Kedong calves open the door to escaping poverty and becoming prosperous

In the depths of winter, while interviewing in Yongjin Village, Puyu Road Township, Kedong County, a group of endearing little calves caught the reporter's interest: these small black-and-white calves were not large in size, but all looked sturdy, leisurely enjoying the winter sunlight in a spacious, clean cowshed, and were quite adorable.

Yongjin Village is a key poverty-alleviation village in Puyu Road Township, with a total population of 3,108, including 115 poor households and 291 poor people. Due to lack of labor, natural disasters, insufficient funds for developing production and other reasons, these poor households find it hard to escape poverty and become prosperous on their own. Through the countywide paired assistance activity, Feihe Dairy was paired with Yongjin Village and voluntarily took on the poverty-alleviation task for half of the village's poor households. After on-site research and consultation with the village, Feihe Dairy adopted the "leading enterprise + cooperative + farmers" model to assist Yongjin Village. Last September, with the support of the county and township levels, Song Changchun, Party secretary of Yongjin Village, took the lead in setting up the Muxing Beef Cattle Breeding Cooperative. Feihe Dairy provided the cooperative with 300 dairy bull calves, distributed evenly to the 60 poor households that joined the cooperative. The cooperative adopted a "five unified" management approach, namely: unified calf supply, unified epidemic prevention, unified feeding, unified feed supply and unified buyback. These bull calves underwent breed improvement and were raised and sold as beef cattle. When they are ready for market 10 months later, these improved beef cattle can reach an average body weight of 400 kg.

It is precisely these calves from Feihe's modern pasture that have given the poor households of Yongjin Village confidence and hope for escaping poverty and becoming prosperous, so they take especially careful care of these little creatures. A cooperative feeder told the reporter: "These calves came here just after they were born. Now they are more than two months old, but they still cannot be given feed and need to be fed milk with a nursing bottle. Looking after these calves is about the same as caring for children. We do not dare be careless and must carefully observe their activity and changes every day to see whether there is anything abnormal. See, these two have been coughing a bit today. The veterinarian says they have a slight cold and they will be given injections in a moment." To ensure these calves grow up healthily, the cooperative specially assigned two professional veterinarians responsible for epidemic prevention and technical matters, as well as four farmers as full-time feeders. It is worth mentioning that all four feeders are poor households in the village.

Fu Mancang, 68 years old this year, is a villager in Group 9 of Yongjin Village. Speaking of working as a feeder in the cooperative, Old Fu had a lot of feelings: "My wife is sick all year round and cannot work. I am old and cannot do heavy work either. In the past, we barely lived on the contract fee from 14 mu of land year after year, and we were always a poor household in the village. This year I joined the village cattle cooperative. The cooperative allocated 5 cattle to each poor household that joined, with no capital needed, and when they are ready for market we earn money outright. Not only that, as a feeder in the cooperative I earn a monthly wage of 1,800 yuan and can work 10 months. In this way, with wages plus cattle-raising dividends and the land contract fee, our family income this year can exceed 30,000 yuan, and we have completely escaped poverty!"

During the interview, Song Changchun, Party secretary of Yongjin Village, calculated this benefit account for the reporter: "For raising these calves, the cooperative and farmers do not need to put up funds. When the enterprise buys them back at market time, after deducting the cost of 1,000 yuan per calf and then excluding the cooperative's reserve fund and all feeding costs, and calculating the survival rate at 92%, the net profit per head of cattle can reach 1,900 yuan, and each poor household that joined the cooperative can increase income by an average of 9,500 yuan. The first year is a trial. If the results are good, we will continue to expand the scale in the future. Through the enterprise's assistance and our own efforts, more poor households can take the road of escaping poverty and becoming prosperous through beef cattle breeding."