Husband and wife both quit jobs earning over 10,000 yuan a month to return home and raise cattle

San Nong Zhi Tong Che comprehensive report: Liu Xiaolun, a 32-year-old villager from Shanqi Village, Dongtun Township, Xixiu District, gave up a high salary of more than 10,000 yuan a month and returned home to set up a cattle farm, in order to turn his hometown's resource advantages into wealth. To raise the cattle well, he and his wife Zhen Nanzhen spend every day in the company of the cattle.

Recently, a reporter drove from the Shanqi Village Committee along a dirt road to the foot of the mountain, then followed a winding footpath up the mountain to the mountain pass. From a mountain hollow not far away came the shouts of someone driving cattle; the thin, dark Liu Xiaolun was driving the cattle to a small pond at the foot of the mountain to drink. Fifty meters from the small pond, a shed had been built against the mountain, its frame made of wood and its roof of plastic sheeting. About 500 meters from the cattle shed, on a half-way up the slope, stood two simple rooms built of plastic sheeting and timber; in front of them, Zhen Nanzhen, who is 5 years younger than Liu Xiaolun, was mixing cornmeal with water, preparing to supplement the cattle's feed.

“We came here to raise cattle in March this year, and now we have 60 cattle, most of them calves.” Liu Xiaolun said that during the years he worked in Ningbo, Zhejiang, whenever he came home for Spring Festival, he would see the mountain hollow covered in tender green grass, and it occurred to him that grass was a green resource that could also be turned into wealth.

To turn their hometown's resources into wealth, Liu Xiaolun and his wife, after a period of planning, decided to put their savings from working away into a cattle farm. In February this year, they built a simple cattle shed and two simple rooms in the mountain hollow of Jiangmiao Village, Shanqi Village. Then Liu Xiaolun went to Getuhe Town in Ziyun and spent 90,000 yuan to buy the first batch of 18 local yellow cattle; a month later, he went to Guanling and spent 37,000 yuan to buy a second batch of 8 local cattle. Through buying gradually in scattered batches, the number of cattle has now reached 60, and a small cattle farm has basically taken shape.

Since the cattle farm was set up, Liu Xiaolun and Zhen Nanzhen have made the farm their home. Apart from buying oil, salt, rice and other daily necessities and corn and other supplies to supplement the cattle's feed, they herd cattle by day and sleep in the simple rooms at night, and they have planted tomatoes, pumpkin, chili peppers and other vegetable crops nearby.

“During the time we worked in Ningbo, although it was very hard, the two of us together averaged 10,000 to 20,000 yuan or more a month.” Zhen Nanzhen said that among migrant workers, their pay counted as upper-middle level. But to earn more money, they had to work overtime and put in extra hours. To get double pay, they often worked overtime on holidays, and after a long time their bodies often felt somewhat unwell. With the policy support encouraging migrant workers to return home and start businesses, they also wanted to start a business, so they came home to raise cattle.

Liu Xiaolun said that to make the cattle farm bigger, the road has become a “stumbling block,” because with no highway access, materials and supplies can only be carried by hand. To open up this roughly 4-kilometer dirt road would require at least 100,000 yuan, while they have already spent nearly 300,000 yuan on the cattle farm. In the view of Liu Xiaolun and his wife, as long as they are determined to do what they are willing to do, they will certainly succeed. Next, they will continue to expand the number of cattle and the infrastructure of the cattle farm, striving to develop the farm to a scale of more than 500 cattle within three to five years.

Yao Fujin

(Original title: “Post-80s” couple return home to become “cowherds”)