Raising free-range mountain chickens leads to a path to prosperity

Yang Changrong's son Yang Bo is feeding the free-range mountain chickens

"A good life can't be waited for, relied on, or begged for. Now the country's poverty alleviation policies are good, and with our own hard-working hands, our family can shake off poverty within a year." Recently, Yang Changrong, a poor household in Group 6 of Huamiao Village, Zhengsheng Township, Santai County, told reporters with a smile that by raising "free-range mountain chickens" and other poultry, their days are getting more prosperous day by day.

Yang Changrong's family was originally a happy one. More than ten years ago, Yang Changrong lost his ability to work due to myelodysplastic syndrome, and the entire burden of the family fell on his wife Li Qinghua alone. In 2015, Yang Changrong was registered as a poor household under the "planning down to each household, responsibility down to each person" precise identification and registration system. That same year, Yang Changrong's son Yang Bo returned to his hometown with his daughter after a divorce. "Although I am no longer able to work, my son at least has a secondary vocational school education and should have the brains to give the family a better life." After the family discussed it together, they decided to take advantage of their own sloping land and raise family free-range mountain chickens.

Through financial poverty alleviation policies, and with the support of the village Party branch and village committee and the first secretary, Yang Changrong's family took out a loan of 50,000 yuan from the Zhengsheng Township credit union, then contracted about 5 mu of abandoned farmland behind their house, and built a coop capable of raising around 1,000 free-range mountain chickens. Considering their lack of raising experience at the beginning, the Yang family first purchased 1,000 chicks weighing about one jin each to start raising, and kept searching online to learn relevant breeding techniques and find sales channels, afraid that one wrong step would bring further misfortune to the family.

Four months later, of the more than 1,000 free-range mountain chickens the family had carefully raised, 500 were sold in the first batch, and half a month later another 430 were sold in the second batch, earning a net profit of nearly 30,000 yuan. "We raised them very carefully, with regular disinfection and epidemic prevention, afraid that anything might go wrong." After earning their first pot of gold, Yang Changrong's family was overjoyed, but they did not stop there; instead, they thought about how to expand the scale and increase the variety of poultry raised. Afterwards, Yang Changrong's family built a new standardized brick-and-concrete chicken coop, brought in another 1,000 chicks weighing seven or eight liang each, then rented about 200 mu of forest land from some villagers in the community, bought 800 geese, and began raising breeding geese and meat geese under the trees, and then bought 40 breeding rabbits.

At present, the second batch of chicks has all survived, 500 chickens are about to be ready for market, and another 500 have already reached three or four jin in size; the first batch of 500 geese has been purchased back and careful raising has begun. All 40 breeding rabbits have survived, and there is now a net income of more than 3,000 yuan. Yang Changrong's son Yang Bo told reporters: "Based on how this batch of geese is doing, we plan to select some to keep as egg-laying breeding geese and select some to raise as meat geese. If nothing unexpected happens, that should also bring a considerable income. Once our breeding techniques improve and our cash flow opens up, we also plan to raise a batch of meat sheep freely on the mountain."

Yang Changrong's family is enjoying financial poverty alleviation and other related policies under the current targeted poverty alleviation policy, wholeheartedly pursuing the breeding industry and striving to change their own lives. "With policy support, our whole family will definitely be living a better life in two years." Yang Bo is full of confidence in the life ahead.