, Angus and Charolais. We have also developed 4 new cattle breeds from these breeds. If listed from north to south, there are Yanbian yellow cattle, Liaoyu white cattle, Xianan cattle and Yunnan Yunling cattle. These new breeds all share one common characteristic, which is that they are very large in body size.
2. For farmer friends, raising cattle that are too large in body size also brings great cost pressure. Conversely, our country's small- and medium-sized yellow cattle breeds have very strong resistance. “The water and soil of one place nourish the cattle of that place.” Local yellow cattle do not get sick all year round and do not need careful tending. If there are grazing conditions, drive the herd up the mountain in spring and do not need to spend effort watching over them. Before autumn and winter arrive, drive them back to the cattle shed. This farming method makes money with almost no spending.
Therefore, the advice for farmer friends is: do not raise foreign cattle breeds, just raise domestic small native cattle and small yellow cattle, and that is very good. Do not look down on local small yellow cattle. In fact, local cattle save money, save labor and save medical expenses, and the beef also suits local people's tastes and better reflects local characteristics.
3. When raising cows, if your own cattle produce good milk, you can let your own cow act as a nanny and then raise one more calf that drinks milk. It is equivalent to taking in another child. In this way, one cow is equal to giving birth to two cattle. Where do you buy the calf that needs milk? Just buy the leftover bull calves from a dairy farm. A bull calf is basically 3,000 as soon as it is born. After it grows up drinking your family's milk, selling it will bring 8,000, so you can earn 4,000 yuan. This is very lucrative and lets you maximize the money-making ability of your family's cattle.