Raising Donkeys as an Independent Entrepreneur: Breaking Through with a Stubborn "Donkey Temper"

"Donkey Temper" Builds a Big Business

-- College Graduate Diao Long Returns Home to Raise Donkeys and Brings Prosperity to All

Diao Long raises and loves donkeys; this little donkey foal, which he delivered with his own hands, has become his good "friend."

Recently, a reporter came to the Sanmu Guanzhong Donkey Farm in Luqiao Town, Sanyuan County, Shaanxi Province, drawn by its reputation, and saw villagers lining up in groups to haul corn stalks to the farm. While unloading his cart, Grandpa Wang said happily that in past years, at every autumn harvest, corn stalks had nowhere to be thrown and could not be burned, piling up all over inside and outside the village. Now things are better: bring the corn stalks to the farm and you can even get money for them. The village has produced a fine young man, and we all benefit from his success!

The young man Grandpa Wang mentioned is Diao Long, owner of the Sanmu Guanzhong Donkey Farm. In 2009, after graduating from Xi'an International University with a degree in logistics management, Diao Long worked as an operations supervisor at a company in Xi'an, earning a monthly salary of more than 5,000 yuan, and he was doing very well. His wife opened a travel agency in Xi'an, and her business was thriving. The young couple lived a comfortable and warm life, becoming the envy of classmates and neighbors, and Diao Long's parents felt very proud.

However, as time went on, Diao Long found this stable life monotonous and dull, and he began to wonder whether he could start something of his own. On a trip back to his home village of Wujia Village, he saw his parents busy caring for the dozen or so Guanzhong donkeys the family raised, and his heart stirred: could carrying forward this industry become his own path to entrepreneurship? Quitting his job to go home and raise donkeys would let him both inherit his father's business and stay by his parents' side to fulfill his filial duties. Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?

However, ideals are plump, but winning his parents over was hard. When Diao Long laid out his thoughts completely, his father, who had raised donkeys for more than 20 years, turned livid with anger: "You come back to raise donkeys! Then what did we send you to college for?" The first conversation ended uncomfortably. This time, the young Guanzhong man Diao Long showed his "donkey temper." For several days in a row, he appealed to emotion and reasoned with logic, describing his grand blueprint. "You raise donkeys in your own yard and can only send a few dozen to market at most in a year. The scale can't grow, and there's no competitiveness. If you let me run it, first I'll build a modern farm and carry out large-scale breeding; then I'll build an entire industry chain... Not only will we get rich ourselves, but we'll also lead the villagers to get rich!" Diao Long finally won his parents' understanding and support.

He acted as soon as he spoke. In June 2012, Diao Long leased 35 mu of land in the village and invited experts to design a standardized farm plan. The Sanmu Guanzhong Donkey Farm, with an initial investment of 2 million yuan, broke ground amid the sound of firecrackers. During construction, Diao Long worked as a laborer himself, digging foundations, carrying bricks, and mixing cement, building a farm with infrastructure including offices, staff dormitories, standardized donkey sheds, a feed room, and silage pits, and began large-scale donkey raising. Afterward, the farm also successively raised camels and horses for villagers to rent for tourism.

To understand donkeys' temperaments, Diao Long lived alone in a simple room beside the donkey shed, letting the donkeys become familiar with his scent and making friends with them. He carefully observed and learned about the donkeys' diet and their preferences for forage, and delivered foals in the middle of the night. Relying on accurate judgment of market conditions, his one-stop industry chain of breeding, slaughtering, and processing ran quite smoothly, with more than 1,200 donkeys sent to market in a year. Last year, sales exceeded 10 million yuan and net profit topped one million yuan.

To lead more villagers to get rich together, Diao Long adopted a farm + farmer household model, developing 6 large-scale breeding households nearby, providing them with donkey foals and silage, offering door-to-door follow-up services, and implementing unified epidemic prevention... Each household can earn at least 50,000 yuan a year. What made him even happier was that every year he bought up all the corn stalks left after the villagers' autumn harvest as silage. For this alone, each mu of land could increase net income by more than 300 yuan. Watching the villagers' wallets gradually swell, Diao Long was overjoyed. He himself was also named a Shaanxi Province Star of College Student Independent Entrepreneurship. (Reporter Zhang Xuejun, photo report)

The Sanmu Guanzhong Donkey Farm was named an advanced unit for promoting employment through entrepreneurship by Sanyuan County.

Diao Long personally delivers donkey meat to restaurants and takes the opportunity to seek customers' feedback.

Villagers involved in tourism come to the farm to rent camels; this is a good win-win project.

Donkey meat soaked in paomo broth has become a new choice for Shaanxi diners. The farm's donkey meat has already been sold throughout Shaanxi Province and still falls short of demand.

Feeding the donkeys is now a mechanized operation.

Diao Long observes and records the growth conditions of the donkeys.