Shepherd Dong Shuyang's Dream of Getting Rich by Raising Ten Thousand Sheep

In the dog days of summer, the scorching heat is hard to bear. At 6 a.m. on July 13, Dong Shuyang of Zhongxing Village, Yongning Town, Guanling Autonomous County was already thinking about the sheep in his pen early in the morning, worried that the intense heat might make them unwell. Every day, Dong Shuyang always spends 1 hour carefully observing the condition of the sheep, and as soon as he notices signs of illness he immediately takes measures. Dong Shuyang said with a smile: "These sheep are my hard work and also my children. Observing them every morning is a habit I have formed over many years."

During the "Trade Union Vitality at the Grassroots" activity, Dong Shuyang was being interviewed by media from outside the province at the "Trade Union Forest."

Dong Shuyang was selected this year as a recipient of the municipal May 1 Labor Medal. He said: "This is an honor and also a responsibility. I will lead the villagers to a good life."

Before 2005, Dong Shuyang worked away from home. After accumulating a certain amount of skills and funds, in 2006 he began raising black goats. He started his business with 50 goats. After careful breeding, one year later Dong Shuyang's 50 goats generated an income of more than 30,000 yuan. He then expanded the breeding, generating an income of more than 100,000 yuan each year. The steady income from raising sheep strengthened his determination to keep breeding. Seeing the hope that sheep raising offered, the surrounding villagers came one after another to Dong Shuyang's home to ask about ways to make money, and Dong Shuyang taught the villagers without holding anything back.

In 2011, he encouraged Dong Guoyou to raise sheep and first gave him 50 sheep free of charge to raise. Under Dong Shuyang's careful guidance, Dong Guoyou's flock grew to 70 sheep after one year. He repaid the 50 he had borrowed and still had 20 left. In this way, Dong Shuyang continually lent sheep to surrounding villagers to raise, and after the villagers' flocks grew he took back the sheep he had lent out. His deeds of "helping others fulfill their good wishes" spread by word of mouth among the people, and more and more people came to his home to borrow sheep to raise. At present, more than 300 households of villagers have been led by him onto the road to prosperity through sheep raising, and he has also become a widely known shepherd of 20,000 sheep. "I do this shepherd job well. Whenever the villagers have any problem they come to me. For sheep birthing, illness, expanding or repairing pens, planting grass to raise sheep, and so on, they all come to discuss with me, and I never tire of it. This is what I am willing to do!" Dong Shuyang said frankly.

With so many sheep raised, what about sales? To solve the problem of coordinated sales, Dong Shuyang established the Guanling Dazhou Fumin Breeding and Farming Professional Cooperative, through which he uniformly purchases and sells the sheep. With the help of the Guanling County Trade Union, the sheep are sold at 18 yuan per jin of live sheep to Guangxi, Hainan, Guiyang and other places, also opening for more than 300 households of villagers a road to prosperity leading to the outside world. At present, each household generates an income of more than 50,000 yuan.

In order to lead the villagers onto a path of green development and give them a sense of belonging, in January of this year Zhongxing Village in Yongning Town established a trade union organization, through which the union provides members with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and Dong Shuyang led the villagers in planting grass to raise sheep. "Black goats eat a lot. Free-range grazing would destroy the forest, so we must combine free-range grazing with pen feeding and follow the concept of green ecological development," Dong Shuyang said, pointing to the artificially planted lawn. At present, he has led the villagers in planting more than 300 mu of grassland. In order to promote the implementation of the three-year action plan of "Green Guizhou Construction" of the provincial party committee and provincial government, and with the arrangement and participation of the Guanling county party committee and county government, the county trade union, together with the county youth league committee, the federation of industry and commerce, and the rural commercial bank, built more than 40 mu of "Trade Union Forest," realizing "green co-construction" and "green sharing" under the "five major concepts." The Trade Union Forest was planted with pine trees by Dong Shuyang leading trade union members within the visible range of the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway in Sunjiazhai, Yongning Town. The original site of this land was used for dumping waste residue. In order to turn waste into treasure, the trade union organized a large number of villagers and trade union members to plant the trees on March 12 of this year, and the current survival rate has reached 98%. It is expected that in November, 300 mu will also be planted with trees at the Yongning High Mountain Ski Resort.

At present, Dong Shuyang has led more than 100 households of villagers to transfer more than 1,500 mu of land, planting economic fruit forests such as late-autumn yellow pears, cherries, and Wuhong pears. He invested more than 3 million yuan to establish Guizhou Miaoling Yongxin Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd., following the development path of company + cooperative + farmers. Nie Yuanlin, director of Zhongxing Village, said: "Dong Shuyang is a widely known capable man in our village. Under his leadership, many impoverished people have embarked on the road to prosperity and have also found the direction for their future careers. He is a model worker forever in the hearts of the people!" It is understood that villagers whose land has been transferred receive 80 yuan per day for working at the company, and can also enjoy dividend profits from the company's earnings.