Post-80s PhD gives up a 300,000-yuan salary to raise cattle in the countryside and become a "cattle commander"
On December 4, 2016, in Daxiawei Village, Liangtian Town, Suxian District, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, although the Major Snow solar term was approaching, the pasture of "cattle commander" Zeng Bo was lush and green, and the dairy cows were spending the winter safely in the warm cowshed.
Zeng Bo is 34 years old this year. He graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences with a doctorate in 2011, and studied animal nutrition throughout his undergraduate, master's and doctoral studies. After leaving campus, he joined a foreign company in Changsha, engaging in dairy cow feed research and development, with an annual salary of more than 300,000 yuan.
But after working for several years, Zeng Bo developed the idea of starting his own business and running a pasture to raise dairy cows. At first, his family did not agree, but the stubborn Zeng Bo resolutely resigned from his high-paying job at the foreign company in 2015, and together with his wife Huang Nana returned to his hometown Chenzhou to start a business, establishing Chenzhou Bozhi Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd.
Starting with 9 purebred Holstein dairy cows that were introduced, and later through imported frozen semen breeding and artificial reproduction, the dairy cow herd has now reached 32 head, and the daily milk yield can reach more than 500 jin. In the spring of 2016, Zeng Bo opened his first fresh milk direct-sale store, "Milagge Love," on Zhongshan South Street in downtown Chenzhou. At present, there are already 3 franchise stores in surrounding counties and cities, and he plans to open two more direct-sale stores in the urban area by the end of the year.
In addition to the imported alfalfa hay that dairy cows like best, Zeng Bo has also planted more than ten mu of sweet elephant grass and ryegrass around the farm, alternately providing sufficient green feed for the dairy cows throughout the year.
In order to ensure that residents can drink fresh, high-quality milk, Zeng Bo has very strict requirements for the milking process. First, the udder is washed and cleaned with warm water. Then a special disinfectant is used for a "medicated bath" to disinfect the teats, and this process must last 25 seconds to 30 seconds. The third step is to dry and massage the teats with a paper towel. The fourth step is to squeeze out the first three streams of milk while checking whether the milk is abnormal. Only after completing the above process can the teats be attached to the milking machine for milking. After milking is completed, another medicated teat bath for health care must be carried out. Fresh milk just squeezed out contains bacteria and cannot be drunk directly. After filtering, Zeng Bo pasteurizes it to ensure the safety and hygiene of the fresh milk.
In order to extend the fresh milk industry chain and increase the added value of fresh milk, Zeng Bo made the fresh milk into yogurt rich in live bacteria, and also developed multiple kinds of natural cheese. At present, there are already more than ten kinds of dairy products sold in the store.
Hard work pays off. Today, the Chenzhou market has widely recognized his series of fresh milk and yogurt products, with fixed customers reaching more than a thousand families. At the same time, some foreign merchants are also negotiating cheese orders with him, and the development prospects are bright. The company plans to raise 200 dairy cows within five years, produce 5,000 jin of fresh milk per day, provide high-quality pasteurized fresh milk for tens of thousands of families, and at the same time build the pasture into a well-known characteristic tourism and leisure destination in Hunan Province and a dairy cow culture science popularization base.
Zeng Bo said he hopes that in the future he can become a famous cheese craftsman in southern China.