How can sheep farming be done at zero cost? Let me work out the accounts for this year

Narrator: Zhao Huanjun, chairman of the Bamei Mutton Sheep Breeding Cooperative in Wuyuan County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Here, I have brought the cost of raising a sheep down to zero yuan. This is not a trick. Let me work out the accounts for you, and it will be clear.

Buying a lamb costs about 300 yuan, and raising it to slaughter weight requires about 720 yuan in feed. But the organic fertilizer made from one sheep's manure, sold to tea farmers in Zhejiang, brings in more than 1,600 yuan. After spreading the costs of workers' wages, water and electricity, and equipment depreciation, the cost of raising sheep can definitely be brought down to zero.

Wuyuan County in Inner Mongolia is very rich in agricultural straw, branches, grass, leaves and wild plant fruits, making it suitable for raising sheep. But strangely, although everyone has raised sheep for generations, they have not been able to get rich from sheep.

After the 18th National Congress, the autonomous region designated our city, Bayannur, as a national-level mutton sheep output base and issued related policies. The villagers were full of enthusiasm and all asked me to lead them in making the sheep farming industry bigger and stronger.

After detailed research, I found that the main reasons for the sluggish local sheep farming industry were poor mutton sheep breeds, backward farming methods, low levels of technology and high costs…… In the end, I decided to develop the mutton sheep industry and take the factory farming path, establishing a full circular organic food industry chain integrating breeding, feed processing, biogas power generation, organic fertilizer production, slaughtering and cutting, and logistics distribution.

With scientific sheep farming, we quickly saw the benefits. Under traditional farming methods, the 30,000 foundation ewes at the Bamei breeding base would need 4,000 rams in a single estrus period. Now, with synchronized estrus and artificial insemination technology, we can use 400 fewer rams, directly reducing costs by 5 million yuan. To solve the feed problem of large-scale farming, I led the research and development of a total mixed ration (TMR) feed processing technology for mutton sheep, achieving “double savings and double increases”: saving land resources and farming costs, and increasing animal nutrition and investor returns. The average weight per sheep increased from 36 jin to 45 jin, saving costs and increasing efficiency by 550 yuan, with profits more than double those of ordinary farmers.

In addition, we also implemented biogas power generation and bio-organic fertilizer processing projects. This not only solved the fertilizer problem for organic agricultural products, but also protected the ecological environment and increased enterprise income.

There is also good news: the innovative research and development of the Bamei mutton sheep breed, undertaken in cooperation with the Animal Research Center of Inner Mongolia University, has passed national acceptance.

At present, Inner Mongolia University and other institutions of higher learning and scientific research units are very optimistic about the development prospects of our Bamei mutton sheep breeding and development base, and have come one after another to discuss establishing joint schooling and educational practice bases. Taobao has also decided to cooperate with us to sell organic mutton online.    

(Compiled by our reporter  Ding Zhijun)