Liu Ruyuan, a disabled entrepreneur from Bobai County, strives relentlessly to prosper by raising sheep
Entrepreneurial story
Striving relentlessly to make a “sheep fortune”——A profile of Liu Ruyuan, a disabled entrepreneur from Bobai County
Liu Ruyuan feeds Nubian breeding sheep with forage grass.
“These are Australian Nubian breeding rams, and each one costs 70,000 yuan!” Under the dim light in the sheep shed, 32-year-old Liu Ruyuan said as he walked along.
This sheep farm is located outside Changjiang Village, Jiangning Town, Bobai County, surrounded by green trees and forage grass. It is currently the largest breeding and raising base in Guangxi, with more than 1,300 head of high-end breeding sheep such as Nubians. Its founder, Liu Ruyuan, is a well-known local disabled entrepreneur and also a fairly influential leader in helping people get rich.
An accident at the age of 16 cost him his entire right palm. But life's heavy blow did not defeat him; instead, it tempered his willpower. After recovering from his injury, it took him only one week to learn to write with his left hand. Later, he was admitted to a health school, planning to become a pharmacist. But the discrimination he encountered on the path to employment forced him to seek another way out.
By chance, he came into contact with the sheep-raising industry. After learning about the situation, he decisively made a new life choice——to return to his hometown and raise sheep. This was in 2009.
The early days of starting his business were full of twists and turns. He used all the family's savings of 35,000 yuan to buy 30 ewes and 1 ram, but all the sheep died a month later. He did not lose heart. After figuring out the cause, he borrowed tens of thousands of yuan from relatives and friends and bought dozens of breeding sheep again.
After figuring out the methods, the following year he decisively used policies supporting entrepreneurship for disabled people to take out a loan of 200,000 yuan and introduced 250 Guangxi ewes. In less than two years, the flock had bred to nearly 1,000 head. At this point, he once again made a bold decision: sell all nearly 1,000 sheep and replace them entirely with Australian Nubian breeding sheep, which are larger in size and faster at producing lambs. But this kind of sheep is expensive; the sale price of nearly 1,000 Guangxi goats brought back only 50 head.
Facts proved that Liu Ruyuan had an extremely forward-looking vision. A few years later, the growth rate of Nubian breeding sheep far exceeded that of local goats, and he reaped higher value.
A flood in 2013 forced him to find a new development model. At that time, floodwater poured into the sheep farm late at night. The lambs drowned that very night, and dozens of breeding sheep successively fell ill and died over the following period.
In the second half of that year, he began to launch the “company + farming households” model, distributing the company's breeding sheep to be raised in the homes of participating farming households. His company not only provided full technical services and feed, but also purchased lambs at guaranteed prices. At present, 52 farming households have joined, and many people have become rich as a result.
Seventy-year-old participant Xie Yujun is a poor household in nearby Liujia Village and had almost no start-up capital. Liu Ruyuan supported him by giving him 20 breeding sheep to raise and helping with feeding. A few years later, Xie Yujun's family had developed 40 breeding sheep, giving him the foundation to start a business.
Bin Shiqiang, a 55-year-old participant from Liuli Village, Nalin Town, has difficulty walking and his family is poor. At the end of 2014, he received 14 breeding sheep from Liu Ruyuan to raise, and now the flock has grown to more than 80 head.
“It can both spread the company's operating risks and lead more people to become rich and change their lives. Why not do it?” Liu Ruyuan said.
To help more disabled people like himself start businesses, at the end of last year Liu Ruyuan joined the “Sunshine Poverty Alleviation Project for Disabled People” operated by the autonomous region's disabled persons' federation, with the goal of leading 100 disabled people to prosperity within one year. At present, dozens of disabled people have begun raising sheep with his support.
Liu Ruyuan has long been well known. In the past year alone, nearly 1,000 breeders from Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan, Chongqing and other places came to learn pen-raising techniques for goats from him.
Liu Ruyuan is also already covered in honors. In the small office at the sheep farm, he used his left hand to take out a thick stack of red honor certificates——“National Outstanding Migrant Worker,” “Self-Strengthening Model of the Autonomous Region,” “Outstanding Individual in Employment and Entrepreneurship of the Autonomous Region”……
Compared with honors, Liu Ruyuan cares more about the evaluations of the breeders. “Only when I see them escape poverty because of me do I feel that my value has truly been realized.” he said.