He spent 6 years farming stone frogs and became an expert through deep study in the mountains
In the quiet mountain valley, a stream murmurs and the trees are lush. From a large courtyard by the bank comes burst after burst of "gu gu" frog calls. To Xu Xiaolei, this may be the most beautiful sound in the world.
"Over the past 6 years, all my thoughts and energy have been poured into this tiny stonefrog," Xu Xiaolei said. Hard work pays off, and at last the day of success has come.
Xu Xiaolei, 37 this year, is from Tingxia, Xikou, Fenghua. Because of reservoir resettlement, he moved with his parents to Xiwu to live when he was a child. As soon as he finished junior high school, Xu Xiaolei came out to make a living. He repaired motorcycles, drove minibuses, and also worked as a painter, then later became a driver for a government agency in the city.
He had a stable job, but Xiao Xu's desire to start a business was never "settled." He thought back to when he ran a restaurant: because mountain stone frogs have high health-preserving and nourishing value, customers flocked to them despite the high price. "Now there are fewer and fewer wild stone frogs. This treasure, can I raise it myself?"
In 2011, Xu Xiaolei visited some farmers in the Siming Mountain area and Jinhua and other places. Then he rented a piece of land in Li'ao Village, Longguan, Yinzhou, "copying the same pattern," and began building ponds and channeling in stream water to try breeding stone frogs.
Recently, the reporter came to Xu Xiaolei's stone frog breeding farm in Li'ao. In 5 shallow ponds, clusters of stone frog tadpoles swam about. They are larger than frog tadpoles, with yellow-brown bodies marked by black stripes. Another row of houses is the stone frog breeding facility. When a piece of asbestos tile was lifted, groups of stocky breeding frogs immediately darted out from underneath. Xiao Xu said these tadpoles hatched between April and May this year and are growing well. Wild stone frogs have leech eggs on their skin and need to be kept temporarily for half a year to fully "detox" before they can mate. They like damp, dark environments and must have clean flowing water. The conditions for growth and breeding are extremely demanding.
Xu Xiaolei said, "I originally thought raising stone frogs would not be difficult. I never expected that in the first two years I invested several hundred thousand yuan and did not raise a single frog; they all died." Later, through a connection made by the fisheries department, he and his father went to a breeding farm in Anji, Huzhou, to "learn from a master." "They only introduced some basic knowledge and were unwilling to reveal any of the key breeding techniques. We had to figure it all out and grasp it ourselves," Xu Xiaolei told the reporter. He and his father made 7 trips to Anji, and even carried the entire trash can from the breeding farm there back with them. Based on the discarded packaging bags inside, they analyzed what feed stone frogs eat and what medicine should be used to prevent disease. Then they consulted experts from the fisheries department, tested repeatedly, and conquered the key technical points bit by bit.
Even so, the process of raising frogs as a business was still full of twists and hardships. One year near Spring Festival, a rainstorm sent stream water pouring down mixed with mud and impurities, and 500 pairs of newly purchased breeding frogs were wiped out overnight. "I put the dead frogs one by one into woven bags and carried them down the mountain to the garbage station. The pain in my heart..." Recalling that scene, Xu Xiaolei choked up. Later, he dug a well more than 10 m deep, purified and filtered the mountain water, and then pumped it into the breeding ponds, solving the hidden danger at its source.
During the year, stone frogs are in dormancy for nearly half the year. From a small tadpole growing to a commercial frog weighing about 150 grams takes 3 years. This is a long period of torment. Over the past nearly 6 years, Xu Xiaolei's family invested nearly 4 million yuan in total in raising frogs, much of it borrowed. "Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back!" He told the reporter that fortunately, in the past two years, through continuous experimentation, he developed and proportioned suitable feed himself and controlled the growth environment, bringing the survival rate of stone frogs from hatching and tadpole metamorphosis to small frogs and adult frogs to more than 90 percent. The more he raises them, the more confident he becomes.
His hard work finally paid off. At the end of last year, the first batch of commercial frogs from Xu Xiaolei's farm gradually came to market, selling nearly 1,000 kg and supplying nearby farmhouse restaurants. He took the reporter into the adult frog breeding base in Qingyuan Village. A breeding pond of more than 170 sq m can hold more than 6,000 frogs, all vigorous and lively. Xu Xiaolei said that by the end of this year, an estimated 2,500 kg of commercial frogs will be brought to market. "We have already established cooperative relationships with customers in Hangzhou and the Yuci area, so there is no need to worry about sales."
In Ningbo, fewer than two digits' worth of farming households raise stone frogs, and even fewer succeed. At present, Xu Xiaolei's stone frog farm is the largest in the city and has the highest survival rate. It has already bred 40,000 small frogs, and there are still 80,000 to 90,000 adult frogs at the site. His breeding results have also attracted the attention of the city's science and technology authorities. Right now, Xu Xiaolei is expanding the site and plans to move the seedling farm down from the mountain in autumn for easier management. "I want to raise stone frogs even better, so more city residents can taste the delicious flavor of this precious mountain delicacy." (Reporter Yu Jianwen)
(Original title: A young man from Fenghua's arduous entrepreneurial path: 6 years to raise a frog to adulthood)