Facility-based livestock farming becomes a highlight of farmers' prosperity in Liangzhou

In winter Liangzhou, the cold wind whistles. On December 16, Xu Zhude, Party branch secretary of Wuqiao Village, Hedong Township, Liangzhou District, was leading the villagers in covering the livestock greenhouses with plastic film, working with great enthusiasm. Xu Zhude said that temperatures had begun to drop in recent days, and if they did not hurry to cover the greenhouses with plastic film properly, it would affect the growth of the pigs and the income of the villagers.

Wuqiao Village is a traditional "pig-raising village" that began developing livestock farming in the 1970s and 1980s. Many villagers started with just a few pigs and gradually expanded to raising dozens or even hundreds. Today, the village has 330 farming households, accounting for 80% of the village's 412 households, with more than 13,200 pigs on hand.

Driving along the straight asphalt road, neat and uniform livestock greenhouses stand one after another. Xu Zhude said: "The road under our feet was built in the past two years, and the 84 livestock greenhouses before our eyes are also newly built. For the convenience of the villagers, tap water has also been connected and biogas digesters have been built."

As we were talking, we arrived at the door of a farming household. We knocked gently on the gate, and the warm-hearted host invited us inside. The host, Zhao Kailu, was among the first farmers in Wuqiao Village to engage in large-scale livestock farming. Today, he has more than 400 pigs on hand, with an average annual slaughter of about 1,000 head, and fixed assets of more than 1 million yuan. Xu Zhude said: "There are more than 20 large-scale farming households like Zhao Kailu in the village, and 46% of the entire village's farmers' income comes from livestock farming."

Wuqiao Village is one example of how Liangzhou District has developed livestock farming to boost farmers' income. In recent years, Liangzhou District has actively promoted the main production model of "facility-based agriculture and livestock farming + specialty forest and fruit industry," vigorously advanced large-scale livestock farming, and facility-based livestock farming has become a highlight of farmers' prosperity. The district's per capita net income from animal husbandry grew from 834 yuan in 2006 to 7,618 yuan in 2012.

Zhongzhuang Village in Heping Township has developed large-scale dairy cattle farming. Currently, Zhongzhuang Village has 2,200 dairy cows on hand, and the village's daily milk production is close to 70 tons. "Income from livestock farming accounts for 78% of the per capita net income of farmers in Zhongzhuang Village." Luo Wenming, Party branch secretary of Zhongzhuang Village, said that the dairy cattle farming industry has become the leading industry for the people of Zhongzhuang Village to prosper and increase their income.

"Although the profit from livestock farming is not high now, with scale comes efficiency."During an interview at Dengfeng Cattle Farm in Xiehe, this was the most powerful statement the reporter heard from farm manager Gao Feng. Dengfeng Cattle Farm currently has 1,200 beef cattle on hand, has slaughtered 880 head this year, and achieved a net income of 1.06 million yuan.

For a long time, livestock farming in Liangzhou District was basically conducted in front yards and back courtyards, with people and livestock mixed together. In order to advance the transformation of livestock production from scattered raising by thousands of households to large-scale operations, the district followed the principle of "moving out of the courtyard and separating people from livestock," seized the opportunity of subsidy policies for livestock greenhouse construction under the key governance project of the Shiyang River Basin, increased policy support, and accelerated the construction of standardized large-scale farms and ecological farming communities. The district has allocated a total of 525 million yuan in livestock greenhouse subsidies, secured more than 100 million yuan in project funds for animal husbandry development, issued more than 500 million yuan in small guaranteed loans for women in facility-based animal husbandry, and secured more than 70 million yuan in support funds including rewards for major pig-producing counties, construction of standardized large-scale pig farms (communities), subsidies for breeding sows, subsidies for improved pig breeds, and breeding sow insurance, vigorously promoting facility-based pens, improved breeds, standardized production, refined feeding, institutionalized epidemic prevention, and harmless manure treatment... The superior investment environment and relaxed support policies have attracted a large number of competitive and driving enterprises and farmers to invest in animal husbandry. Currently, the district has built 577 large-scale farms (communities), with a cumulative livestock greenhouse area of 145,000 mu, and the proportion of large-scale farming in the district has increased from 42% in 2006 to the current 63%.

Walking into Pengcheng Pig Farm in Xiehe, Liangzhou District, the standardized pig houses in the farming area are clean, neat, tall and spacious, with not a trace of odor. The pigs live in "star-rated apartments" with suitable temperatures, equipped with fully stainless steel or aluminum alloy premium farrowing crates, constant-temperature incubators maintained 24 hours a day, and supporting facilities such as digital monitoring systems, enjoying full high-quality "property management."

In accordance with the requirements of "improved livestock and poultry breeds, facility-based farming, standardized production, institutionalized epidemic prevention, and harmless manure treatment," the district has vigorously carried out standardized livestock and poultry farming demonstration creation activities and pollution-free livestock product origin certification and product certification activities, allocated 3.2035 million yuan in district financial subsidies for corn stalk silage (yellow silage), and vigorously promoted the "centralized silage (yellow silage), unified distribution" processing and utilization model to enhance the market competitiveness of livestock products. This year, Liangzhou District was awarded the title of "National Lean-type Pig Standardized Production Demonstration County" by the Ministry of Agriculture, had 4 pollution-free livestock product origins certified by the province, and established standardized production bases for 1.2561 million head. The "Hanwa Brand" frozen and chilled beef and mutton produced by Gansu Sentai Livestock Breeding Co., Ltd. obtained national green food certification.