Goat Farming in Lingshan, Guangxi Makes Farmers' Dream of Prosperity Come True

"Baa, baa, baa." The author had just arrived at the foot of Damiaoling in Fuling Village, Fuzi Town, Lingshan County when the bleating of a few lambs came from not far away. "Hello everyone! You've come at just the right time. A couple of days ago, my ewe just gave birth to several lovely lambs. Let me take you to see them now," said the owner of the goats, grinning from ear to ear when he saw us arrive.

Liu Zhenfu, a native of Fuling Village, Fuzi Town, Lingshan County, worked away from home for many years before returning to his hometown in 2009, where he invested more than 400,000 yuan to establish the Lingshan County Damiaoling Livestock Breeding Base. The base is located in Fuling Village, Fuzi Town, Lingshan County. Its livestock numbers have grown from the original more than 100 goats to the current more than 600, with breeds including local black goats, Longlin black goats, Boer goats, Nubian black goats and several other varieties. It markets more than 400 meat goats annually, with a net income of more than 800,000 yuan. "At the beginning, because I had little experience, there were many diseases, the survival rate of the goats was not high, their growth rate was slow, few goats were marketed, and I didn't make much money. Through years of continuous experimentation, it gradually developed, and now it stays at around 600 year-round." "A while ago, a boss from Fujian took away 46 goats in one go, earning more than 70,000 yuan," Boss Liu explained.

Goat farming gave Liu Zhenfu a taste of success, but he did not forget his fellow villagers in his prosperity. Drawing on his own successful experience, he actively guided the broad masses of people to make full use of the local advantage of abundant grass resources to develop goat farming, and established a professional cooperative. It operates using the "cooperative + base + farmers" model, building an economic community between the cooperative and farmers. Relying on the Damiaoling breeding base, it uniformly introduces and breeds fine varieties, uniformly signs breeding and sales contracts with farming households, and provides farmers with services such as epidemic prevention and feed technical consulting. At present, the cooperative has developed more than 80 members, with more than 1,000 goats in stock, driving the surrounding people to prosper through farming.