Zhang Xinghai of the Amur Forestry Bureau Makes a Fortune by Raising Sheep

For 6 years of raising sheep, he persevered without regret; for 6 years of pursuing his entrepreneurial dream, he never wavered. He is Zhang Xinghai, a specialized sheep farmer in the Longhe Forest Resource Management and Protection Area of the Amur Forestry Bureau.

Zhang Xinghai, now 56 years old, was originally a chainsaw operator in the Changshan Management and Protection Area, a position he held for 16 years. In the spring of 2010, seeing that the market price for goats was high and they bred quickly, he decided to go into goat farming. He invested 20,000 yuan to buy more than 30 goats locally, embarking on the road of entrepreneurship.

Although the Longhe Management and Protection Area provided Zhang Xinghai with a site for goat farming, because he had no farming experience, a year later not only had the flock not grown, but more than 30 foundation goats and lambs had died from disease, a loss of 15,000 yuan.

Where you fall, you must get back up. Unwilling to admit defeat, Zhang Xinghai began humbly learning farming experience and advanced management practices from other farmers, and consulting professional technicians about disease prevention knowledge. With technical knowledge, he could vaccinate the sheep himself, administer deworming medicine, and treat sick goats, raising the goat survival rate by 85%-90%.

As the flock grew, in 2014 Zhang Xinghai built a new pen of more than 100 sq m with good ventilation and lighting behind the original housing, and the management and protection area also provided him with more than 200 sheets of iron roofing tiles. The careful support of the management and protection area strengthened Zhang Xinghai's determination to pursue entrepreneurship and his confidence in following a standardized, scientific breeding path. He insists on green farming, grazing the sheep for two hours each morning and evening, letting them freely eat green grass among the mountain forests, which improves the quality of the goat meat and lowers farming costs.

Zhang Xinghai did the math: raising a goat takes two years to reach market weight, and after deducting feed and disease prevention costs, the cost per goat is about 270 yuan. At the current market price of 26 yuan per kilogram for whole goat, one goat can earn more than 500 yuan. With more than 30 goats marketed per year, he can earn more than 15,000 yuan a year.

Today, Zhang Xinghai's family has nearly 300 goats, making him a major farmer. Having found success, he often shares his "sheep wisdom" with new sheep farmers, helping them get on the road to prosperity. Under his demonstration and guidance, another household in the management and protection area has now joined the ranks of farmers.