Fattening cattle farming sets Ma Zijie on the road to prosperity

On March 20, the afternoon sunlight spread evenly over the land like flowing water, and a gentle spring breeze blew in their faces. In Taihe Village, Xingren Town, Shapotou District, villager Ma Zijie was busy in the cattle shed with his wife, adding feed, adding water, and cleaning the shed, while the occasional "moo moo" sounds made the shed feel even more full of life. Looking at the sturdy beef cattle one after another, Ma Zijie said cheerfully: "It was fattening cattle that lifted me out of poverty."

Ma Zijie's family moved to Taihe Village from the former Haochuan Township, and they are a registered impoverished household in the village. Last summer, he learned that the beef market had been doing well in recent years and that raising beef cattle was quite profitable. With a try-it-and-see attitude, Ma Zijie returned home and began making arrangements to raise beef cattle. He borrowed 130,000 yuan and bought 12 calves, starting his fattening cattle operation. Every May, he also takes villagers to pick goji berries and plant selenium-rich sandy watermelons near the village to earn money.

When the topic of raising cattle came up, Ma Zijie immediately opened up. "Choosing good breeding cattle is the key. The 20 cattle in the shed now were all carefully selected and bought from cattle farms in the city and from Hebei Province. A calf costs more than 7,000 yuan when bought, and after 5 to 6 months of raising it can sell for 12,000 to 13,000 yuan. Although I only started raising cattle last September, in 4 months I made fifty or sixty thousand yuan." Ma Zijie said proudly.

Seeing that Ma Zijie's life had improved steadily after he started raising cattle, many villagers asked him for advice, saying they wanted to raise cattle along with him. Driven by his example, the enthusiasm for raising cattle among the villagers of Taihe Village grew higher and higher. Not long ago, Ma Zijie also established Junjie Cooperative to raise cattle cooperatively with the villagers. He wants more villagers to join him on the road to prosperity through cattle farming.

Speaking of Ma Zijie leading the villagers to get rich together by raising cattle, the villagers praised him endlessly. Villager Ma Hanguo said: "Ma Zijie's income from raising cattle last year was quite good, and I also want to learn cattle farming from him, so this year I bought 5 cattle. I also want to take out a loan to buy 5 more cattle, raise 10 cattle, and follow him out of poverty."

Ma Hanbao, Party branch secretary of Taihe Village, told the reporter that Taihe Village has 166 households, but only a few are developing the breeding industry; most villagers still mainly rely on working elsewhere for their income. Now the government is giving strong support in funding and supporting equipment, and the village is also working hard to help these breeders obtain loans. He hopes Ma Zijie can drive more villagers to raise cattle, form a village-wide breeding scale, and lead all the villagers out of poverty toward prosperity.

Watching the cattle grow day by day, the highly enterprising Ma Zijie is also brewing a bigger dream: "Raising cattle is a good way to get rich, and the policies now are getting better and better. The village helped me obtain a 50,000-yuan targeted poverty alleviation loan. I also borrowed 120,000 yuan from Bank of Ningxia and 50,000 yuan from Xiangshan Village and Town Bank. This year I want to expand the breeding scale a bit more and strive to raise 80 to 100 cattle."

With the spring light of March just right, Ma Zijie's face was filled with a confident smile, and hope lies ahead...