Luzhou's Luo Taishu Becomes Famous for Raising High-Priced Selenium-Enriched Pigs

Original title: Devoted to Research, He Raised High-Priced Selenium-Enriched Pigs

Luo Taishu displays selenium-enriched pork products.

It is the same pig farming, and the same ecological pork, yet cured pork and pig kidneys sell for 96-360 yuan/kg, which is 3-9 times that of ordinary fresh pork and fresh pig kidneys. "My pigs look no different from other pigs, but they have a fashionable and healthy name - selenium-enriched pigs." Recently, at the selenium-enriched pig breeding base in Muyuan Village, Tianxian Town, Naxi District, Luzhou City, owner Luo Taishu told this writer that it is precisely the "selenium-enriched" characteristic that has multiplied the value of the pork.

Pig Improvement Gives Rise to Luzhou's Selenium-Enriched Pigs

Walking into Luo Taishu's pig farm, one sees more than 300 black pigs roaming freely on the hillside, and their appearance looks no different from ordinary pigs. "A glossy body means health, and this is the biggest difference between selenium-enriched pigs and ordinary pigs." Luo Taishu said, "My ability to embark on the path of raising selenium-enriched pigs benefited from Naxi District's pig improvement project."

Luo Taishu, 46 this year, began raising ecological pigs in 2006, but before 2010, like other farmers, whether he made money from pig farming depended entirely on luck. But in early 2010, after Luo Taishu won the bid for Naxi District's pig breed improvement project, a new page turned in his history of pig farming.

After that, Luo Taishu began to devote himself to studying the quality and survival time of boar semen. "Adding selenium to boars can improve semen quality, and adding it to ecological pigs can not only improve their meat quality, but also prevent disease, fight cancer and delay aging. In the Beijing market, Canadian selenium-enriched pork sells for 338 yuan/kg without any worry about sales." In March 2010, when he went to the provincial animal husbandry bureau to learn from experts about Sichuan's selenium-enriched pig breeding standards, an expert's words suddenly enlightened him. He began adding selenium to breeding boars' feed in proportion, which greatly improved the quality and survival time of the boars' semen.

From then on, with the help of provincial animal husbandry experts, Luo Taishu began his journey of raising selenium-enriched pigs and became the first person in Luzhou to raise selenium-enriched pigs.

Monthly Testing Ensures Selenium Content

Today, the food and drug supervision departments of Luzhou City and Naxi District test samples of Luo Taishu's selenium-enriched cured pork every month to ensure quality. Not only that, after fresh pigs are slaughtered each month, Luo Taishu also promptly sends the pork to Chengdu for testing. "Monthly testing is to ensure quality and enhance the brand." Luo Taishu said.

After starting to raise selenium-enriched pigs, Luo Taishu researched selenium-enriched feed formulas with the help of provincial and municipal animal husbandry experts. "The key to the formula is how to make the pork fully absorb the selenium in the feed." Luo Taishu said that his selenium-enriched pigs are produced by fermenting microorganisms grown in a selenium-enriched environment to obtain selenium yeast, then adding a certain proportion of selenium yeast and other nutritional elements to the feed, so that the pigs fully absorb the nutrients during growth and ultimately produce selenium-enriched pork."

According to this formula, over 5 years, Luo Taishu trial-raised more than a thousand selenium-enriched pigs. He said that to ensure the quality of the selenium-enriched pigs, his pigs all drink high-mountain spring water that meets standards. What surprised Luo Taishu even more was that through free-range raising and other methods, not only were the pigs' physiques strengthened and the lean meat rate increased, but the selenium content per kilogram of pork also reached 320 micrograms, 10 times that of ordinary pork, far higher than the selenium content standard for selenium-enriched pork.

Famous in Beijing, Selenium-Enriched Pork Sold Nationwide

"Boss Luo, I am Li Huilan from Beijing. Please express another 5 jin of selenium-enriched pork rib sausages to me, and I will transfer the money first as before." On April 5, Ms. Li Huilan, a resident of Chaoyang District, Beijing, called again to buy selenium-enriched pork rib sausages. During this year's Spring Festival, Luo Taishu sold more than 300,000 yuan worth of selenium-enriched pork, of which sales revenue from Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Chengdu and other places reached 200,000 yuan.

In October 2014, Luo Taishu's selenium-enriched cured pork obtained the "National Industrial Product Production License" issued by the Sichuan Provincial Food and Drug Administration. In December of the same year, his selenium-enriched pork products participated in the 6th National High-Quality Agricultural Products (Beijing) Promotion Week held at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing. Because of good quality and complete testing reports, more than 800 kg of selenium-enriched cured pork products sold out in 3 days. After becoming famous at one stroke, orders came pouring in. In 2015, Luo Taishu's selenium-enriched pork achieved sales revenue of more than 1.2 million yuan.

Luo Taishu told this writer that in order to drive more people to raise selenium-enriched pigs, this year he will provide technology and feed at cost to members of the Luzhou Selenium-Enriched Pig Special Cooperative, and strive to increase the annual number of selenium-enriched pigs sent to market by three times over the previous year, reaching 3,000. And in order to let local people in Luzhou also eat selenium-enriched pork, in January this year he also took the initiative to lower the sales price by 30%. "Next, in addition to entering Luzhou's Moore Mall supermarket, the products will also be sold through online e-commerce, striving to make my selenium-enriched pork a nationally renowned brand as soon as possible." Regarding the future, Luo Taishu is full of confidence. (Zhang Guangshuang, special correspondent Zhou Chaowen, text/photo)