College graduate from Pengxi returns home to start a business raising cattle as a cowherd

What to do after graduation? This is a problem that troubles many contemporary college students. Chen Kun, a young man born in the 1980s from Banqiao Township, Pengxi County, chose to return to his hometown to become a "cowherd" after graduating from university. "Raising cattle in the countryside not only gives me a place to put my abilities to use, but also let me realize my dream of starting a business and becoming wealthy." Speaking of his entrepreneurial path, Chen Kun seemed full of confidence.

Returning home to develop College student starts a business as a "cowherd"

"What I raise are all water buffalo. The market price is 11.5 yuan per jin, and one buffalo can sell for about 10,000 yuan. At present, there are nearly 500 head in the barn. After deducting costs, there is no problem making 1.5 million yuan this year." At the beef cattle farm in Zifu Village, Banqiao Township, farmer Chen Kun said happily that their beef cattle currently sell especially well, mainly to Chongqing, Nanchong, Chengdu and other places, with demand exceeding supply.

This slightly shy young man before us was born in 1988 and graduated in 2011 from Sichuan Water Conservancy Vocational College with a major in animal husbandry. After graduation, Chen Kun chose to return to his hometown to start a business as a "cowherd." However, when he first raised the idea of returning home to start a business with his family, he immediately met with their opposition. Seeing that Chen Kun was determined, in the end his parents could only nod in agreement.

After returning home, Chen Kun invested more than 100,000 yuan to build pens and bought back more than 10 head of beef cattle, beginning his cattle-raising career. After nearly 4 years of exploration, Chen Kun's farm gradually grew and expanded, developing from the initial few dozen cattle to nearly 500 head today, and the breed raised also improved from the initial yellow cattle to today's meat-quality water buffalo. At the same time, in order to minimize pollution from the farm, Chen Kun also transferred more than 100 mu of land to plant green grass to meet the farm's feed needs. At the same time, he is experimenting with raising earthworms on cow dung to achieve circular use of the manure.

Studying hard An "outsider" became a cattle expert

"The first two years felt especially tiring, especially when the cattle got sick. I often worked through the night until dawn, but now I feel that that period of life was especially fulfilling." Looking back on his entrepreneurial path, Chen Kun was full of emotion.

In the winter of 2012, the cows Chen Kun was raising began giving birth one after another. Due to lack of experience, nearly 20 newborn calves showed symptoms of diarrhea. After these symptoms appeared, Chen Kun continually consulted professional veterinarians and searched for relevant information online. After nearly 1 week of treatment, the calves finally recovered their health. From then on, Chen Kun actively studied breeding techniques. Once evening came, he would leaf through relevant books and search for information online. During the day, he stayed in the cattle shed all day, summarizing experience in deworming and improving the stomach health of cattle, and observing each cow's eating patterns, determining the feed supply and feed formula for each cow.

"Farming is delicate work and requires careful raising. Every step, from drinking water, feeding, and cattle shed sanitation, must be strictly controlled; a good raising environment must be maintained and sanitation and epidemic prevention work must be done well to avoid infectious diseases, and regular epidemic prevention inspections are also needed." After several years of exploration, Chen Kun quickly got the hang of it and gradually mastered a set of scientific cattle-raising techniques.

Serving fellow villagers Driving villagers to get rich together

"With professional technical guidance, we have confidence and peace of mind in raising cattle." Farmer Kong Haijun said happily that he now raises 20 cattle at home, not only without worrying about sales, but Chen Kun also proactively comes to teach cattle-raising knowledge, and if the cattle get sick he also helps treat them. In order to lead surrounding farmers to wealth better and faster, in 2012, with the help of the local Party committee and government and his parents, Chen Kun established the Pengxi County Tiaodun Beef Cattle Breeding Professional Cooperative, launching a "special cooperative + farmer" beef cattle breeding foster-raising model. That is, the cooperative provides calves bred from cows to farmers interested in raising cattle and provides them with breeding techniques. Farmers only need to be responsible for raising them. When farmers have raised the fostered calves into commercial cattle ready for sale, the cooperative then centrally collects the commercial cattle and sells them uniformly to the outside. At present, nearly 10 farming households in the entire township have joined Chen Kun's cattle-raising team.