Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 229: Throwing Away Only Jade

Today's meal, besides welcoming Anquan back, mainly focused on discussing the possibility of starting a side business at a breeding farm.

After putting down his chopsticks safely, he clenched his hands and looked at Secretary Yang and Captain Zhang, saying, "I've been thinking about this all afternoon. With your advantage of having many veterinarians, plus the expert Teacher Chen, the farm definitely has potential."

Secretary Yang smiled at Chen Fan, interrupting his polite and modest words, and said directly, "That's what we think too. What's the biggest fear when doing livestock farming as a side business? Isn't it the fear of livestock getting sick, not growing big, or not surviving?"

But we have our own veterinarians, so that's half the battle won. The other half depends on whether God will let us make a living from this.

Chen Fan nodded and quickly said, "That's what I wanted to say too. It's not that just because our production team has many veterinarians, we're guaranteed to succeed in animal husbandry. That's unrealistic."

After all, even Station Chief Zhou and the county's animal husbandry bureau have livestock that they can't control. Furthermore, once an epidemic breaks out in poultry and livestock, it's difficult to control without sufficient medication.

Therefore, on the one hand, I definitely support setting up a farm, but at the same time, everyone must be prepared for failure. Don't think that just because you set up a farm, it will definitely succeed; that's unlikely.

Ye Shubao turned to face him and chuckled, "You don't need to remind me of this principle. It's the same as growing crops. You choose good seeds, apply fertilizer, and agricultural technicians are always there, but if God doesn't cooperate and brings a flood or an insect plague, there's nothing you can do about it, right?!"

Chen Fan smiled and nodded, "Yes, it's the same principle."

Xiao Liewen waved his hand, "Let's not talk about these things anymore. Since we've already decided to do it, let's discuss how to do it well."

Secretary Yang nodded, then looked at Anquan first, "Xiao An, why don't you speak first?"

Anquan said with a smile, "I can only say that I'm fortunate to be assigned to Lujiawan this year. I won't do anything else but focus on this breeding farm. If I can get this breeding farm up and running well, I'll consider my mission accomplished. If I don't do a good job, I'll apply to my unit to stay in Lujiawan until it's done!"

Secretary Yang nodded vigorously twice. "Good, commendable ambition. Come on, let's have a drink."

The two clinked glasses without any hesitation.

Secretary Yang took a sip of his drink, turned to look at Chen Fan, and smiled, "Teacher Chen, tell me your thoughts."

Chen Fan was speechless. "Secretary Yang, if you keep calling me Teacher Chen, I'll get arrogant."

Xiao Liewen grinned and laughed heartily, "If it were me, I would have gotten cocky long ago."

Ye Shubao glanced at him and said, "That's all you're good for."

He then looked at Chen Fan and said, "Xiao Chen, the success of this farm ultimately depends on you. Why don't you share your thoughts?"

Chen Fan nodded, held up three fingers, and said seriously, "Three questions: First, what to raise; second, how to raise it; third, how to sell it."

The moment those words were spoken, the table fell silent.

As An Quan thought about it, he nodded and said, "These three questions are well-chosen, very insightful, and comprehensive."

Then he took out a cigarette, gave one to Captain Yang first, then tossed one to him, before handing them out to the others, while looking at him and asking, "Tell me your thoughts."

After offering cigarettes, he immediately took out a small notebook and pen, ready to take notes.

Chen Fan took the torch handed to him by Captain Yang, lit it, exhaled the smoke, and said with a smile, "I'm just throwing out an idea for the leaders to consider."

He then began to speak eloquently.

"Let's start with the first question: what to raise. I think we can appropriately increase the raising of water buffalo and horses. These two types of livestock have always been the mainstay of rural livestock. Whether we use them ourselves, rent them to other production teams, or raise them to maturity and then sell them, we won't have to worry about them becoming unsellable."

Another approach is to appropriately increase the raising of chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Each production team has its own pig and duck herders, who are skilled in animal husbandry. If we can provide them with two more helpers—not necessarily to herd ducks and pigs, but to assist with tasks like cutting pig feed and collecting duck eggs, which even children can do—and with the village veterinarian regularly checking on them, we should be able to increase the number of animals raised while controlling the risks.

Then there are the chickens raised by each household, and the number can be increased appropriately.

I know the biggest challenge in raising chickens is feed, but that can be solved.

For example, there's a technique for raising chickens with earthworms, where earthworms are raised by mixing pig manure, pig feed, and other materials with soil. The earthworms are then used to feed chickens, ducks, and geese. The earthworm castings and poultry manure, after processing, can then be used as fertilizer…

Upon hearing this, Secretary Yang couldn't help but interrupt him, "You said you could raise earthworms and then use them to feed chickens?"

Chen Fan nodded and said to him, "I have a book here, it's currently in the brigade's broadcasting room, called 'Common Rural Animal Husbandry.' It's about raising earthworms and then using them to feed chickens. I've tried it myself in the courtyard of the educated youth settlement, and it works very well, without any problems. I can have Yang Ju and the others teach this technique later."

Naturally, it wasn't him who did the verification, but the four girls. However, Chen Fan told them that this technology was still in the verification stage and the risks were uncertain, which is why Huang Ying and the other two didn't tell their families.

There are several things to keep in mind. For example, earthworms carry a lot of bacteria. It's fine if the chickens eat a small amount, but if they eat a lot every day, the earthworms need to be processed. First, wash them with clean water, then boil them in boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes to sterilize them. After that, cut the boiled earthworms into small pieces and mix them into the feed for the chickens. This is not only safe and reliable, but it can also promote the growth and development of the chickens, resulting in larger eggs with better nutrition.

Although the chicks he bought himself haven't grown up yet, there are three laying hens sent by parents of veterinary students, which have proven this point by eating earthworm feed these days.

After listening to Chen Fan's words, Secretary Yang nodded repeatedly and said excitedly, "The biggest difficulties in breeding are disease prevention and feed. But raising earthworms doesn't require feed, just some rotten vegetable leaves are enough. Then we can use earthworms to feed chickens, ducks and geese. This is a good idea."

He then looked at Captain Yang and chuckled, "Your daughter has learned an amazing skill."

Captain Yang grinned from ear to ear, but said modestly, "It's nothing. We'll be setting up a breeding farm in a few days, and we'll still need to train the trainees."

There's no need to assign anyone to raise earthworms; it's better to let Yang Ju and the others teach the other members. In this way, word will spread, and in just a few days, every family in the commune will have someone who knows how. It will be much more convenient for them to raise them themselves.

Although Yang Ju didn't gain any benefit from this, she could earn enough goodwill by teaching everyone breeding techniques, and her family would naturally benefit as well.

Of course, Chen Fan benefits the most.

After all, everyone knows that Yang Ju and the others learned their skills from Chen Fan, and they passed them on with Chen Fan's permission, just like Liu Jujiang teaching others how to cook turtles.

After they finished talking, Chen Fan continued, "Besides these conventional poultry and livestock, I have another idea, which is to raise rabbits. Don't be fooled by the low price of rabbits. A rabbit skin only costs a few cents, and rabbit meat is only half the price of pork. In fact, rabbits have a high economic value, mainly because they can reproduce and grow very quickly. Their skin, fur, and meat can all be sold. It is a low-input, high-output type of animal husbandry."

As for the breeding methods, they can be similar to chicken or pig farming, distributed to individual households. They only need to build a rabbit shed to take the rabbits home.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Fan said, "Of course, centralized breeding is also an option. However, it is a bit difficult to select a site and build a breeding farm, and it also requires a certain amount of manpower and resources. But the advantage is that it is easier to manage. Both breeding methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. Which one to choose depends on your decision."

Captain Zhang thought for a moment, then pursed his lips and said, "From what you've said, raising rabbits is indeed a good idea, but..."

He shrugged and asked, "Where can I buy rabbit seedlings?"

Ye Shubao pointed at Chen Fan, "Little Chen has been collecting baby rabbits lately, those can be used as rabbit seedlings."

Looking at him, he asked, "How many rabbits have you collected now?"

Chen Fan, “24 little rabbits.”

He paused for a moment, then continued, “Rabbits can reproduce when they are six months old, and they reproduce every two months. The baby rabbits I collect are about three or four months old, which means that in another three months, they can start breeding. Then we will continue to use these rabbits as breeding stock, trying artificial breeding while increasing the number of breeding rabbits. By the end of the year, we can start large-scale breeding or distribute them to the families of all the team members.”

Secretary Yang did some quick calculations and said, "Isn't that still more than half a year left?"

Chen Fan nodded, "There's no other way. We can't find enough rabbit seedlings, so we have to breed them ourselves. But it's also a good opportunity to gain some experience in raising rabbits."

Safety had been keeping a record, and upon hearing this, he looked up and said, "In that case, you can take charge of the rabbits for now. Once we have enough little rabbits, we'll deal with this one more."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly twice, but didn't say anything.

Xiao Liewen understood him best and immediately said, "We can't let Xiao Chen work for nothing. There are two solutions. One is to give him a set of work points as a rabbit breeder, and the brigade will bear all the costs of feed and rabbit shed construction. The other is for the brigade to not care and wait until Xiao Chen has collected enough rabbit seedlings before we buy them from him at the market price."

Chen Fan immediately chuckled and said, "No rush, no rush. We'll wait for the leaders to decide. I'm not in a hurry."

Now that even safety was apparent, not to mention the others, everyone burst into light laughter.

Secretary Yang glared at him irritably, "Now, let's talk about your third question: how do you plan to sell it?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I have two ideas. One is simple: sell directly to the commune. The other is more complicated, but the income should be higher: we can do further processing of the products ourselves. Which one we choose is up to the leaders."

After safely putting away the pen, he said with a smile, "You didn't just throw out a brick to attract jade; you threw out jade in the first place!"

(End of this chapter)