European beef cattle eat distillers' grains and drink mountain spring water, driving Yangxin farmers to get rich together

The winding offshoots of the towering Mufu Mountains stretch for hundreds of li, coming to rest at the Fushui River in Yangxin on the Jiangxi-Hubei border. Seen from afar, the mountain rocks resemble a great tiger raising its head and roaring, and the locals call this mountain Hutou Mountain.

On the 14th, skirting the river embankment, crossing the ferry, and jolting along the way, we arrived at the foot of Hutou Mountain, where there is a cattle farm called the Yangxin Fenglin Town Meilian Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative.

Shaded by bamboo groves, 6 neatly arranged cattle sheds came into view, with pitched roofs, gray walls and dark tiles, bright and airy on all sides.

Walking into the cattle shed, we saw that these cattle are different from local breeds; they look like European spotted dairy cattle, large in size, with coats of alternating white and brown. On inquiry, they are a breed of beef cattle called Simmental, introduced from the Northeast and originally from Europe. The long troughs were filled with golden-yellow feed, and more than a dozen plump, sturdy cattle were buried in eating. "These cattle mainly eat distillers' grains from Jinjiu." said He Yuxue, chairman of the cooperative and Party secretary of Liuchong Village.

Cattle can eat distillers' grains? This was the first time we had ever heard of it. "At first we didn't believe it either." He Yuxue said. During the Spring Festival of 2011, villagers from the same village who were working in the Northeast came back and said that some people there used distillers' grains to raise cattle, and the cattle raised were large and fat and very popular in the market.

He Yuxue said that Jinpai Company is built in our town, where there are plenty of distillers' grains, so why not use local materials and raise cattle to help fellow villagers get rich? After discussing with the village committee, He Yuxue and 13 village officials and villagers jointly invested 4 million yuan to establish the cooperative and set up the cattle farm.

"Feed is one yuan and thirty or forty fen per jin, while distillers' grains are only 9 fen per jin." He Yuxue did the math: feeding a cow two or three jin of distillers' grains a day can replace one jin of concentrated feed, saving about more than one yuan.

Will raising cattle on distillers' grains affect the meat quality? We asked repeatedly.

"On the contrary, these cattle eat distillers' grains and drink mountain spring water, and their meat is especially fresh and tender. Each jin sells for more than 10 yuan more than ordinary beef, and the quality has been recognized by the quality supervision department." He Yuxue said, "I receive calls almost every day from dealers in Huangshi, Wuhan, Jiujiang, Nanchang and other places wanting our beef cattle. Last year, the cooperative had already sent more than 200 cattle to market, with gross income of 4 million yuan."

This year, after targeted poverty alleviation work was rolled out across the province, He Yuxue, as village Party secretary, took in 25 local poor households. Town mayor Kong Xiangpeng said that the town subsidizes each poor household with 4,800 yuan to buy shares, and at the end of the year dividends are distributed according to benefits.

Several poor households that joined the cooperative early have embarked on the path out of poverty by raising cattle. Yu Shouyi, a cooperative member from a household receiving the minimum living allowance in Nanchong Group, Nancheng Village, has a wife who has been bedridden for 8 years with a serious illness, an elderly mother in her 80s above, and two children below who are both in school. Since 2013, he began working at the cooperative, with a monthly income of 2,200 yuan, allowing him both to care for his family and relieve his urgent worries.

Guo Bangmi, a 47-year-old bachelor, beamed with laughter when we interviewed him. Because he had no special skill, he had always worked odd jobs away from home, and the money he earned was only enough for a meal. Now he works at the cooperative. With more money on hand, he even drinks a little liquor every day.

Cattle raising has also helped surrounding farmers get rich, with farmers in Nancheng, Xiayang and Liuchong villages planting more than 10,000 mu of corn. Villager Liu Youzhi planted more than 200 mu of corn. According to the contract, after harvesting the corn and stalks he delivers them directly to the Meilian Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative, and this year he can earn more than 400,000 yuan.