Large-eared goat farming paves the way to prosperity for Yingjing County, Sichuan

On June 1, as sunlight filtered through the thin mist and spread across the land, the 100 large-eared goats at the large-eared goat breeding base in Jiulong Group, Shuanghong Village, Yanzhu Township, Yingjing County had just opened their drowsy eyes and were enjoying the breakfast carefully prepared by their owner, Guo Bing……

Five years ago, Guo Bing "invited" 100 large-eared goats from Jianyang to settle in Jiulong Group, beginning his journey of farming large-eared goats on a large scale.

Over the past five years, Guo Bing has endured the bitterness and heartache of mass deaths among his breeding stock, his partners "dissolving the partnership," and selling goats to save the base, yet he refused to concede defeat or admit failure, letting the large-eared goats breed and thrive in Jiulong Group and bringing life and vitality to the desolate barren hills.

Refusing to concede: the breeding base's "narrow escape"

On the morning of the 1st, in Jiulong Group, Shuanghong Village, Yanzhu Township, Yingjing County, the mountain road was somewhat muddy after the rain. Driving two kilometers along this road brings you to Guo Bing's goat breeding base. At the entrance hangs a sign reading "Yanzhu Township Large-Eared Goat Cooperative." Entering the base, the pens built from wooden strips look somewhat crude, and the uniformly sized compartments are the large-eared goats' homes. After breakfast, some goats pace about with bulging bellies, while others have already gone back to sleep.

"Although there are only 100 goats now, it's already good that the base has survived." After taking a turn around the breeding base, Guo Bing frowned and spoke of the difficulties of farming large-eared goats.

The story goes back to 2011. Guo Bing, who had years of experience raising goats, pooled money with two fellow veterans to establish the Yanzhu Township Large-Eared Goat Cooperative, built a goat breeding base in the local mountain forest, and purchased 100 large-eared goats from Jianyang.

This breed of goat is a superior population formed by crossbreeding imported Nubian goats with local Jianyang goats, so its farming requirements are naturally higher than those of ordinary goats. On the first attempt at raising them, 20 of the 100 goats died due to non-standard techniques, climate incompatibility, and various other reasons. With this setback, Guo Bing's fellow veterans, fearing excessive losses, began to entertain the idea of selling the breeding base.

Seeing the breeding base he had built with his own hands about to change ownership, Guo Bing refused to concede. He bought back his comrades' shares and ran the breeding base alone. With limited funds, Guo Bing could not afford to hire workers, so he had to "retreat" to the mountains with his wife and two young children, handling all the affairs himself. Cutting grass, feeding, disease prevention, breeding…… Since pouring his family's heart, sweat, and livelihood into the goat base, Guo Bing and his wife had never slept in again.

"We have three children in school, and working for others is not a long-term solution." Over the past five years, watching one lamb after another being born and one meat goat after another being successfully sold, Guo Bing and his wife firmly believed that developing large-eared goat farming was not only a means of survival but also a hope for prosperity.

Even when the market was poor and he had to sell breeding goats to keep the base running, Guo Bing refused to concede. "At the lowest point, there were only 20 goats." Looking back now, Guo Bing cannot quite explain where he found the courage to persevere.

With this tenacity, Guo Bing's breeding base made a "narrow escape." Over the years, batch after batch of lambs were sold and pen after pen of goats were fattened, "more worthwhile than working for others."

Fighting poverty: the breeding base comes to life

Every morning, as soon as Guo Bing enters the pens, the large-eared goats reflexively stick their heads through the rails, waiting for fodder. Watching the goats bury their heads and eat voraciously, Guo Bing always murmurs, "Eat up, grow fast." Only after feeding the goats does Guo Bing use his motorcycle to take his two younger children to school in the county seat.

"I feed them once in the morning and once in the evening. After improving the method, our workload has decreased quite a bit." Guo Bing said the large-eared goats eat two meals a day. Previously they ate green grass morning and evening; after the feeding plan was revised, they eat green grass in the morning and grain in the evening. After switching to this "nutritious diet," the large-eared goats' coats became better, and the workload of grass-cutting for Guo Bing and his wife naturally decreased.

Last year, Shuanghong Village welcomed a First Secretary, and Guo Bing also encountered new opportunities for development.

"After Secretary Gao arrived, he helped get the road opened up." Guo Bing looked at the newly opened 3-kilometer rough road and said this road was also one of the reasons constraining his base's development. Back when Guo Bing and his partners built the breeding base, this place was still a stretch of desolate green hills, with narrow winding paths overgrown with weeds.

To support Guo Bing and others in their development, Yanzhu Township secured policy support, helped Guo Bing widen the road to one meter, and had it paved. Over the years, Guo Bing had relied on this road and a motorcycle to come and go. Looking in the direction Guo Bing pointed, one section of the road is 2 kilometers long and the other is 1 kilometer long. Guo Bing said these two roads lead in different directions, making it more convenient to sell goats in the future.

On both sides of the road, vegetation is lush, and a piece of flat land adjoins the breeding base. Guo Bing said that was reserved land for expanding his operation. Once the road infrastructure is improved, he will raise funds, seek partners interested in farming, build a standardized breeding base, expand the farming scale, and invite villagers who wish to develop to join the cooperative and raise large-eared goats together.

Gao Peng, First Secretary of Shuanghong Village, said that with large-scale farmer Guo Bing as the leader and with the help of the Yanzhu Township Large-Eared Goat Cooperative, introducing standardized goat farming and thereby radiating benefits to drive local villagers' development is a good way for Shuanghong Village to escape poverty and increase income.

Guo Bing and his wife have already decided that they will also invite the large-eared goats' "family of origin"——the Jianyang merchants who originally supplied his breeding stock——to come into Shuanghong Village and build a comprehensive breeding base integrating farming, processing, and sales in a "one-stop" operation, resolving his worries about sales, letting large-eared goats thrive endlessly in Shuanghong Village, and making the road to greater income and prosperity ever broader.