How profitable is goose farming? A farmer woman runs a family goose farm and earns 16 yuan per goose
“On November 22 last year, I brought in 500 goslings to raise. By day 86, on February 15 this year, I had raised 482 of them to full size and sold them all, for 33,849 yuan. After deducting direct raising costs of 26,075 yuan, in three months Igoose farmingmade a net profit of 7,774 yuan, an average profit of 16.1 yuan per goose. Goose farmingreally pays off.” Liu Xiaolin is a rural woman from Yanshuitang Village, Gaocang Villagers' Committee, Luomian Town (Yunnan Province). For years she had wanted to get rich by raising livestock and poultry. In 2016, as soon as she heard about the goose farming initiative run by the county agriculture bureau and the county women's federation, she discussed it with her family, cleared out a house and a plot of land, and set up a "family goose farm" to raise geese. Now, with her farming experience built up, Liu Xiaolin is planning to expand her operation and get ready to "go big."
Starting in February, as batches of full-grown geese were marketed, the Fumin County Agriculture Bureau and the Fumin County Women's Federation began jointly inspecting the goose farming of the "family goose farm" demonstration households, providing technical guidance on goose farming on the one hand and, on the other, verifying data so they could calculate and pay out subsidies to the farmers. Members of the inspection team said that if Liu Xiaolin also received Fumin County's policy subsidy for 2015 "family goose farm" demonstration households, 6 yuan per gosling plus 250 yuan per mu for grass planting, totalling 3,500 yuan, her actual total income over three months would reach 11,274 yuan.
In 2015, the Fumin County Agriculture Bureau and the Fumin County Women's Federation joined hands with Fumin County Mingfeng Goose Industry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. to set up "family goose farms" in rural areas under a "company + farmer" model, developing goose farming demonstration households to help rural women and elderly people left behind start businesses, find work, escape poverty and get rich. The specific approach was that, with government support, Mingfeng Goose Industry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. provided farmers with young geese at 12 yuan each; after the farmers raised them for three months, the company bought back the full-grown geese at 18 yuan per kg, while the Fumin County government gave "family goose farm" demonstration households support subsidies of 6 yuan per gosling and 250 yuan per mu for grass planting.
According to statistics calculated over many years of farming by Mingfeng Goose Industry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd., the net profit from raising one goose is around 16 yuan. In 2015, after Fumin launched the "family goose farm" project, it first developed 15 demonstration farming households.
To ensure the spread of goose farming techniques and protect farmers' incomes, after completing the selection of the 15 "family goose farm" demonstration households, the Fumin County Agriculture Bureau and the county women's federation set about guiding farmers in choosing farming areas according to farming conditions, guiding demonstration households in building and renovating goose warming sheds and goose houses, and guiding demonstration households in forage grass planting. At the same time, the Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center of the Fumin County Agriculture Bureau and Mingfeng Goose Industry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. sent technical staff to organize goose farming demonstration households and enthusiastic goose farmers for observation, study and technical training at the company, at Maichang Villagers' Committee in Yongding Subdistrict, and at Zuku Villagers' Committee and Zhongmin Villagers' Committee in Dongcun Town, laying the foundation for developing "family goose farms."
“The goslings the company gives us have already been vaccinated, so raising them isn't very difficult. The key is to be patient and careful.” Yang Chunlei, a goose farmer from Zuku Villagers' Committee, said she spent just over 600 yuan on a heater, and after 20 days of warming, the goslings can be moved out of the warm room to be raised. “Geese are very easy to feed; just mix cornmeal and coarse bran together. Add some green grass or green vegetables as usual.” To lower farming costs, on a friend's recommendation, Yang Chunlei goes to the Chengyuan District vegetable market every three to five days to fetch a cartload of vegetable leaves for free to feed the geese. “I brought in the goslings on March 12, 500 in all. After just two months of raising them, the big ones already weigh 4 kg. When the rains come in June and the grass I planted grows, farming costs should be even lower.” “In another month there'll be a harvest! Even if the government stops subsidizing, goose farming is still a good way to make money.” Watching the flock eating happily, Yang Chunlei is planning to bring in a second batch of goslings to expand her operation.
In Bakou Village, Zhongmin Villagers' Committee, Dongcun Town, farmer Ruan Yunfen also brought in her first batch of 500 goslings in March this year. Her goose farming costs may be a bit higher: because of the season, the green grass in the fields has not yet grown in fully, so the geese are basically fed cornmeal mixed with coarse bran. Fortunately, Ruan Yunfen's family has a lot of land and plants a lot of corn, sowing over 20 kg of corn seed a year. Apart from feeding the pigs and chickens, the corn harvest is more than enough for raising geese. “Next, I'm going to rebuild the goose house in the fruit orchard, fence off a big area, and raise 1,000 per batch to expand the scale of farming.” Although she hasn't done a careful cost calculation, Ruan Yunfen feels that making money from goose farming is no problem.
Yang Pin, director of the Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center of the Fumin County Agriculture Bureau, said that as a poverty-alleviation project in Fumin, the promotion of "family goose farms" in Fumin must strive to be both demonstrative and replicable. The first batch of 15 carefully selected "family goose farm" demonstration households in 2015 were not only in densely populated market towns; demonstration households were also set up in places like Zuku Village and Bakou Village in Dongcun Town and Longyuan Village in Chijiu Town, the most remote parts of Fumin. To better serve farmers, Mingfeng Goose Industry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd., which supplies the goslings, both delivers goslings and collects full-grown geese "to the farmer's door," which also saves farmers transport costs.
Yang Pin said the 15 "family goose farms" established in Fumin County in 2015 have already achieved initial results: the 15 demonstration households raised a total of 9,250 goslings, of which 8 households had marketed 3,202 geese by March 2016. Subsidy work for the demonstration households is also being carried out accordingly. At present, the policy support payouts for the first batch of 8 goose farming demonstration households that have marketed their geese have been completed, and the remaining 7 households will also undergo inspection and payout in turn according to their farming schedule.
“The demonstration effect of the 'family goose farms' has already shown itself. Driven by the 15 demonstration households in 2015, 135 rural households have already signed up with the county agriculture bureau in 2016 to raise geese, hoping to set up their own 'family goose farms.'” Yang Pin said that even without government policy subsidies, the "company + farmer" 'family goose farm' goose farming model, with its low investment, fast cycle and quick returns, is a very good path to prosperity. Yang Pin also said that at present, Fumin County's neighbour Luquan County is treating the "family goose farm" as a targeted poverty alleviation project, bringing in goslings from Fumin County's Mingfeng Goose Industry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. to help people escape poverty and get rich.
(Li Yingqing)