Suibin County Farmer Wu Baoxin: Raising Wild Roe Deer at Home Blazes a Trail to Prosperity

    Since the state set the development approach that animal husbandry should account for half of the rural economy, the number of livestock and poultry farmers in Suibin County has gradually increased. Chicken, duck and goose raisers, and pig, cattle and sheep raisers, are found in every village and hamlet. But have you ever heard of anyone raising wild roe deer? Wu Baoxin, a farmer from Fuqiang Township in Suibin County, brought wild roe deer into his homestead and took up the trade of raising roe deer. And believe it or not, he has really made something of raising these roe deer. From 8 at the start to the current 23 head on hand, Wu Baoxin has summed up a set of valuable experience: "Tree leaves and crop stalks are everywhere in our countryside, and they can all be used as its feed. As long as you raise it carefully, it really 'pays out money' for you!" 

     Though Wu Baoxin is no longer young, he is a new-style farmer who loves to think things over and has a flexible mind. He has run a processing factory and raised large machinery, and has always followed the trade of "having what others do not, being better than others where they have it, and switching when others become better than me." As people's living standards rise, more and more people have begun to think about eating something a bit wild. Two years ago, after Wu Baoxin saw a TV report about Wang Yushan, the roe deer raising king of Beijing, making big money, he could no longer sit still. So he invested 24,000 yuan to buy back 8 roe deer for experimental breeding. Through trial and error, he felt that roe deer are hardy, easy to raise, and eat tree leaves and crop stalks that are available everywhere, making it a breeding project with very broad prospects. Afterwards he bought 9 more roe deer. Over more than a year, the number on hand in Wu Baoxin's roe deer pen has become 23, but Wu Baoxin simply cannot bear to sell them. Wu Baoxin said with full confidence: "When I have raised over one hundred, then the accounts will be worth calculating. If I don't bring in around two hundred thousand a year, I would be letting down this specialty breeding industry."