College graduate in Fengdu, Chongqing, becomes a pig farmer and tastes sweet success
"Last year I sold more than 150 fattened pigs, and together with selling some piglets, I made over 300,000 yuan in total." Yang Jianghu said with a beaming smile recently.
Yang Jianghu is a post-90s college graduate from Lengjinxi Village, Longhe Town, Fengdu County. After graduating from Southwest Agricultural University in 2014, in order to realize his dream of entrepreneurship, he gave up the opportunity to work and live in the city, resolutely chose to return to his hometown, combined theory with practice, and began his own path of entrepreneurship.
Recently, when the reporter came to Yang Jianghu's pig farm in Lengjinxi Village, Longhe Town, they saw that 23-year-old Yang Jianghu was wearing framed glasses, a white striped T-shirt and casual jeans, and still seemed to carry a student air about him.
"Luoluoluo..." In the pig farm, Yang Jianghu called softly, and a group of lively piglets poured out. He scattered a basket of sweet potatoes on the ground, and the piglets rushed over, competing to eat. Watching his "treasures" forage and play, Yang Jianghu's face showed a happy smile, and he opened up like counting his family treasures.
Speaking of his experience and original intention for entrepreneurship, Yang Jianghu said that after graduating in 2014 from Southwest Agricultural University with a major in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, he had also thought, like other classmates, of taking civil service and public institution exams, hoping to gain a firm foothold in the city. On the day of registration, he and his friends queued for several hours and finally managed to register at the registration office. When the exam results came out, he found his score was not enough. Speaking of the experience of applying for the position, it had a great impact on Yang Jianghu, who had just left school: thousands upon thousands of people applied for only a few positions, and the difficulty was even greater than getting into university.
"I studied animal husbandry and veterinary medicine. Finding a job is not easy now, so returning home to start a business is a relatively good choice." Yang Jianghu said that because his major was relatively unpopular, it was difficult to find a good job. In addition, he had dreamed of starting a business since childhood, and thought of applying what he had learned, so the idea of returning home to raise pigs and become wealthy was born. "Although I am a graduate in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, theory far outweighs practice." Yang Jianghu shook his head and said that during university, in order to accumulate more practical experience, he spent more than a year interning at large pig farms in Hechuan, Yongchuan, Jiangjin and other places, effectively combining theory with practice, and continuously learning and summarizing many pig-raising methods.
After graduation, after some consideration, Yang Jianghu told his parents about his idea and gained their support. Yang Jianghu told the reporter that his parents had been in the scrap recycling business in Nanping, Chongqing, for ten years, missed their hometown very much, and also wanted to return home to live. Not long after, his father Yang Genming took out 300,000 yuan in savings as his son's startup capital. At present, father and son manage the pig farm together.
"Installing running water pipes, making pig troughs, building water tanks... these were all done by my father and me ourselves." Yang Jianghu pointed to the water tank nearby and said that after returning home, he simply converted an old house in his hometown into a pigpen, bought 10 sows, 1 breeding boar and a Changan vehicle, then fenced off 30 mu of wasteland and planted forage grass, vigorously building a pig breeding farm.
"At present, there are more than 100 pigs in the pig farm, including 15 sows and 1 breeding boar, with the rest being piglets." Yang Jianghu said that these piglets are very mischievous and strong, and the iron railings on the pigpen were pushed askew. The most troublesome thing is putting "earrings" on the piglets, but fortunately with his father's help, the pig farm has always gone smoothly.
In addition, the mustard greens, sweet potato vines and other feed given to the pigs are all original ecological foods, and the feed is prepared without additives, so the quality of the pigs is very good. Yang Jianghu said that his pigs focus on being "original ecological." In order to increase the piglets' amount of exercise, he also made a small playground in the pigpen and drives them to run every day. Now all the pigs stocked in the pig farm have been booked out by friends and merchants.
"It is expected that 300 to 400 fattened pigs will be marketed this year, with a profit of more than 600,000 yuan." Calculating this year's economic accounts, Yang Jianghu smiled so widely that he could not close his mouth.
"I adopt crossbreeding of pigs to increase output and quality. At present, the highest record is 24 piglets in one litter." Yang Jianghu said when talking about innovating pig breeding methods.
Yang Jianghu introduced that he first crossed first-generation Taihu pigs with Landrace pigs, producing black and white piglets, then kept the white pigs to cross with Duroc breed pigs, which would produce pigs in three colors: black, white and brown. "This method not only has high output but also good meat quality. In particular, white pigs sell especially well on the market and are welcomed by pig dealers." He told the reporter with a smile.