Raising Earthworms on Cow Dung, Cattle Farm Earns 200,000 Yuan More

Manure disposal has always been a headache for livestock and poultry farmers, but at the Maochang Cattle Raising Cooperative in Tunchang County, Hainan Province, cow dung has become a "hot commodity." The members ferment cow dung to raise earthworms, which sell for 16 yuan per jin.

In 2015, the Tunchang County government proposed developing region-wide ecological circular agriculture, with controlling livestock and poultry manure pollution as the top priority. Xie Zuli, chairman of the Maochang Cattle Raising Cooperative, told reporters that the cooperative raises large-framed Simmental cattle imported from Switzerland, which eat far more than ordinary yellow cattle. To turn cow dung into a valuable resource, solving pollution while also making money, Xie Zuli, who enjoys fishing, thought of raising earthworms.

Xie Zuli explained that earthworms generally feed on fermented manure from cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens as well as household garbage, and do not compete with other animals for feed. After collecting cow dung and mixing it with straw to ferment for about a week, it can be used to raise earthworms. To increase the earthworm yield, the cooperative specifically imported a high-yield variety from Japan. This variety has a rearing cycle of about two and a half to three months, shorter than other earthworms. At present, the Maochang Cooperative's earthworm breeding area is about 12 mu, with an annual output of 10,000 jin, an output value of nearly 200,000 yuan, and an annual consumption of more than 360 tons of cow dung, effectively solving the cooperative's cow dung disposal problem.

"In the traditional cattle industry, cow dung is treated as waste. But in the ecological cycle chain of 'cattle - fermentation - earthworms,' cow dung is the most important link," Xie Zuli said. Earthworm castings are a premium organic fertilizer that can be used for the cooperative's forage grass cultivation and also sold to nearby growers, adding about 10,000 yuan in income a year from this item alone.

Wang Ence, director of the Tunchang County Agriculture Bureau, said that relying on this circular agriculture model, the Maochang Cooperative has now taken in 6 members in cattle raising, with an average annual income of 40,000 yuan per household; 30 member households raise earthworms, with an average annual income of 30,000 yuan per household.

Yu Junjun, staff reporter Deng Weizhe