Raising Cattle Without Hired Help: One Family Easily Handles 60 Head
Lei Daigui feeding the cattle
Recently, the reporter came to the Daigui Farm located in Group 5 of Tuanbao Village, Guojia Town, where the person in charge, Lei Daigui, was feeding the cattle in the cowshed.
Lei Daigui pushed a large bucket filled with fodder into the cowshed, and dozens of plump, sturdy cattle poked their heads out one after another, mooing, while a few calves just over a month old jumped around lively.
By this year, Lei Daigui's family had been raising cattle for 6 years, with income rising year after year, and they had gained some reputation in the beef cattle breeding industry in Kai County and the surrounding districts and counties.
Raising the Best Beef Cattle
In 2009, Lei Daigui's family began raising cattle.
"In the past, the whole family relied on working for others to make money, but working for others means being managed by others, while starting a business means managing yourself." Lei Daigui said that after discussion, the family decided to use their savings from working to develop beef cattle breeding.
"If you're going to raise cattle, raise the best ones, not those local cattle with poor meat quality and slow growth." Lei Daigui said that before starting to raise cattle, she went online to look up information and choose good beef cattle breeds, and then went to surrounding districts and counties or places like Hebei and Jilin to buy breeding cattle or calves to raise.
"First, choose the best breed; second, choose the cattle that grow best and are healthiest among the herd." The task of going out to buy cattle was generally handled by Lei Daigui's father-in-law, Hou Renquan. In order to buy the ideal cows or calves, they were willing to spend money; apart from building the cowshed, all the family's savings were used to buy cattle.
At first they only raised more than 10 cattle. Now, Lei Daigui's farm has more than 40 commercial cattle and more than 20 cows, mainly Charolais, Simmental, Hereford and other beef cattle breeds that grow fast, have good meat quality and a high dressing percentage. Each year they market more than 40 commercial cattle and also sell dozens of calves.
"All the commercial cattle are sold within the county. Compared with nearby places, Kai County has the highest beef cattle prices, because people in Kai County love fresh beef and don't mind paying a bit more." Lei Daigui said that because her family's beef cattle are of good breed and good meat quality, both commercial cattle and calves are in short supply. Not long ago, some breeders from Guang'an in Sichuan and Guizhou bought dozens of calves.
"A commercial cow raised to about one year old weighs at least 1000 jin. The current market price in Kai County is 12 yuan/jin. After deducting costs, one cow can earn at least 3000 yuan a year. A calf raised to five or six months can sell for at least 6000 yuan." Lei Daigui said the annual net income is at least 200,000 yuan.
Clear Division of Labor for the Whole Family
Lei Daigui's farm keeps more than 60 cattle year-round, but they have not hired a single worker.
In order to raise the cattle well, Lei Daigui's family divided the work clearly. Her father-in-law Hou Renquan is experienced in selecting cattle and is mainly responsible for buying and selling. She and her mother-in-law Cheng Jingju are responsible for feeding the cattle. Her husband Hou Xiangjun is young and strong and is mainly responsible for the physical labor on the farm.
"His main job is carrying cattle manure. This morning alone he carried 11 loads." Lei Daigui said with a smile that raising cattle is simpler than raising pigs or sheep. Processing fodder does not take much time. The hardest work is carrying cattle manure. Her husband is responsible for carrying the manure out of the cowshed every day and dumping it into the biogas digester. The biogas produced can replace at least one canister of liquefied gas a month. After the cattle manure is composted, it is carried to the fields to grow king grass, vegetables or corn for feeding the cattle.
"We have a reasonable division of labor, so raising cattle is relatively easy and there is no need to hire workers." Lei Daigui said that workers' wages are high now, and hiring workers to raise cattle is not cost-effective. As long as the whole family works together, it is enough. "Of course, family harmony is the key. Harmony brings wealth!"
Providing Plenty of Fodder
When talking about why they chose to raise cattle and what tricks there are to raising cattle, Lei Daigui said that the beef market in Kai County has always been good, but the overall scale of beef cattle breeding is not large, so there is often a shortage of supply.
"In recent years, the prices of pigs and sheep have fluctuated, and the market has not been very stable, while the price of beef cattle has always been relatively high and very stable." Lei Daigui said that in Kai County there is no worry about selling cattle.
"With a market, as long as you raise the cattle well, there is money to be made." Lei Daigui said that cattle are large livestock with relatively strong adaptability and disease resistance, and are easy to raise. "Actually, the trick is very simple: they must have something to eat."
Having something to eat is enough. It sounds simple, but it is actually not simple. Lei Daigui explained that although cattle are not picky eaters, they have a large appetite. One cow eats at least 5000 yuan worth of feed a year, so finding enough fodder every day to fill dozens of cattle is also a heavy burden.
"We did not buy special feed. First, the cost is high; second, the beef from cattle fed with feed is not as good in quality as that from cattle fed with fodder and grain." Lei Daigui said that an important reason her family's beef is of good quality is that they insist on feeding fodder and grain.
"We crush king grass, vegetables, corn stalks and so on, then mix them with cornmeal and feed it to them." Lei Daigui said that king grass has high yield and high protein content. Her family now grows more than 8 mu of king grass and also grows some vegetables and corn.
"Of course, what we grow ourselves alone is not enough to feed dozens of cattle." Lei Daigui said that every year when the corn is harvested, her father-in-law and husband drive out to cut corn stalks at nearby farmers' homes. "As long as nearby farmers' homes are close to the road, all their corn stalks are cut by us to feed the cattle."
"As long as the cattle are well fed, a big problem is solved." Hou Renquan said that another key issue is doing a good job in disease prevention and treatment. As soon as they see a cow with a runny nose or other symptoms, they immediately buy medicine. He can handle some common cattle diseases and generally does not need to call a veterinarian.
"Also, the staff at the town animal husbandry and veterinary station are very responsible. They come to the farm on time every month to give vaccinations and guide us in epidemic prevention work." Lei Daigui said that since they started raising cattle, not one of her family's cattle has died from disease.
Expanding Scale After Renovation
Last year, Lei Daigui participated in micro-enterprise training organized by the county industry and commerce bureau and learned a lot of management experience.
"Later, we invested more than 40,000 yuan to carry out standardized renovation of the farm, so that the barns, environmental protection, epidemic prevention and other aspects met higher requirements." Lei Daigui said that after renovating the farm, she registered a micro-enterprise and therefore also received more than 20,000 yuan in micro-enterprise subsidies.
"More than 20,000 yuan also helped solve our urgent need." Lei Daigui said that raising cattle requires relatively large capital investment. She had always wanted to expand the scale further, but lacked working capital.
"I hope the government can provide more support for financing in the breeding industry. As long as the capital bottleneck is solved, it will be easy to turn a small enterprise into a big one." Lei Daigui said with a smile.