Ma Zongchang Retires, Returns Home to Raise Cattle, and Becomes a "Cattle Commander"

Ma Zongchang, the head of Heilongjiang Xingchang Meat Food Processing Co., Ltd., located in Xinghua Village, Mingjiu Township, Zhaodong City, is a retired worker past the age of 60, known as the "Cattle Commander."

On October 9, when the reporter met 64-year-old Ma Zongchang, he told the story of his entrepreneurial journey in an accent tinged with a bit of Shandong flavor.

Retiring, Returning Home to Start a Business, Investing Over 10 Million Yuan to Establish a Company

At the age of 23, Ma Zongchang came alone from Linyi City, Shandong Province, to Xinghua Village, Mingjiu Township, Zhaodong City, to farm. After more than 10 years of farming, he went to Daqing to work, having been a loader, engaged in the breeding industry, and run a construction engineering company. He retired from Daqing Vocational College. In 2010, upon hearing that his hometown was seeking investment, he discussed it with his wife and returned to his old home to invest in and establish a beef cattle breeding and processing enterprise.

"At such an old age, you should just enjoy a comfortable life; as long as you have enough to eat and drink, that's fine." Some relatives and friends advised him, "Besides, even if you want to do something, find a place near the edge of the city or with convenient transportation. Why go to such a remote place?" But Old Ma said this was killing three birds with one stone: first, it responded to the local government's call; second, it fulfilled his long-cherished wish to give back to the folks in his hometown; third, starting a business after retirement would make his sunset years glorious.

If you do it, you must do it to high standards and with class! In 2012, Old Ma's company started operations with great vigor. The company covers an area of 13,000 sq m, with a building area of 3,119 sq m. The cattle sheds, factory buildings, and workshops are advanced and fully equipped. The processing, cutting, packaging, and other equipment is automated. It launched a green breeding, processing, and sales integrated production line, with a total investment of more than 10 million yuan, including 9 million yuan in fixed assets and 1 million yuan in working capital. The beef cattle breeds raised are mainly Simmental and Charolais, with an annual breeding volume of 500 head and an annual slaughter volume of 400 head, which can achieve an output value of 10 million yuan. It is currently the most advanced beef cattle breeding and processing enterprise in Zhaodong and even the Suihua region.

Building a Green Food Chain

Talent is the foundation of an enterprise.

At the beginning of building the farm, Ma Zongchang invited a professor from Northeast Agricultural University to fully plan and guide the work. After that, he hired a doctoral supervisor from Bayi Agricultural University, who came to the enterprise on weekends to work on-site or provided diagnosis and guidance via video. He also taught himself beef cattle scientific breeding technology and modern enterprise management knowledge through the internet to meet the company's practical and developmental needs. Old Ma's second son, Ma Deshun, graduated from Harbin Medical University. In order to develop the enterprise to a higher level, he kept his son by his side, using the enterprise as an employment base and as a platform for young people to display their talents, with father and son starting the business together.

Gradually, the enterprise formed three major operating characteristics based on "traditional free-range raising," premised on acid-discharge processing, and guided by market sales.

In terms of breeding characteristics, it implements the "six unifications" of management, fattening, breeds, feed, disease prevention and elimination, and processing and sales. It promotes green breeding. The company has established two designated bases on its own to breed calves. The cattle sheds have central heating in winter, good ventilation in all four seasons, and the floor is fully covered with wooden boards. Manure is discharged through hidden channels into biogas digesters for harmless treatment. The cattle drink non-polluting water from deep wells. The feed contains no additives whatsoever and is fed with a formula of high-quality Leymus chinensis, self-processed soybean powder, cornmeal, carrots, and distiller's grains, ensuring sufficient nutrients and multiple vitamins. The cattle sheds, farm areas, equipment, and personnel are also regularly disinfected, operated by full-time veterinarians.

In terms of processing characteristics, it goes through six major stages: slaughtering, cutting, acid discharge, packaging, quick freezing, and cold storage. Strictly in accordance with relevant national regulations, it strictly controls the quality of slaughtering. Tested by quality and technical supervision and other authoritative departments, the "Caoyuanxiang" brand beef is fine and tender in texture, high-end in variety, and rich in unsaturated fatty acids, free amino acids, and other nutritional components, meeting green food standards.

In terms of sales characteristics, taking advantage of people's continuously improving living standards, the gradual change in dietary structure, and the growing popularity of green, pollution-free food, the company has invested substantial manpower, material resources, and financial resources to participate in market competition. It implements a three-step business strategy of entering supermarkets, breaking into high-end hotels, and setting up its own retail stores, comprehensively promoting the company's products and vigorously publicizing the green brand. The products have been sold to Daqing, Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, and other large and medium-sized cities.

Giving Back to the Folks Back Home

While starting his business, he did not forget his hometown ties. Ma Zongchang became the biggest "volunteer worker" in Xinghua Village, Mingjiu Township.

In 2012, with both the farm to build and roads to construct, funds were insufficient, so Ma Zongchang borrowed from friends. With no construction team, he stepped in personally and solved the problem in a timely manner. To ensure quality, he personally signed contracts and sent people to follow up and supervise. In just over two months, with an investment of 600,000 yuan, a 2-kilometer white paved road was completed. On the day of the opening ceremony for traffic, people beat gongs and drums, set off firecrackers, and put a big red flower on the "Cattle Commander" as a hero. The villagers said, "With this road in the past two years, we no longer worry about not being able to drive in summer, not being able to leave home, not being able to sell melons and vegetables, or not being able to do business. We will never forget Old Ma's great virtue and great deeds!"

Nowadays, chemical fertilizers are used year after year in farming, the soil has become compacted, harmful residues exceed standards, and some poor households rely on loans every year to buy chemical fertilizers. Old Ma took the initiative to discuss with village officials and selected 20 households with relatively poorer living conditions to "deliver manure to their doors." No matter who they are, villagers can come to the company at any time to haul away cow manure, and he does not charge a single cent. Someone calculated that from the free cow manure alone, each household could save nearly 2,000 yuan.

Since the company has been operating for more than a year, hundreds of farmers have come to visit and learn, more than 10 households now raise more than 30 cattle each, and some farmers plan to increase the value of their grain through cattle raising, achieving a virtuous cycle of planting and breeding and becoming prosperous.

Driving more farmers to join the ranks of cattle raising through the company and leading farming households to prosper together, this is Ma Zongchang's wish.