Chapter 1050 Harvesters in the Experimental Field

In the second year of Da Ming, the trend of grain storage and infrastructure construction in the Han tribe continued. The counties and prefectures also spent the spring quietly in a busy manner, and the weather gradually became hot.

It was in this ordinary and busy spring that the research institute of Xingang County completed one task after another assigned by Luo Chong on time.

In February, five mass-produced corn harvesters were produced, plus a prototype verification machine, a total of six corn harvesters, enough to cope with the harvesting task of the next mechanized experimental field.

At the same time, the research institute also manufactured a grain harvester. Although it has not been finalized, it has been handed over to the Sinong Temple for them to take it for experiments. As long as they are sure that there are no problems, it is estimated that a batch will be produced soon in the summer.

However, after completing the order for corn harvesters, the research institute was not idle. After consulting Luo Chong, they soon started the production of tractors and loaders.

This batch of tractors is mainly used for pulling vehicles, not for farming, but it also has that function, but this time it is mainly used to support engineering construction in various places. Luo Chong gave an order for ten vehicles, which can be completed in one month if the speed is fast. According to his plan, four of them will be distributed to the cross-sea bridge, and the other four will be sent to the capital. The last two will be sent to the newly established Chengkang County and Qi'an County, one for each county, so that they can use them first.

The order for loaders is relatively large, which is commonly known as bulldozers. There are too many places that need this thing. Not only do various construction sites need bulldozers for construction, but various mining areas also need this thing to load ore. After all, in the future, mining operations will be based on these machines as the main force, and manpower will gradually be eliminated, or replaced by other more important positions.

Also at the end of February, the excavator was finally finalized after testing, and this time the finalized version of the excavator is still a universal mechanical arm. The front bucket can be flexibly replaced. It can be equipped with a bucket or a large air hammer. This thing can be used to crush stones and is also one of the main equipment for digging tunnels and mining in the future.

Since it has been finalized, it must be mass-produced. Luo Chong thought about it and finally set the mass production quantity of the excavator and loader to 30. This thing can be used for both engineering and mining, so he simply set a big goal.

However, Luo Chong also knew that with the current production capacity of Xingang County Machinery Factory, ten tractors, thirty excavators, thirty loaders, and seventy trucks in total, it is estimated that Xingang County Machinery Factory will have to work non-stop for half a year to achieve such a large output.

But he is not in a hurry. This thing can be supplied to several important construction sites first. After the pressure on the construction sites is relieved, it can be supplied to various mines, which can also free up more labor from the mines everywhere.

After setting the production plan for Xingang County for more than half a year, time soon came to mid-April, the beginning of summer in the second year of Da Ming.

The weather gradually became hot, and the various crops in the fields began to turn golden yellow. The Han tribe soon ushered in a harvest season again.

At the same time, Luo Chong also took his family to the mechanized farming experimental field in Liuyang County on a whim to go on vacation. It was better to say that he was here for inspection than for vacation. After all, this was the first time that the Han tribe used automatic machinery to harvest grain. How could Luo Chong, the leader, not come? This would go down in history in the future.

In addition, Luo Chong received a report from the people below, saying that the breeding farm in the experimental field had also achieved results. It was said that the first batch of piglets that had undergone ligation surgery were growing well. For such a situation, he had to go and see it.

In late April, Luo Chong brought Xiaodie and Zhan Ying, as well as Luo Cheng and Luo Lan, who were already more than four years old, and their two younger brothers. The family of seven came to the farm in Liuyang County by carriage.

The mechanized farming experimental field has been officially renamed Liuyang Farm because of the addition of breeding farms and livestock breeding projects. Although it is affiliated with Liuyang County, it is under the jurisdiction of Sinong Temple and is directly led by Luo Chong, the central leader.

When they arrived at the farm, the staff of Sinong Temple had cleaned up a farmhouse for Luo Chong and his team. It was a separate house with a courtyard, but it was all adobe houses. Because the work here was too busy, the tasks assigned by Luo Chong were tight, and they didn't know when the farm would be withdrawn, so they didn't plan to stay for a long time, but just hurriedly built some adobe houses to deal with it.

When the farm was built, Luo Chong did get them a construction team, but those construction teams were used to build granaries, threshing grounds, and breeding farms, so that even the pig sty was better than the human habitation, after all, many buildings in the breeding farm were made of bricks.

But Luo Chong didn't complain about anything when he came here. He even lived in a cave before, so what was there to pick when there was a clean house to live in.

In mid-April, the corn in the field has gradually entered the waxy stage. It should be ready for harvesting now, but the weather has been gloomy these past two days. It might rain at any time. In this kind of weather, it is definitely not suitable for harvesting. If the corn is soaked by water during harvesting, it will definitely rot.

Luo Chong was not in a hurry. He simply took his wife and children to visit the farm.

The huge farm was built in the northeast corner of the experimental field, near Liuyang County. The entire farm covers an area of ​​more than 240 acres. The site is very wide. In addition to the necessary animal pens and pig pens, a pasture is enclosed in the middle with wooden fences. Some forage grass is planted in it, which is reserved for the cattle and sheep in the farm to ventilate.

Just to the south of the farm, there is a large vegetable field and manure pond. The manure pond is used to deal with the farm's excrement and collect fertilizer. The vegetable field is for nearby supplies. On the one hand, it is used to supply some farm staff as a source of daily vegetables. On the other hand, the vegetables that they can't finish can be taken to Liuyang County for sale. If it doesn't work, it's not a waste to feed pigs. Instead, they think that leaving the land barren is the biggest waste.

Seeing the land, they want to plant something on it. I don't know if it has become a habit of the Han tribe. Luo Chong is also very surprised about this. I don't know if there is any necessary connection between the talent for growing vegetables and Han culture.

After arriving at the farm, I saw groups of sheep venturing in the pasture in the middle. Among them, there are large and small lambs. The number is very large. These are the first batch of lambs produced this year. At this time, they all follow the ewes and bleat.

When the four-year-old Luo Cheng and Luo Lan saw this scene, they immediately rushed towards the lambs. The two children were like a Husky that broke into the flock of sheep, chasing the lambs and circling around.

"It seems that there are quite a lot of lambs in this batch, but didn't you say that sheep in captivity can give birth to two litters a year? How can we make them give birth to the second litter? Are you sure?" Luo Chong looked at the two children running around in the flock of sheep and asked the Sinong Temple official who was following him.

"Chief, this is simple. Under natural conditions, sheep only give birth to one litter every year. After the lambs are born, they will always stay with the ewes. In order to take care of the lambs, the ewes usually will not estrus and mate again.

"So if we want them to mate twice within a year, we need to catch all the lambs after they reach the weaning period and manage them separately from the ewes. When the ewes lose their lambs, they will mate again.

"If everything goes well, the second lamb will be born in early winter, but the weather will suddenly turn cold at that time. Under natural conditions, food is scarce and the weather is cold. Even if wild sheep give birth to a second lamb, they cannot be raised. However, as long as anti-freeze and feed reserve measures are taken, it is absolutely no problem to raise the second batch of lambs in captivity." Hearing Luo Chong's question, the person in charge of the farm immediately introduced the situation.

Luo Chong nodded repeatedly after listening. Hearing this, he immediately remembered that in the animal world, lions on the African grasslands also have this habit. When a wandering male lion finds a lion group of lioness and wants the lioness to give birth to cubs for him, he must first kill all the cubs of the other party, so that the lioness can mate again.

I didn't expect that sheep would have similar habits. It turns out that as long as the lambs and ewes are separated, they will give birth to a second litter. This is really simple, but artificial captivity is also very important. Just like what the man said just now, even if wild sheep give birth to a second litter that year, they can't keep the cubs alive in winter. Maybe this is why they only give birth to one litter every year.

"Well, the sheep here are well raised, and there should be enough feed. After the corn is harvested this time, I estimate that these straws will be enough for them to eat for a long time." Luo Chong nodded and asked about the feed again.

But the person in charge frowned upon hearing this, and said with some worry, "There is no shortage of dry feed, and those straws can meet the needs, but it is better to use silage feed. It's just that we don't have the technology and materials to mass-produce silage feed now, which is a pity."

After the person in charge finished speaking, he secretly glanced at Luo Chong, wanting to observe his reaction, but Luo Chong helplessly spread his hands. He also knew that silage feed was a good thing, but that thing needed to be fermented with lactic acid bacteria in an anaerobic environment. Lactic acid bacteria are easy to make, and at most you can sprinkle some cheese crumbs in as bacteria, but an anaerobic environment cannot be handled.

In modern silage production, the most common way to isolate air is to use plastic bags or plastic films. However, the Han tribe does not have plastic now. Eucommia gum does have the characteristics of plastic, but it is okay to use it as polypropylene to make a hard plastic part, but it is a bit unrealistic to think of using it as polyethylene to blow into a plastic film.

Therefore, the biggest difficulty becomes how to isolate oxygen.

There are certainly ways to make small-scale production, such as using clay jars for pickling pickles, but using jars to ferment feed is obviously not enough.

The Han tribe didn't have plastic, and Luo Chong had no idea what to do. Even if he could distill plastic from petroleum, he had to find petroleum first.

"There's no good solution for now. We can't weld a big iron can for you to make feed. Besides, even if we do, we can't store much feed. You should plan how to store more dry feed." Luo Chong finally spread his hands helplessly.

Then, without waiting for the person in charge to answer, he asked again, "The sheep are well raised, but how are the beef cattle and sterilized pigs that I asked you to raise? Is that going well?"

Hearing Luo Chong's question, the person in charge of the farm immediately answered.

"To the leader, the sterilization of piglets is going smoothly, but it is mainly done by the medical school. We can't intervene now. There are now 243 piglets in the first batch of castrations. Twelve died after sterilization. The others are still alive and well, and they are indeed growing faster than those that were not sterilized. We have always kept records of this."

Luo Chong nodded when he heard this. He didn't care too much about the death of more than a dozen piglets. After all, it was the first time to do this. Shouldn't they be allowed to fail a few times? In comparison, more than 240 pigs, only twelve failed, which is already a great success.

Seeing that Luo Chong did not mean to blame him, the person in charge secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued.

"We are still working on the breeding of beef cattle, but the leader knows that this matter cannot be rushed. No matter how anxious we are, we have to wait until the cattle are born. According to my estimate, it will take at least five years, or even ten years, and after ten generations of precipitation, we can get a new stable breed of beef cattle."

Luo Chong nodded again after hearing this. He could understand this. Unlike sheep, cattle have a longer gestation period. No matter how you raise them, they can only give birth to one baby a year, and one baby at a time, so there is no way to rush.

In terms of cattle breeding, it has been nearly ten years since Luo Chong came to this world, and the Han tribe has not yet obtained a stable breed of oxen. You can imagine how difficult it is to breed this breed.

At present, the Han tribe has a total of three breeds of cattle, namely the forest cattle that were first captured by the Han tribe themselves. The forest cattle are covered with black skin, with sharp horns that extend forward, and grow thick dark brown short hair in winter.

The advantages of this forest cattle are large size, with an average shoulder height of about two meters, solid muscles, strong explosive power, and because they live in the forest, they have a mixed diet, including wild grass, berries, shrubs, and even low leaves when they are extremely hungry. They are easier to raise in places where there is a lack of pasture.

Of course, the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, they have a bad temper, are undisciplined, and have poor endurance. In fact, they are not suitable as working animals.

But at that time, this was the only cattle that the Han tribe could obtain, so they could only be forcibly domesticated to work. There was no better breed and no other way.

Later, after trading with the grassland, the Han tribe obtained grassland cattle. There were more colors of grassland cattle, such as yellow, white, and colored, but yellow cattle were still the main ones.

These grassland cattle are of medium size, with an average shoulder height of about 1.6 meters. The horns are relatively curved and not so sharp, and they usually grow towards the sky.

The advantage is that they have enough endurance, and after being domesticated by the grassland tribe for generations, these grassland cattle are very docile, close to humans, and accustomed to being milked by humans. If they are grassland cattle from the Han tribe, would you try milking them? They kick their hind legs at the slightest provocation and are very uncooperative.

However, grassland cattle also have their shortcomings. That is, they are used to eating fresh grass and cannot tolerate things like straw, shrubs, and weeds. In short, they are picky eaters.

After obtaining these two breeds of cattle, the Han tribe immediately began to crossbreed them at Luo Chong's suggestion, using grassland cattle as the father and forest cattle as the mother. After three generations of crossbreeding, they finally obtained a draft cattle with three-quarters grassland bloodline and one-quarter forest bloodline.

This hybrid cattle has a gentle temperament, is close to humans, is of medium to large size, and has an average shoulder height of about 1.75 meters. It does not have great explosive power, but it has enough endurance and is suitable for long-term labor. It also has a stomach like a forest cattle, is not picky about food, and can be fed with straw mixed with weeds. When the work intensity is high, some good feed can be appropriately added. It can be said to be a relatively suitable draft breed at present.

However, only three generations of hybridization cannot stabilize this breed. Often, the offspring of this hybrid breed will suddenly go crazy, either giving birth to a freak that looks like a forest cow, or giving birth to a petite grassland cow.

In such cases, it is necessary to select excellent hybrid breeds and let them crossbreed for several generations to stabilize their bloodline.

(End of this chapter)