The drizzle lasted all day long. After the rain stopped the next day, every household was busy planting vegetables in the fields. This kind of spring rain was so rare that no one wanted to miss it.

Early in the morning, after breakfast, the golden sun came out and the sky was clear blue, which meant that today would be a very good day.

Lin Heng finished eating the chive dumplings Xiulan made and said with a smile, "Let's go to Hongfeng Mountain. Today is a good day. We need to move the sheep to a new home. I'll take you to see the new cattle and sheep breeding pen."

"Okay." Xiulan nodded in agreement.

The two of them packed up and went out with their three children. Now they didn't need to bring a stroller when going out, they could just hold the children in their arms and put them down when they got to Red Maple Mountain.

Lin Heng did not walk, but drove a sidecar tricycle with his wife and children to Hongfeng Mountain.

Caiyun happened to not have school today, so when she arrived at Hongfeng Mountain, she called out to the three children, saying that she wanted to play with them.

"Hey, let me hug you too. Grandma made egg pancakes this morning. Does anyone want to eat some?" Lin's mother also called out with a smile.

“Let’s go…let’s go…”

Du Heng struggled while being hugged, saying that he wanted to walk and didn't want to be hugged.

"Okay, okay, go ahead and walk." Lin's mother put him down and took him to walk.

The little guy walks unsteadily in an orderly manner, which is quite adorable. This age is the cutest.

"Son, Xiulan, wouldn't you like a soft pancake? There are potato pancakes and cold-mixed Chinese toon." Father Lin looked at Lin Heng and said with a smile.

"Let me try the cold-mixed Chinese toon." Lin Heng walked over with a curious look.

They picked the Chinese toon on the road in the suburbs, but he had never eaten it cold.

"It's quite good, with a rich aroma." Lin Heng was a little shocked after eating it.

She picked up a piece of it with chopsticks and fed it to Xiulan. Xiulan chewed it and asked in confusion: "Mom, how did you make this cold-mixed Chinese toon? It's delicious."

"I just used a little sesame oil to blanch it and added a little minced garlic. I'll teach you how to make it cold at noon." Lin's mother was very happy.

"good."

Xiulan smiled and nodded.

After chatting for a while, they went up the mountain together, walked up along the cement road, and soon arrived at the first platform.

From the outside, it looks like a rectangular red brick house with only a small gap under the eaves.

This year it is completely different. It is divided into three areas. There are three rows of suspended sheep pens on the sheep pen side.

They walked along the corridor outside the suspended sheep pen. All the facilities inside were ready and had been sprayed with disinfectant. Now all that was left was to put the sheep in.

Lin Heng explained it to everyone, and Xiulan nodded and said, "We can release the sheep today. Let's put them in now and see the effect."

"Yes, we have never seen a sheep pen like this. Put it in and let us see the effect." Lin's mother also spoke.

Father Lin said, "I have already sorted out the sheep. The sheep I bought originally and the sheep that were born last year have been separated. Many ewes are in heat and now have nowhere to breed."

Lin Heng nodded and said, "Let's do it now. Take the children away first. It's not good for them to stay here."

"I don't want to. I want to stay here and look after the sheep." Xiaoxia was the first to shake her head.

Lin Heng said sternly, "Come back after the cattle and sheep are put in. There is no room for negotiation now."

"Dad~" Xiaoxia still wanted to act coquettishly, but it was useless now.

Lin Heng being nice to her doesn't mean he has to obey her in everything. When he looks serious, it means there is no room for negotiation.

The cattle and sheep are very dangerous. They have to herd the sheep into the pen and have no time to take care of the children. If they are not careful, they will be injured by the cattle and sheep.

Seeing Lin Heng's expression, Xiaoxia pouted and snorted: "Just go, I don't like you anymore."

After saying that, she walked out angrily. Caiyun and Xiulan chased after her with Luming and Duheng in their arms.

After settling the children, everyone gathered at several key intersections. Lin Heng went in with a large pile of fresh grass and helped his father let the sheep out.

They released the three big rams first, then the twenty or so castrated sheep, and finally the 54 newborn lambs that were born last year.

Lin Heng held the grass in front to lure them, and Lin's father drove them from behind.

“Mee-mee-mee!!”

The big ram called out and ran towards the fresh grass in Lin Heng's hand.

Under the leadership of the head sheep, they successfully drove the sheep into the sheepfold on the first platform.

"Finally they got them in, but there's sheep shit everywhere." Mother Lin said as she watched the sheep enter the pen.

"Aren't the remaining ewes going to be brought in?" Xiulan asked curiously.

"Yes, but you have to separate the sheep first. The rams and ewes cannot be together," Lin Heng explained.

Although the sheep born in October last year are only five months old now, they already have preliminary reproductive capabilities. However, now is not the best age for reproduction. It is better for them to wait until the next estrus in May or June before reproducing.

And we need to find two brand new male black goats. They are close relatives of the male black goats in the pen now, and their offspring are prone to disease.

Hence the need to separate them.

After entering the sheep pen, Lin Heng first pulled out the three big rams and locked them up in a compartment separately. Then he and his father picked out the little rams one by one and locked them up together with the big rams.

"Can these little rams be beaten up?" Father Lin asked as he grabbed them. The sheep had started to fight.

"Yes, this year we have changed the castration method and no surgery is required." Lin Heng said with a smile. This batch of sheep will not be castrated and their eggs will not be eaten.

"What method?" Father Lin was a little curious. He really didn't know any method other than surgery.

"Just tie up the sheep's testicles with a rubber band. Generally, the sheep will be naturally sterilized in a week." Lin Heng explained with a smile.

"That works too. Let's give it a try then." Father Lin was a little surprised that this was the method.

Soon they had sorted out the sheep, now numbering 29 rams and 25 ewes.

In normal births, the ratio of males to females is one to one.

The rams have been picked out and the castrated sheep have also been differentiated. The main reason is that there are many partitions built, so it is convenient to raise them separately.

After finishing all this, they drove over the batch of ewes that they had bought the year before and that had already given birth once and put them in a special section.

"Tie these straps on the ewes." Lin Heng took out the plastic bags he had bought specially from the city. There were seven colors in them to distinguish different generations.

Each generation of ewes had red bag straps tied around their necks.

After finishing, Lin Heng and his father went to the warehouse, pulled hay and silage with a sidecar, and poured them into the trough for feeding.

Seeing the food, the sheep all stuck their heads out of the fence in rows and ate the grass in big mouthfuls.

Many sheep excreted bean-sized feces before they had even taken a few bites. The feces fell through the holes onto the ground under the sheep pen, leaving no residue at all.

Mother Lin looked at this scene and said, "It seems that the effect is really good. All the sheep manure has leaked out, and there is no need to drive the sheep away to clean up the manure."

"My son is so good at thinking of ways. This way, it only takes a dozen minutes to shovel the sheep manure every day." Lin's father also praised.

"Now we don't have to be so diligent. We only need to deal with it once every three days. We can use water to flush it directly into the ditch nearby and just shovel it together." Lin Heng said with a smile.

This modern sheep pen is not only clean and hygienic, but also easy to clean.

After watching the sheep eating grass for a while, everyone was very happy. Although there was a strong smell of sheep, so many sheep were their own property, so how could they not be happy?

After looking at the sheep pen for a while, Lin's mother took a broom and swept all the sheep dung on the road to the roadside.

The rooster in the chicken coop is cuckooing loudly. Spring has arrived and the hens are now starting to lay eggs.

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There are now 12 hens, 6 roosters and two geese. The number of chickens is much less than before.

This is because a group of people killed and ate a few of them during the Chinese New Year and froze some of them.

Although there are a lot of golden grouse shot, there are actually not that many. A golden rooster weighs only about one kilogram after being killed, while a free-range chicken weighs four or five kilograms, and a large rooster can grow to weigh up to ten kilograms.

"We have six eggs today, that's great." Xiulan said happily after picking up the eggs and coming over.

"We can take these eggs back to hatch chicks. I want to hatch some more. We can keep some for ourselves and sell the rest." Lin's mother said.

There is no shortage of eggs in the house now. With so many chickens laying eggs, one egg is enough for each person to eat every day.

This is because conditions are better now and we can raise more chickens, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough food to feed so many chickens.

"I will hatch some when the time comes, but I don't want to raise black chickens anymore. I plan to switch to some three-yellow chicken eggs to hatch." Xiulan said that she wanted to change to a different breed of chicken.

"I heard that there are egret chickens for sale in the next town, and those chickens are also very beautiful," said Lin's mother.

The two of them were very interested in talking about hatching chicks, and they went back home talking and laughing.

Lin Heng and his father continued to work, transporting hay to the warehouse in the cattle and sheep pens on the mountain using a sidecar.

The distance is several hundred meters, and it is unrealistic to transport it by manpower alone.

However, not much needs to be transported, as the first crop of forage grass in spring will be harvested soon. This time, a part of it can be directly placed on the first platform to make silage or hay.

After delivering the hay, the two men put on their waders and cleaned up the feces in the sheep pen below, and spread lime for sterilization and disinfection.

The pen at the back is simply used for raising cattle, and red-maned horses and red dates can also be raised in it.

Including 4 dairy cows, his family now has 14 cows, plus 1 horse. The cowshed below is only half full, and he can raise a dozen more.

The nine female oxen all have round bellies and are not far from giving birth. If all goes well, his family will be able to add nine more oxen in May and June, making a total of 23 cows by then.

As for sheep, there are now 106 black goats and 3 white goats.

After cleaning up the cattle and sheep pens, Lin Heng looked at his father and said, "Dad, do you think we should buy a few more cows? Anyway, there is definitely enough grass to eat now."

"That's not necessary. We can just breed our own cattle slowly. Besides, the cattle pen isn't that big. If you buy more, you might have to expand the pen again next year."

"Okay then." Lin Heng did not refute. The prices of cattle and sheep have gone up now, and he would not make much money if he bought more.

"Let's go downstairs to eat."

Father Lin patted him on the shoulder and said.

It was already past twelve o'clock, and the sun was warm, even a little scorching. The two of them rinsed their water pants under the faucet and took them off to hang them up to dry.

"Dad, lift me up high." Seeing Lin Heng coming back, Xiaoxia ran towards him, having long forgotten what happened before.

"Come, let me hold you." Lin Heng smiled and picked up his daughter and spun her around in the air a few times. She immediately started to giggle with happiness.

"There are so many dishes for lunch."

When he got home, Father Lin looked at the table full of dishes and smiled.

"These are some braised meats left over from the Chinese New Year. If we don't eat them, they can't be kept in this weather." Lin's mother said.

Lin Heng first took a few big bites of the food, then clinked glasses of rice wine with his father, and then took a bite of the cold-mixed Chinese toon.

Xiaoxia and Luming Duheng are both very fond of braised chicken. They almost always eat all the braised chicken. The loose chicken with the aroma of braised chicken is really tempting.

After dinner, there was nothing to do in the afternoon, so they did some trivial things here in Hongfeng Mountain. Lin Heng found a large bluestone by the mountain stream and lay down to rest. He covered his head with clothes and felt very comfortable basking in the sun.

Xiulan and Caiyun were picking some blooming roses on the edge of the fence, preparing to go back and make flower essential oils. After a year of growth, the roses are now very lush, basically surrounding the entire Red Maple Mountain. Whether it is people or wild animals who want to come in, they have to face this thick rose fence.

The next morning was Qingming Festival. It seemed that because of the rain the day before, the mountains suddenly became greener. The grass began to grow, and the poplars and willows were the first to sprout new green leaves, which looked very pleasing to the eye on the bare mountains.

This light green is the most beautiful season in spring, giving people a feeling of vitality. When the light green turns into dark green, it becomes normal.

After worshipping their ancestors and sweeping the graves with the whole family, they went to the well ditch. There were some moist toon trees growing on the edge of the ditch. They were more than ten centimeters long, plump, rosy and shiny, and looked very good.

Picking toon, prickly ash, ferns, and pulling garlic are all must-do activities in spring. Doing them together and feeling the beauty and freshness of spring is a double enjoyment for the mind and body.

When you no longer have to worry about making a living, you will find a wonderful life everywhere in the countryside.

"Son, come here, we have morels and gastrodia elata." Suddenly, Father Lin made a surprised sound.

Lin Heng came over to take a look and found that it was true. Although there were not as many morels as last year, each one was plump and looked very pleasing to the eye.

"That's great. We'll have delicious food to eat when we go back this year." Lin Heng said with a smile. It's a great enjoyment to make a soup with fresh morels or stir-fry them.

"Let's go and see if there are any more." Father Lin said with a grin.

The two searched for a while, but found nothing, so they took their finds back home. For lunch, they made some green rice balls, and more importantly, fried eggs with toon, stir-fried meat with fern, and morel soup.

After the meal, all the delicacies of spring were in his stomach. Needless to say, they were delicious. After the meal, Lin Heng made a pot of tea and sat in the yard with his parents, wife and children to drink it, watching the green mountains gradually turning green.

Because the most important work had been completed, everyone was ready to rest for two days before spring ploughing. But what no one expected was that something unexpected happened the next day. (End of this chapter)