Why can wild goats raised by a beautiful woman beat wild boars?

With fashionable red hair and light makeup, at first glance no one would ever connect this pretty young girl Chen Mu with raising goats. Chen Mu, 26 this year, originally ran a beauty salon in Zhuhai. Last year, to support her father's business venture, she gave up a business with an annual income of over 100,000 yuan and followed her father Chen Xinsheng to Raocun in Yueyang County, their hometown. Drawing on the area's rich natural resources, she devoted herself to raising wild goats, bringing vitality and vigor to the once quiet mountain village.

Raising goats, to help her father start a business

On October 12, 2015, as the sun set in the west, on the hilltop of the famous group in Raocun Township, Yueyang County, 26-year-old Chen Mu raised her whip and drove the flock of goats home.

If she hadn't said so, no one would know that this goat-herding girl was once a beauty-industry girl. After graduating from secondary school, Chen Mu headed south to work in the beauty industry. In 2012, she raised money with relatives to open a small beauty salon in Zhuhai. The shop was small, but business was good; in a month she could profit ten or twenty thousand, and in a year that meant an income of over 100,000. Unexpectedly, just when business was booming, Chen Mu chose to quit and return to her hometown to help her father Chen Xinsheng raise goats.

Talking about the reason she gave up her business to return home and start a venture, Chen Mu told reporters that she is an extremely home-loving person, having grown up in the mountains since childhood, and she does not like the drifting life in big cities.

Chen Mu's father, Chen Xinsheng, had once raised black goats in Raocun. Because the village had inconvenient transportation and few inhabitants, it was basically cut off from the outside world, and the superior ecological environment allowed the black goats to grow up healthy; in the first few years, no disease had ever occurred. Whenever the black goats were ready for market, demand always exceeded supply! But good times did not last. By the 4th year of breeding, Chen Xinsheng noticed each time he herded the goats that there were fewer and fewer of them. It turned out that the missing black goats were all taken by wild boars. The wild boars in the mountains moved in packs and had an omnivorous diet, eating basically anything they could. Whether the black goats were large or small, as soon as they fell into the wild boars' clutches, they would be gnawed clean, skin and flesh alike.

"Dad was too exhausted alone in the mountains. Sometimes when goats went missing, he simply had no time to look for them." Chen Mu said that once her father found more than 50 goats missing, with only blood visible on the hilltop; none of the goats' skin or flesh remained, all eaten clean by wild boars. "This time the loss was severe, almost losing everything, and Dad gave up."

Building roads and houses, investing two or three hundred thousand yuan in the venture

Seeing her father's venture setback, his daughter Chen Mu felt the pain in her heart and always felt she should do something for her father. In August 2014, to support her father's goat-raising career, she resolutely gave up the beauty business and returned to her hometown to help her father start the venture together.

Casting aside the prosperity of the city, Chen Mu returned to her hometown where there was nothing at all. Half of the old house in the mountains had collapsed, and weeds ran wild along the small path into the village, already knee-high.

Building roads and houses was Chen Mu's first priority upon returning home. She put all of the two or three hundred thousand yuan she had earned outside into it, built a few small single-story houses on the mountain, and leveled the road at the entrance to her home.

Raocun Township, where Chen Mu is located, lies in the southwest of Yueyang County. The terrain is mainly hills and ridges, with forested mountain area accounting for 71%, forming two relatively large basins amid the encircling green mountains. The ecological environment is very good; whether air, water quality or soil, all are very suitable for breeding, and the evergreen forest vegetation is also a natural resource that can be utilized. Drawing on her father's past breeding experience, as long as the wild boar damage could be overcome, the breeding business would be very promising.

How to prevent the goats from being eaten by wild boars? Chen Mu looked for solutions online. Based on their habits, she learned that wild boars generally do not come out and move around during the day; they usually forage in the morning and at dusk. As long as she avoided the wild boars' active periods and at the same time built goat sheds in the stilt-house style on the mountainside, the damage could be effectively prevented. No sooner said than done. The father and daughter did the work themselves, using local materials, and in just two months completed the infrastructure construction of the breeding farm.

Taking over the goat whip, becoming a shepherdess

After everything was properly arranged, she and her father bought about 70 goats, as well as some chickens, ducks and geese, and began their pastoral entrepreneurial life. When she used to do beauty work, Chen Mu paid special attention to caring for her face and skin. Since taking over the goat whip from her father, she chose this "bigger stage" of the fields and hills; her face has become dark and her hands rough.

"All the animals we raise are free-range, and basically need no feed. We let the goats out in the morning, and after 4 in the afternoon, once they have eaten, they come back one after another." Chen Mu said that occasionally when she encountered some disobedient goats returning late, she had to take the goat whip and chase all over the hills.

To raise the goats better, Chen Mu also carefully studied the goats' calls. "They use different sounds to express emotions. When hungry and wanting to go out, when a kid is lost and cannot be found, when encountering danger with panicked cries - after being together for a long time, I can basically understand the meaning of their different calls." Chen Mu said that the mountain village where she now lives once had about 20 households, but later all moved out, leaving only her and her father living on the mountain. When her father went out for errands, she was the only one left on the mountain.

"Living every day amid this beautiful pastoral scenery, eating pollution-free vegetables and free-range eggs, breathing fresh air, I feel very happy." Chen Mu grew up in the mountains since childhood and does not feel there is anything bad about time spent alone on the mountain. "I don't feel lonely. Every day I have the little goats, chickens and ducks, and a dog to keep me company."

In Chen Mu's grand entrepreneurial vision, raising goats is only the beginning. Her dream for the future is to open a leisure resort locally, so that city people can come to the countryside for vacation, see the pastoral scenery, taste wild flavors, and relax.