The true story of how beef cattle farming lifted him out of poverty and made him prosperous

"Moo, moo"... On July 10, the reporter came to Shangzhai Village, Langzhong Township, Puyang County. Before even entering villager Shang Shanqian's cattle shed, the mooing from inside could already be heard. Upon entering the shed, it turned out that Shang Shanqian and his wife were adding feed for the beef cattle, which set the cattle mooing. Looking at the sturdy beef cattle one after another, Shang Shanqian said cheerfully: "It was beef cattle farming that lifted me out of poverty."

In 1989, Shang Shanqian married his wife, and after the wedding he ran transport with his older cousin away from home. For more than ten years, although the family could not be called wealthy, life was still fairly comfortable. Unexpectedly, in 2011, Shang Shanqian developed a herniated lumbar disc, could no longer continue running transport, and had to return home to rest and recover. With no income and two children in school, expenses were heavy, and the family's life gradually became poor. At this point, Shang Shanqian's wife had to go out to work, supporting the whole family on meager income. Seeing that some neighbors had built new houses and some had bought cars, Shang Shanqian saw it with his own eyes and felt anxious in his heart. During a phone conversation with a relative from another place, he learned that beef cattle farming had stable income and relatively high returns, so he discussed with his wife about raising beef cattle at home.

At the beginning of raising beef cattle, he lacked both technical know-how and funds, so Shang Shanqian converted his own courtyard into a cattle shed, took out the family's only savings, added funds scraped together from relatives and friends, and introduced from other places more than ten head of Simmental, Charolais and other breeds of cattle with short feeding cycles, fast weight gain and considerable economic returns. From then on, while raising cattle he also studied feeding knowledge, and even made special trips to cattle farms in other places to learn techniques, beginning a life of being with cattle all day long: ordinarily, he was a "cattle nanny," carefully tending each beef cow; when a cow got sick, he was the "veterinarian," personally giving injections for disease prevention; when a cow gave birth, he became the "midwife," watching over the calf day and night. Hard work pays off, and Shang Shanqian earned 60,000 yuan in the first year. This "first bucket of gold" allowed him to see the prospects of beef cattle farming and further strengthened his confidence in it.

In 2014, Shang Shanqian decided to exchange land with a neighbor and build a new cattle shed, but encountered opposition from his family. "I am now an entrepreneur, but I am also a member of our village. I not only want my family to live a good life, but also want to blaze a 'road to prosperity' for the village." After successfully persuading his family, he took out a loan of 50,000 yuan from the township credit union and built a modern cattle shed of more than 300 sq m east of his home. Through careful management, up to now, his cattle shed has more than 40 head on hand, with an annual slaughter volume of 25 head and cumulative returns of more than 400,000 yuan.

Today's Shang Shanqian has long since taken off the "hat" of poverty and become a major breeding household in the village. His daughter is about to graduate with a master's degree, his son has also been admitted to university, and the family has even bought a car, which can truly be called an earth-shaking change. When other villagers saw that Shang Shanqian had escaped poverty by raising beef cattle, they came one after another to ask him about breeding techniques. At present, two poor households already plan to join the ranks of escaping poverty and getting rich through beef cattle farming.