No one dared to eat this mutton - how did it sell for over 300 yuan per jin?

Ordinary sheep have red meat and white bones. But in Lanping County, Yunnan Province, there is a kind of sheep whose meat and bones are both black. Before 2009, if anyone encountered this kind of sheep when slaughtering, they would definitely secretly throw it away. Some said it was poisoned, others said it was unlucky. Until 2009, a man from Shandong named Zhang Fengwen massively introduced this kind of sheep and sold it for over 300 yuan per jin. What was going on?

Zhang Fengwen, from Zaozhuang, Shandong, is 55 years old this year. Since childhood, he has been especially fond of specialty breeding, having raised black swans, Rex rabbits, forest musk deer and other animals.

The reason the black-boned sheep is different from ordinary sheep is that its bones and meat are dark in color, and even its gums, eyelids and kidneys are a different color. It was precisely because of these characteristics that the black-boned sheep was once considered by locals to be a poisoned sheep that no one dared to eat. Later, a few bold locals risked their lives to try black-boned sheep meat once, only to find that their bodies had no adverse reactions at all.

This situation drew the attention of some experts at Yunnan Agricultural University, who began researching the black-boned sheep to determine whether it was toxic and why its bones and meat were dark in color. Unexpectedly, this research revealed that the black-boned sheep actually held a great secret.

The research results from Yunnan Agricultural University cleared the black-boned sheep's name - it is essentially the sheep equivalent of the silkie chicken. Therefore, in 2009, the black-boned sheep was included in the national list of livestock and poultry genetic resources, because it is the world's only and China's unique new genetic resource.

This research finding made Zhang Fengwen's blood boil - he sensed that the black-boned sheep was a huge business opportunity. That same year, he staked his entire fortune and went to Lanping County, Yunnan, to purchase large numbers of black-boned sheep breeding stock. From discovering the black-boned sheep to bringing them back to Shandong, Zhang Fengwen spent only 14 days. He felt he had seized the early advantage in breeding black-boned sheep.

For a full three years, Zhang Fengwen focused on expanding the black-boned sheep flock and did not sell a single one. By 2014, Zhang Fengwen's black-boned sheep inventory exceeded 1,000. At that time, in Yunnan, because black-boned sheep were few in number, one jin of black-boned sheep meat sold for over 300 yuan. At that price, Zhang Fengwen thought he would surely make a profit. Unexpectedly, an outbreak of sheep plague spread through some areas. The sheep needed over 1,000 yuan per day in feed costs. To keep raising black-boned sheep, in addition to his 3 million in savings, he sold several of his properties and borrowed money from others.

But that sheep plague lasted half a year without ending. Some creditors began demanding repayment from Zhang Fengwen. He could not hold on any longer. In a moment of despair, he drove his car to the edge of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, intending to jump in and end his life. Before jumping, Zhang Fengwen shut himself in the car and thought for a long time. If he killed himself, he would be admitting defeat. He secretly resolved that he must persevere!

Before introducing black-boned sheep, Zhang Fengwen had already been raising dozens of pairs of black swans. Zhang Fengwen never dreamed that at the critical moment, what solved his urgent problem was actually the black swans. How did the black swans solve Zhang Fengwen's financial problem?

Black swans are elegant in posture and carry a beautiful meaning, symbolizing faithful love. Many scenic areas were willing to buy Zhang Fengwen's black swans.

Zhang Fengwen sold over 200 black swans at 3,000 yuan each, earning over 700,000 yuan. The sheep plague lasted nearly a year. During that most difficult time, Zhang Fengwen's black-boned sheep operation was sustained by selling black swans.

In Yunnan, black-boned sheep meat was scarce and expensive, and only high-end hotels could accept it. At the end of 2014, Zhang Fengwen began selling black-boned sheep to some upscale hotels in the surrounding areas. In just one year, Zhang Fengwen sold nearly 1,000 black-boned sheep, and together with the black swans, annual sales exceeded 5 million yuan!

Since getting involved with black-boned sheep, Zhang Fengwen frequently had to go to Yunnan. He saw that some mountainous areas in Yunnan were still very poor, and some children did not even have shoes to wear in winter. This deeply moved Zhang Fengwen, and he conceived a new idea: cooperating with local farmers to raise black-boned sheep. Through raising black-boned sheep, local farmers could also embark on the path to prosperity.

In 2016, Zhang Fengwen set up a breeding farm in Lanping County to drive local farmers to raise black-boned sheep. Zhang Fengwen felt that the current price of over 300 yuan per jin of mutton was too far removed from ordinary consumers and was also detrimental to the development of black-boned sheep. His next goal was to increase breeding volume so that black-boned sheep could reach ordinary consumers' dining tables as soon as possible.