Ecological Goat Farming Helps Returning Young Entrepreneurs in Songtao, Guizhou Start Businesses
In Xiangshuidong Village, Panshi Ecological Animal Husbandry Demonstration Park, Songtao County, Guizhou Province, 6 returning young people have started a business raising "ecological goats" and found a path to prosperity. Recently, the author came to Hongqi Breeding Professional Cooperative in Xiangshuidong Village, hoping to learn about the entrepreneurial story of these 6 returning young farmers.
"The local white goats we raise drink natural mineral water, eat natural wild forage, and breathe the air of a natural oxygen bar, so the price of the goats has stayed at around 30 yuan per jin. A 90-jin goat can sell for 2,700 yuan, and a larger one can sell for nearly 3,000 yuan or more. Sales are all made when customers come to buy, and the market has always been good." said Long Zhicha, a farmer at the cooperative, happily.
While working in Zhejiang, Long Zhicha had been a department manager at a breeding enterprise, with generous pay. In 2014, when he returned home to visit his parents, he found that his hometown had particularly good natural resource advantages for farming, and he wanted to use this resource advantage to raise "ecological goats." He discussed it with several returning young people, Long Zhengfa, Long Zhenghai, Long Yutang, Ma Jinxiang, and Long Wenyong, and they reached an agreement that each person would invest 100,000 yuan and take shares in raising "ecological goats." In less than half a month, the "ecological goat" pen was successfully built beside Tianchi Yantang at the top of Hongqi Power Station in Xiangshui Village. In September 2014, the 6 returning young people bought 87 local white goat breeding ewes and 3 stud rams and began ecological free-range rearing. To raise the goats well, they also hired local villagers as "goat herders," driving the goats out after 9 a.m. every day and driving them back in the evening. "Goats are social animals and very gregarious. Based on this physiological trait of goats, we selected a large, agile ram, trained it into a lead goat that can obey commands, and hung a bell around its neck. Straggling goats hear the bell and follow, and it is easier for us to keep track of where the flock is going." "Goat herder" Long Lianger talked about the secrets of ecological free-range rearing.
Long Wenyong said that the "ecological goats" they raise free-range are very different in meat quality from pen-raised goats. These goats move every day on more than 20,000 mu of natural grassland, and the fat is burned off through movement, leaving only lean meat, with a very delicious taste. Since sales began in February 2015, they have sold more than 150 goats, and the economic benefits are very considerable.
Speaking of the future, Long Zhicha said happily that they must control the scale of goat farming, protect the ecological balance, and take a path of sustainable goat farming.
Yang Zhengwen