Zhang Yingping escaped poverty by raising cattle and became a veritable cattle expert

“Don't worry, sister, about escaping poverty; I'll bring you along to raise cattle; raise one cow and earn tens of thousands, and I promise your days will be carefree.” Walking into Dazhai Village, Kaiben Town, Cengong County, Guizhou Province, one can hear mountain songs about getting rich by raising cattle everywhere. The cattle-raising industry in Kaiben Town has to start with Zhang Yingping, director of the Dazhai Village Committee; it was this "cattle expert" in the eyes of the people who sparked the wave of getting rich by raising cattle in the village.

Zhang Yingping, 45 this year, retired from the military in 1993 and then worked away from home for many years. During the Spring Festival in 2009, Zhang Yingping returned home for the New Year and, after learning that his hometown had policies to strengthen poverty alleviation and development and increase support for agricultural industries, resolutely returned to his hometown to develop distinctive agricultural industries.

That year, he took the lead in developing the flue-cured tobacco industry in his village, planting 20 mu of flue-cured tobacco that year and generating an income of 60,000 yuan. Under his leadership, more than 20 tobacco farmers in the village developed 460 mu of flue-cured tobacco, and the tobacco farmers generated an annual income of 1.5 million yuan, turning the flue-cured tobacco industry into a pillar industry. In the subsequent election of the village “two committees,” he was therefore elected by the people as director of the Dazhai Village Committee.

Zhang Yingping adapted measures to local conditions and set his sights on Kaiben Town's resource advantage as an ecological township with a forest coverage rate of 84%, developing the breeding industry. In 2014, encouraged by the town government, Zhang Yingping, through inspections and study and raising funds from multiple sources, took the lead in investing more than 1.5 million yuan to build a standardized and large-scale commercial cattle farm of more than 3,000 sq m in Wachang, Dazhai Village, and through contacts with fellow soldiers, introduced fine breeds such as Simmental and Limousin from Jilin, Sichuan and other places for breeding, developing 78 commercial cattle that year.

When he first started raising cattle, he had no experience, so he found books to teach himself, asked technicians from the animal husbandry department whenever he did not understand something, or looked up information online. In this way, his breeding techniques became more and more mature. At the same time, through introductions from friends, he got in touch with some sales markets inside and outside Guizhou Province and gained stable sales channels. In early 2015, after the first batch of commercial cattle went on the market, demand exceeded supply, achieving a net profit of more than 300,000 yuan. To expand the industry, he invested the profits in buying young calves, and the farm increased its commercial cattle to 130 head. After selling them in May this year, he generated an income of more than 700,000 yuan.

After Zhang Yingping succeeded in developing the cattle-raising industry, the town government organized farmers willing to develop the cattle-raising industry to observe on site, and he explained cattle-raising skills on site and provided technical services free of charge. “Thanks to Director Zhang's help, I embarked on the road to wealth by raising cattle.” Speaking of Zhang Yingping's guidance, farmer Tian Kaiping, who generated an income of 200,000 yuan in 2015, said gratefully. Under Zhang Yingping's technical guidance, Tian Kaiping raised more than 50 cattle last year, and after the first batch of commercial cattle was sold, he achieved a profit of more than 200,000 yuan.

“If Director Zhang had not provided epidemic prevention guidance, our family's 3 calves might have been lost last year.” Through Zhang Yingping's guidance, Wu Kaiming, a cattle farmer in the Xiayuanzi group of Dazhai Village, raised 20 cattle. The calves accidentally showed symptoms of rumen impaction and could not eat forage. Under Zhang Yingping's guidance, medication was promptly used, and the calves pulled through, allowing Wu Kaiming to recover economic losses of nearly 20,000 yuan.

Driven by Zhang Yingping, Kaiben Town has now developed nearly 60 specialized cattle-raising households, with nearly 3,000 beef cattle on hand, generating an annual income of more than 26 million yuan, and helping more than 30 registered poor households and more than 120 poor people escape poverty. At present, Zhang Yingping is planning to establish a cattle-raising professional cooperative, striving to form a “Party branch + cooperative + farmers” development model, develop the cattle-raising industry, drive the masses to develop in a “group,” and promote increased income for cattle-raising farmers.

Zhang Nengqiu