October 12th.

Zeng Tianshun, a villager from Fengle Village, drove an ox cart to send the tall hay piled up in the cart to Xujiazhuang No. 3 Manor, which is not far away.

These hayes were received by him in the tidal flats by the river, in the uncultivated wasteland, and in various hillside ridges before the official arrival of the cold winter.

The weeds, which were not usually taken very seriously, were suddenly very popular, and every household carried a sickle and a basket on their backs, and went all over the mountains to find, harvest, and then sell to Xujiazhuang, and from No. 1 to No. 10 new manor all harvested.

Although the purchase price of five catties of one penny is not high, for the weeds that can be seen everywhere, a little more industrious, it is not a problem to cut a hundred and ten catties a day, and sell it for twenty copper coins, which can buy more than two catties of coarse rice, which is enough for an adult to eat for a day.

It's just that taking advantage of the slack farming, there are more and more people cutting weeds, and the competition is becoming more and more fierce, and finally everyone can't cut any grass.

Zeng Tianshun is an old widower, forty-one years old this year, his parents died early, he once had a wife, but he disliked him for being lazy and not seeking progress, so he separated from him and separated from the man, and did not even have a child, and for more than 20 years, he has been living a life where the whole family is not hungry, and he has never had the idea of changing, and he feels that this life is not bad.

According to modern people, he is a salted fish, a family of lying flat in ancient times.

Over the years, he has engaged in many occupations, such as helping in farming, herding cattle for landlords, doing small business in the county, running boats on canals, including buying weeds and selling them to Xujiazhuang in the past two years - although he has not saved any money, he has traveled south and north for decades, and in terms of vision, ordinary farmers are definitely not comparable to him.

And the business of buying weeds has become more and more volatile in his eyes.

He realized that he couldn't continue in this business, and he had to consider changing careers, otherwise he would have no food and clothing for the rest - although he was very Buddhist and couldn't endure great hardships, he still had to do the work he had to do in order to survive.

And through these two years of careful observation, he found a more promising and not particularly hard profession - cattle breeding.

Learn the model of Xujiazhuang to raise cattle.

Because in the past two years, he has dealt with the Xujiazhuang cattle farm a lot, and through careful observation, he found that the future is unimaginable!

The kind of "Angus beef cattle" raised in the Xujiazhuang cattle farm has strong digestion ability, fast growth rate, good meat quality, meat yield of 60% ~ 65%, and under the condition of ensuring sufficient feed, the daily weight gain is one kilogram, 12 months of sexual maturity, and it can be slaughtered in about two years, and the weight reaches 700~800 kilograms.

In addition, there is also a kind of cow called "Holstein cow", which is specially used for milk production, and the yield is extremely high, to ensure that the feed and nutrition are sufficient, the average annual milk production is 11,800 kilograms, which is equivalent to an average of more than 32 liters per day, and it is not surprising that the individual strong ones reach 50 liters, and the milk production cycle is long, and it can reach seven productions.

But for Zeng Tianshun.

If he can raise that kind of Angus beef cattle, such as raising fifty heads, even if only thirty of them can survive successfully after two years, grow up and slaughter, at 700 kilograms per head, multiplied by 60% of the meat yield, a total of 12,600 kilograms of beef can be obtained, and at the price of beef in the market, a thousand taels of silver should be able to earn, that is, an average of five hundred taels per year.

If you raise that kind of "Holstein cow", you can raise 50 cows, and after more than two years of breeding, you will start to produce milk, even if only 30 of them survive, and then each cow will produce an average of 20 liters of milk per day, and 600 liters of milk a day.

Assuming that the value of one liter of milk is equivalent to three catties of polished rice, this is definitely not an overestimate, that is, it is equivalent to producing 1,800 catties of polished rice per day.

Nowadays, there is no problem with 1,800 catties of polished rice on the market, which is equal to 14.4 stones, and is worth ten taels of silver.

That is, as long as he raises fifty Holstein cows, after more than two years, he can earn ten taels of silver a day, and then continue for more than seven years, and the benefit is no worse than raising Angus beef cattle.

It's just that he conceived so well, doesn't there be a cost to raising cattle? Doesn't it take a lot of effort and effort?

The cost is definitely to be paid, and it is not small.

But he found that in addition to finding a way to spend money to buy calves from Xujiazhuang, the biggest cost was actually fifteen acres of arable land.

You don't need very fertile land, just plain dry land, or barren thin land.

Then, on these fifteen acres of land, all the grass plants called "giant Juncao" in Xujiazhuang can ensure that fifty cows will not starve and can feed them.

How is it possible to raise 50 cows on just 15 acres of pasture?

Zeng Tianshun didn't believe it before, and he thought it was impossible, but after seeing it in the pasture of Xujiazhuang with his own eyes, he slowly believed it.

Because the yield per mu of Giant Juncao is very high, it can be harvested every 30 days during the growing season, and can be harvested five to seven times a year, and it is cold and drought tolerant, growing up to seven meters, and the yield per mu can reach an astonishing 30 tons a year, and the crude protein content is as high as 10.8%, as well as 3.4% fat, as well as various vitamins, crude fiber, etc., one mu of Giant Juncao is at least equivalent to ten acres of corn...... Zeng Tianshun didn't understand what these data represented, but he knew that Giant Juncao contained a lot of nutrients, and cattle grew meat quickly and produced more milk after eating.

And most importantly, Giant Juncao is a perennial herbaceous plant, as long as the roots below the tillering area are not cut, it can grow and harvest for 15 years, saving a lot of energy to take care of.

This is what makes Zeng Tianshun the most excited.

That is, as long as there are calves, land, and giant Juncao, there is no big cost for him to raise cattle, but he needs to feed and take care of 50 cows every day.

And over the years, he has traveled north and south, and he has saved some coffin books, but he can't do big things, but there should be no problem in buying fifty calves.

In terms of land, it is a big deal to spend money to rent a tractor in Xujiazhuang and reclaim 15 acres of wasteland.

The biggest problem depends on whether Xu Jiazhuang agrees to sell the calf to him, sell him the seeds of Giant Juncao, and teach him the experience of raising cattle and planting grass.

Generally speaking, in this era, no matter how much family or individual, it is impossible to sell their own secrets of wealth and tell their "secrets that are not passed on", otherwise they will teach their apprentices and starve their masters to death, and it is better to lose some experience and skills.

However, Xujiazhuang's style of acting is different, which brings a lot of light and hope to people.

So Zeng Tianshun came to Xujiazhuang and said that he wanted to see the owner of Xujiazhuang, and put forward his plea that he wanted to raise cattle, but he really couldn't kowtow to the owner of Xujiazhuang.

Unexpectedly.

The Bodhisattva-like owner of Xu Zhuang actually quickly agreed with him and talked to him face to face.

……

"You want to raise cattle?"

In the living room, Xu Yuan looked at this middle-aged and elderly man with a rough black face, but he was still in good spirits and asked.

"Master Xu, a kind-hearted living bodhisattva, give me a chance to try......"

Zeng Tianshun bowed directly to the ground, expressing his desire to raise cattle, hoping that Xujiazhuang could provide calves, giant Juncao and help reclaim wasteland.

"How much silver can you come up with?" Xu Yuan asked.

"150 taels, I only have so many coffin books." Zeng Tian passed by.

"Not enough, according to your requirements, the investment must be at least 300 taels or more, and this is only the cost price." Xu Yuan shook his head.

Zeng Tianshun's eyes suddenly dimmed.

"However, I see that you are the first one interested in raising cattle, and I can sponsor you for this project, calves, giant Juncao seeds, land, all for you! When you raise cattle and make money, you can pay me back the principal you owe, and you don't have to pay interest. ”

Xu Yuandao, in fact, he has been vigorously promoting animal husbandry, but the people here at the end of the Ming Dynasty are generally only interested in farming, and there are very few people who are willing to engage in breeding.

Because eating meat equals combat effectiveness.

Drinking milk equals national strength!

I can't take it enough.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Zeng Tianshun is sincerely kneeling and bowing at this time, great, really good, this benevolent Xu Zhuang is really a bodhisattva-like saint, and he is his great savior and great dependence, even if it is not an exaggeration to set up a shrine for him.