Hulunbuir crossbred pig farming paves the road to prosperity
Recently, the household of Zheng Youxiang, a villager in Naketali New Village, Horqin Town, Arun Banner, has become a hot topic. As pork prices have soared all the way, his "crossbred pigs" - raised with an investment of 5 million yuan and a herd of more than 2,000 head - have been given a "tuhao gold" label, and this large-scale farming operation, generating revenue of more than 1 million yuan, has Zheng Youxiang beaming with joy.
"These are not ordinary domestic pigs. They are 'crossbred pigs' born after domestic pigs were released to roam the mountain forests, where they fell in love with wild boars over time and 'tied the knot.' This has not only improved the breed and increased income, but also achieved ecological pig farming." The speaker was none other than Zheng Youxiang, chairman of Zhengxiang Livestock and Poultry Breeding Professional Cooperative, who is just over 50 years old.
In 2012, Zheng Youxiang raised a few pigs on the side. To his delight, the pigs released on the mountain could feed on all kinds of wild plants, making them labor-saving, time-saving and feed-saving to raise, and the domestic pigs even produced "crossbred pigs" with the wild boars on the mountain. Zheng Youxiang realized he had found a way to make money, so after repeated trials, he grew from just a few "crossbred pigs" at the beginning to his current farming scale of more than 2,000 second-generation small wild boars.
However, the entrepreneurial process was not all smooth sailing. Zheng Youxiang said: "In recent years, pork prices have been particularly low. A group of fellow pig farmers lost their capital and gave up farming. Just when everyone was deterred by the pig farming industry, I kept persevering, and my unique farming method also brought me huge economic benefits." The "unique farming method" Old Zheng referred to is his distinctive way of raising pigs. He does not build pens or buy feed for his pigs, and does not use dedicated herders. Instead, he drives the purchased piglets up the mountain and lets them breed and grow naturally in the embrace of the mountain. Every evening, with just a shout, he can call the pigs back and feed them a single meal of corn kernels. This method of raising pigs saves more than 50% of the investment compared with others.
Zheng Youxiang's pig farming combines a feed base, a breeding base and sales outlets in one, following a development path of production and sales as a single integrated chain. He has opened two shops selling free-range pork from pigs raised in the mountains in Heilongjiang Province and Naj Town. Apart from selling to local areas in Arun Banner and surrounding banners and cities, he also sells to Beijing, Hailar, Manzhouli and other places. An old customer in Beijing said: "It is inconvenient to mail things back and forth in summer, so as soon as winter comes, I eat pork from his family, and many relatives and friends around me ask me to order it for them too."
Good wine needs no bush. Zheng Youxiang's Northeast small black pigs are being raised impressively. Facing the future, he said with full confidence: "I will continue to expand the farming scale and teach my 'unique farming method' to everyone. I hope to drive the common people to get rich together, and truly let the Northeast small black pigs form a 'pig fleet,' taking the path of industrialized and large-scale development."