Returning home to raise sheep, Luo Yufu becomes a leader in prosperity

Sheep of various colors look very cute.

Approaching the Yufu Goat Farm, one sees goats leaping about lively, plump and sturdy, with sheep of various colors being especially endearing. All of this is the result of more than 2 years of hard work by Luo Yufu, a leader in sheep-raising prosperity in Minzhu Village, Zhongjian Township, Qianxi County.

Returning home for Spring Festival and striving hard to start a business

After graduating from junior high school, Luo Yufu went to Zhejiang to work, but living far from home was very expensive. After deducting utility bills, rent and living expenses each month, little was left of his wages. Now his parents are elderly, and he has children of his own, all needing care. Being away for the long term was not a solution. Always clever, after returning home during last year's Spring Festival he began planning how to both take care of his children and turn his finances around.

At first, Luo Yufu looked for odd jobs in his hometown, worked at a coal mine, did temporary work at a Chinese medicinal herb base, and also worked at construction sites for a period. Rushing about here and there, his work was unstable, his income was low, and he could not take good care of his family.

So he went to the village several times to learn about the current situation and policies. Chen Guanghai, who held the posts of both village Party secretary and village committee director, saw his passion for development and patiently explained many current basic rural policies to him. Because Shanping has good pasture grass and it was a good period for poverty alleviation and development in the pilot zone, Chen Guanghai encouraged him to develop ecological sheep raising and promised to help coordinate a certain amount of project subsidy funds.

Choosing sheep raising and then making it bigger and stronger

Luo Yufu acted as soon as he decided. In February last year he borrowed 80,000 yuan from the bank, plus 60,000 yuan he had earned from working, for a total investment of 140,000 yuan. In March he began building a 280-square-meter pen. Three months later, after the sheep pen was completed, he spent more than 60,000 yuan to buy 48 breeding sheep, and from then on he was with the sheep every day.

Yufu Farm pen.

Thanks to scientific feeding and careful management, in June this year Luo Yufu's sheep gave birth to 39 lambs, and the number suddenly increased to 87. This gave him hope, and he went to the village Party secretary to report the good news. The village truthfully reported the news to the township, and the township leaders attached great importance to it and were very happy. They promptly reported the situation to the county Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau. After relevant leaders of the bureau visited his home to inspect on site, they stated that they would apply for a 20,000-yuan project subsidy. Ear tags have now been attached to the sheep, and the funds are about to be allocated.

Luo Yufu said that raising sheep is not difficult, but the sheep pen is small now. After selling 40 sheep next year, he can probably earn 60,000 yuan. By then he plans to build another batch of pens, build a silage pit, expand the breeding scale, and raise 200 sheep. It is expected that 100 will be sold each year, and earning more than 100,000 yuan a year will not be a problem.

Demonstration drives villagers toward moderate prosperity

After seeing Luo Yufu succeed in raising sheep, Luo Meiyu of the same village did not look for a job after graduating from Sichuan University. Instead, he returned and borrowed 120,000 yuan to build pens, a fodder storage facility and a septic tank, preparing to raise cattle on a large scale. When the author approached Luo Meiyu's cattle shed, he saw fodder piled up like a mountain in the warehouse, and he and his father were installing a generator and a fodder chopper. Luo Meiyu said: "I plan to raise 100 beef cattle, but I have only bought 2 so far, and the rest are still being purchased. So far I have invested 130,000 yuan, and it is expected that the purchase quantity can be completed by early next year. After full production, I can earn more than 400,000 yuan each year."

Luo Meiyu's father installing the generator and fodder chopper.

In his spare time, Luo Yufu also goes to Luo Meiyu's home to help build pens, install the fodder chopper, study sheep-raising and cattle-raising techniques together, share his sheep-raising experience, and give him some materials on breeding. The two are somewhat famous locally and are both truly outstanding leaders in prosperity. People call them "Boss Sheep" and "Boss Cattle."

Chen Guanghai told the author that this is now a critical period of "decisive battle against poverty and synchronized moderate prosperity." For a complex place like Minzhu Village, the village implements the approach of those who get rich first helping those who get rich later. According to different geographical conditions and environments, it adapts measures to local conditions. In some groups, cattle, sheep, pig and chicken breeding industries are developed, while in other groups, green food planting industries such as vegetables, rice and corn are developed. At present, a coal mine with an annual output of 400,000 tons has also been built in Leigong Mountain, vigorously developing industry. Efforts are made to adjust and optimize the industrial structure as much as possible, ensuring that every group in the village has an industry and every household has its own specialty. In multiple forms, income for farmers is increased and prosperity is achieved, bringing about all-around success in building moderate prosperity.