"Bighorn sheep have been bred to this day, and we already have many families and families." Jin Kela, vice president of the Southern Railway Company, former member of the Central Executive Committee and founder of the Ministry of Agriculture, looked at a group of gray sheep and said slowly: "If this new breed of sheep is carefully divided, it should be a semi-fine wool sheep with both hair and meat, because it is bred by the breeding station of Xiangshan Township, Zhenhai County, I think it is called Xiangshan goat, named after the place of origin." The previous naming method had to be changed, and the sheep bred were also called bighorn sheep, and the goats were also called bighorn sheep, which was too unscientific. ”

The fragrant goat in Jinkola's mouth is probably one of the more widely distributed sheep breeds in China, in addition to a large number of state-owned pastures, many people have also taken it back to raise. Adult rams of this type weigh between 50-90 kg and have a shear volume of 5-12 kg; Adult ewes are about 40 kg and have a shear volume of 3-6 kg. The wool produced is semi-fine wool, generally white, about 12 cm long, the average net hair rate is 55%, can be used to make fine wool, the lambing rate is 110%, and the survival rate is generally around 75%. It can be seen that this kind of sheep is a relatively successful breeding, and the inheritance is stable, which is worth digging into as the father and mother.

In addition to the so-called fragrant goats, the famous sheep bred in the east bank over the years are also Heihe sheep and Wujiang sheep. These two kinds of sheep were bred by the breeding station of Dongfang County Ranch Township, and the time point of breeding was on the eve of the east bank's determination to develop the northwest inland (the area where the Heihe River flows) and the Wujiang River basin, hence the name.

Let's start with the Black River Sheep. This kind of sheep is first crossed with a native sheep of La Plata, and the resulting generation of ewes is backcrossed with bighorn sheep, and the offspring is crossed and fixed with an ideal type. The body weight and wool production are slightly inferior to that of bighorn sheep. However, the net gross rate is higher. The hair also has the characteristics of large and medium curvature. Suitable for knitting. The lambing rate is 120% and the survival rate is around 80%.

Finally, there is a new Wujiang sheep that has not been out for a long time. As the name suggests, this kind of sheep is a new breed bred for the development of the Wujiang River Basin, and it has been raised in the Milin Lake Basin for a long time, and it looks good. The sheep are well adapted to low-lying and humid areas and are highly resistant to disease, with adult rams weighing 55-75 kg and shearing 5.5-9.5 kg and ewes weighing 40-55 kg. Shearing volume 3-5 kg. The wool produced by this sheep is generally light yellow, large curved, and has the general oily sweat properties of wool in this era, with a net wool rate of 65%-70%, mainly used for textile wool and coat fabrics, with a lambing rate of about 130%.

In addition to these three kinds of sheep, the east coast has also painstakingly introduced some meat sheep and goats from all over the country, but their numbers are still very small and far from the climate. However, with the gradual improvement of living standards on the East Coast. As well as the gradual increase in the consumption power of the people, the demand for mutton market will definitely increase. Until then. The spring of meat sheep will also come.

"Didn't the Ministry of Agriculture determine that Wujiang sheep are more suitable for the environment of the Wujiang River Basin, and I think it's not far behind." Liao Xiaoyao, the commander of the Wujiang District Garrison, turned over from a war horse, dragged a bleating lamb, and said with a smile: "Although the wool of Wujiang sheep is a little thicker, it is good to use it to make a thick coat." If you can't do it, you can still use it to make military blankets, and we people on the east coast are not those poor aristocrats of the old continent, so we can keep warm, and we won't pay too much attention to others. ”

Liao Xiaoyao is telling the truth. Now that the war is over and the Navy is overstocked, the War Department's plan to add a tweed coat to all soldiers, including the militia, is under enormous budgetary pressure. If these coats, as well as some other woollen fabrics (such as military blankets, etc.), could be made from cheap tweed, they would undoubtedly be warmly welcomed by the War Office.

However, it is also a very dangerous thing to develop the wool textile industry, because it involves the interests of many countries, such as the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Of the three countries, Spain is a pure exporter of raw materials, that is, they only export wool raw materials, and there is basically no wool textile industry, and as for the woolen wool they need, it was partly provided by the Italian region and partly by the Dutch. If Spain is the bottom of the pure industrial chain, then the Netherlands is the pure upstream of the industrial chain, and their own wool is pitiful, so they import a large number of foreign wool (from Spain) and semi-finished wool (from England), and then use their strong supply and marketing network to sell it to make money.

The Dutch have been making money from this model for more than a hundred years, but this business has been greatly affected since the British realized that they needed to develop their wool industry and stopped exporting their wool and semi-finished wool, which was one of the many factors that led to their increasingly bad relations with the British.

The shape of the woolen market is now so tight that God only knows what will happen if the people of the East Coast dove headlong and use their skills in weaving and dyeing to compete with the British and Dutch. Therefore, if the people of the East Coast only engaged in some small-scale wool textile industry, and at the same time only sold their own woolen products of various colors in the country and parts of the New World, then these two countries could tolerate it; If the people on the east coast do not know each other, they must go to the European market to grab food from them, and these two countries, which have been cut off from financial routes, will have to take drastic measures against the east coast. The Executive Committee also has a very clear understanding of this point, and at present, the sales market of woolen products on the east coast (mainly produced by the Dayuheji qì textile factory) is mainly in China, La Plata, and Chile, and basically does not threaten the interests of the British and Dutch.

"Let's keep it all for now." Jinkola stood up, put down the sheep in his hand, and said: "The Southern Railway Company intends to establish a breeding farm in Southern Patagonia, and at the same time, it is also preparing to vigorously develop the sheep breeding industry there to export wool and frozen meat. I think the environment there is quite suitable, Heihe sheep have the blood of native sheep, and should be able to adapt well to the climate around the Xingnan River. In that place, the sheep are not kept in captivity, they are all free-range, and one sheep is raised in one hectare, which is almost enough, and the environmental pressure is very small. As for Tierra del Fuego, which has abundant precipitation and lush vegetation, it should not be a big problem to raise more Wujiang sheep. However, the environment there is also very suitable for the growth of North American bison, musk ox, reindeer, and moose, and if it were not for the fear of too many alien species disrupting the balance of the local food chain, the introduction of these animals would have been spread out on a large scale, and it would not be currently closed on uninhabited islands. ”

"Fear of the balance of the hair food chain." Liao Xiaoyao pursed his lips when he heard this, and said disapprerovingly: "Isn't it because of the lack of large carnivorous beasts in the Southern Cone region that these animals are afraid of flooding?" Actually, it doesn't matter, we humans can fill the void here, and those bison, musk oxen, moose and so on can't be overflowing. ”

"Hehe, maybe." Jinkora touched the top of his bald head, smiled, and said, "Sheep breeding work is doing well, but we are not working hard enough in dog breeding now." Not only was the project launched late, but the investment was also insufficient. With the rise of animal husbandry, there is an increasing demand for working dogs such as sheepdogs; In addition, the mines and farms also raised the need for some dogs to hunt down fugitive slaves and find indigenous settlements, which we need to settle down and breed. This is also an important task, and it will be related to the development of the future for many years to come. ”

The main reason for Jinkola's return to the mainland from Xingnan Port this time was to provide the Southern Railway Company with another batch of agricultural production materials, including agricultural machinery and tools, as well as seeds, livestock, and other gadgets -- of course, the Southern Railway Company purchased them at cost price. Southern Patagonia is blessed with such agricultural conditions as the mainland, so everything must be prepared before it can be developed.

However, when it comes to local agricultural conditions, I believe that the Wujiang area is basically the second best place in terms of conditions except for the Yazi Lake Basin. It has a temperate oceanic climate and abundant precipitation, so it is difficult to fall below minus 5 degrees in winter and 35°C in summer.

At present, there are four settlements in the Wujiang River Valley, in addition to the three around Jingjiang Fort, there is also a stronghold that was originally taken from the hands of the Spaniards - Yong'an Port, which is where Liao Xiaoyao and Jin Cola are now located. The stronghold currently has more than 1,500 inhabitants, of whom more than 400 are Spaniards, the militia and their families at the Spanish Esmeralda outpost, which had surrendered to the East Coast Army in its entirety. At the outbreak of the war with Spain, they "handed over" the post to the East Bank Army, then "remained neutral", and in the course of the war they decided to "naturalize the East Bank", so the Executive Committee decided to keep them in place, and at the same time moved a number of nationals from the old settlements to mix with them.

After the arrival of the new immigrants, a considerable number of Livonian people will be relocated here to enrich the population, develop the local productive forces and improve the economic level. In the next two or three years, about ten more settlements will be built in the Wujiang River basin, which is the foundation of three to four counties. If the government still has surplus financial resources in the future, then it will not be a big problem to build the Northwest Railway from Tielingbao to the bank of the Wujiang River, so that it will run through the entire eastern bank prairie.

At that time, all kinds of machinery and special steel produced by Tielingbao do not need to compete with other materials for limited railway capacity (at present, the Northwest Railway has not yet been double-tracked, and cannot completely release the capacity), but can directly transport the materials to the port on the Wujiang River, and then ship to other areas. Of course, such a beautiful picture may be difficult to see in recent years, after all, the huge investment required for railway construction has not yet been settled, and the development of the Wujiang River basin is also lagging behind, and these will take time to precipitate. (To be continued......)