Li Qiheng of Tanghe Returns Home to Raise Cattle and Builds His Fortune, Turning Straw Recycling into a Treasure

Entrepreneurial farmer Li Qiheng

Milking in progress

Straw silage pit

In today's "era of entrepreneurship" of "mass entrepreneurship and innovation," farmers returning home to start businesses are undoubtedly a new sight in the great tide of entrepreneurship. They were born in the countryside, grew up in the countryside, understand the countryside, have a deep attachment to their home villages, and also have rich experience from venturing out. Returning to this familiar land, they can surely inject "positive energy" into making agriculture stronger and farmers richer. Returning entrepreneurial farmer Li Qiheng is a typical representative.

Returning Home to Start a Business, Raising Cattle Scientifically

Li Qiheng is one of the returning entrepreneurial farmers of Anzhuang, Wangji Township, Tanghe County. Relying on Henan Agricultural University for technical support, he joined hands with the dairy giant Yili Group (Pingdingshan) to build a dairy cattle farm. The entire project is carried out in two phases, and the first phase has already been completed. At present, the farm has 22 employees and 2 professional technicians, more than 670 head of high-quality dairy cattle on hand, a daily fresh milk output of more than 6 tons, an annual income of more than 10 million yuan, 3 silage pits, and an annual straw storage of more than 7,800 tons.

He plans to give full play to the three major advantages of scientific feeding and management, smooth sales channels, and high-quality and sufficient feed to build an enterprise with breeding scale, technological content, reliable reputation, and development prospects. It is expected to reach a total area of 300 mu and a total investment of 50 million yuan, with an annual herd size of 3,000 head, a daily fresh milk output of more than 50 tons, and an annual income of more than 30 million yuan.

Li Qiheng told reporters: "Right now, because of the problem with machinery and equipment, the pressure of straw recycling is relatively high, and people have to wait in line for a long time. Everyone finds it very tedious, and some people are unwilling to wait, so they throw the straw in the fields, which has a great impact on the environment. From a long-term perspective, the cattle-raising industry still has great development potential. One dairy cow can consume about 10 tons of straw a year. If all the straw were recycled, it could at least feed 1,000 dairy cows for a year, which would increase income even more."

Collecting All the Straw, Turning Waste into a Treasure

In order to effectively carry out the comprehensive utilization of autumn crop straw and the prohibition of burning, promote sustainable agricultural development, environmental protection, and farmers' income growth, the Party Committee and government of Dongwangji Township started early and continuously broadened channels to improve the level of comprehensive straw utilization, truly turning straw from waste into a treasure. At the same time, it also effectively resolves the hidden danger of burning corn straw and plays a positive role in protecting the environment and cultivation.

It is understood that the township currently has two dairy farms, in Anzhuang and Wangzhuang, with more than 1,400 dairy cows. This year, more than 18,000 tons of corn straw have already been ensiled, including more than 3,000 tons of straw with corn cobs and more than 15,000 tons of pure straw. Calculated at 0.15 yuan per jin for straw with corn cobs and 0.05 yuan per jin for pure straw, this can bring economic benefits of more than 2.4 million yuan to the surrounding corn-growing farmers on more than 9,000 mu of land, with an average income increase of more than 260 yuan per mu. The two farms will continue to expand their breeding scale next year and improve their corn straw silage capacity. It is expected that more than 25,000 tons of corn straw will be ensiled, further strengthening environmental protection and greatly easing the environmental pressure brought by straw burning in the region.

Although Li Qiheng does not have a high academic degree, he loves to think things over, has tenacity, and dares to innovate, and he walks steadily on the road of entrepreneurship. Next, he plans to continue expanding the scale, absorb multiple farming households into joint breeding at the dairy farm, implement an industrial chain linking the market to the base and the base to farmers, and drive people to get rich quickly; increase employment rates, as after the dairy farm is completed, it will arrange jobs for hundreds of laborers and solve the local employment problem; and achieve energy reuse, as the cow dung discharged from the farm will use biogas technology to produce new clean energy and develop organic fertilizer, forming an ecological chain model that can increase organic benefits in many aspects.