Wang Li, a duck farming specialist in Shangshui County, raises ecological ducks and finds her way to prosperity
"My ducks are all raised along small rivers and ponds, and they eat small fish and shrimp, so the eggs they lay are not only large but also have big yolks. The salted duck eggs I make with them are loved by everyone and sell very well." Recently, Wang Li, a duck farming specialist in Sansuolou Village, Shuzhuang Township, Shangshui County, was very excited when talking about her ecological duck farming.
Wang Li, now 36 years old, has been engaged in ecological duck farming for four or five years. In 2010, Wang Li, who had worked in Guangzhou for 10 years, returned home to take care of her children's schooling. Unwilling to idle away her time, she took advantage of living close to small rivers and ponds to raise 200 laying ducks. During the day she let the ducks forage for fish, shrimp and small insects in the small rivers and ponds, and in the evening she drove the flock home. To improve the quality of the duck eggs, Wang Li often fed the laying ducks natural feed such as green grass, spinach, duckweed and carrots. As a result, the eggs laid by her ducks were large, with green shells and big yolks, and the salted duck eggs she made had purplish-red yolks that tasted sandy, savory and delicious with an endless aftertaste.
As soon as the salted duck eggs hit the market, they were very popular. Later, several restaurants in the market bought up all of Wang Li's salted duck eggs at a price 0.1 yuan higher than the market price. Because the salted duck eggs were highly favored by customers and demand kept expanding, the production speed of Wang Li's 200 laying ducks was far from enough. On the advice of several restaurant owners, Wang Li decided to expand the scale of her laying duck raising.
After the 2012 Spring Festival, Wang Li and her husband invested 200,000 yuan to establish a duck farm with a scale of 2,000 laying ducks. Because large-scale raising has stricter technical and management requirements than free-range raising, in order to master duck raising techniques, Wang Li not only attended the duck raising technical training classes held in the township, but also went to Bacun Town, Tangzhuang Township and the homes of duck farming specialists in her own township to learn duck raising techniques and management experience from them. At the same time, she also installed broadband and learned duck raising techniques online. Through her hard work, Wang Li mastered techniques such as epidemic prevention, duck disease control and feed formulation.
In the process of raising laying ducks, Wang Li still insisted on ecological free-range raising, and never fed the ducks feed additives, pigments or other things harmful to human health. In making salted duck eggs, Wang Li also differed from others. Others used materials such as alkaline powder, edible salt and mud for curing, while Wang Li still used the method passed down from her ancestors of mixing plant ash with edible salt. The salted duck eggs cured through the natural alkali in the plant ash had no alkaline taste and a particularly good mouthfeel.
"Over the years we have always liked buying her salted duck eggs, not only because they are delicious and low-priced, but most importantly because she is honest and keeps her word." During the author's interview, customers called or came to buy from time to time, and everyone praised Wang Li unstintingly.
Wang Li said that although her salted duck eggs had already won everyone's favor in terms of brand and quality, the selling price still remained lower than the local market price. In the packaging of the salted duck eggs, she used bucket packaging and box packaging, but no matter what packaging was used, she never cheated on the quantity.
Over the past few years, Wang Li has won the market and customers through honesty and brand, and has found her way to prosperity through duck farming. When talking about her next plans, Wang Li told the author: "Next, I plan to establish a duck farming cooperative, absorb local duck farmers into the cooperative, pass on the duck raising techniques I have mastered to the masses through on-site training and training classes, and let more people find their way to prosperity by raising ecological ducks."