Chapter 89 Chapter 89 Breeding
When Zhen'er got married, a big thing happened in the family.
But after the joy, it felt like a big hole was left in the house without a family member. The house became quieter, but I was a little uncomfortable.
A girl who often comes in and out of the same roof will have to go to another family to start a business in the future. How can she not feel sad?
Qiao'er was the most uncomfortable living in the same room with her sister, as there was no one to talk to in the room.
Not to mention this girl, even Father Fan and Mrs. Chen would sometimes be confused and call out "Zhen'er" out of habit. When no one answered, they would suddenly remember that she was already married.
It took the Fan family a month or so to get used to the fact that Zhen'er was getting married.
That day, Kang He and Fan Jing did not go to the city to look after the shops. Instead, Yi Huan and Chen Sanfang went.
The two of them didn't have much time to play around at home, so they went to the barn and tidied up a lot.
Kang He counted the rabbits in the rabbit shed. There were twenty-eight rabbits in total, eight of which were breeding rabbits and twenty were meat rabbits.
There are twenty ducks, four old ducks over three years old, ten meat ducks, and six furry young ducks that have only been out of the nest for a few days.
There are the same number of chickens and ducks: five two-year-old hens, a few meat chickens, and seven chicks whose feathers have not yet fully grown.
In addition to these poultry, there are also four big geese. Chen Sanfang asked He Xiaoqiu for them. She asked for a mother goose, brought it home, and got some fertilized goose eggs, and hatched a nest of geese.
The first time, we hatched twelve goose eggs and raised four geese.
In addition, the two cages of quails that the Xie family sent last year originally contained eight pairs, but they ate three of them.
Later, when Kang He saw the quail laying eggs, he stopped eating them and built a comfortable grass nest for the quail to lay and hatch the eggs. Now there are six quail chicks that have grown up.
They had hatched more than a dozen quail eggs, but they had no experience in raising them. The quail chicks were fragile and many of them died.
Besides the poultry, there are three donkeys among the livestock, one male and one female, which we bought one after the other. At the beginning of summer, we hired a donkey breeder to help with the delivery. The female donkey successfully gave birth to a little male donkey, which is now full of energy and can almost go out to the fields.
Last year the female donkey also gave birth to a litter, but the baby was stillborn.
There were also four pigs at home, and two sheep that previously produced milk for Dafu to eat.
Now Dafu eats with the family, and the sheep are of no use anymore. All they do all day is eat food and poop, which Father Fan has to clean up and use to make fertilizer.
Father Fan suggested that they just take them away and sell them, but Kang He did not agree. These two ewes were carefully selected and were very strong. It would be hard to buy them again.
We bought some land this year and Zhen'er got married, so the expenses were indeed a bit high and we were short of money.
Kang He thought about taking good care of the poultry and livestock at home and selling them later.
Now the pork shop occasionally sells some meat rabbits, chickens and ducks, but the sales are intermittent. With such an unstable business, it is natural that not much money can be made.
Kang He wanted to sell chickens, ducks and rabbits in the shop every day so that people who prepare banquets can place orders.
In the past few years, he and Fan Jing have been running around the villages and towns in the county slaughtering pigs, and have gotten to know many families.
If they have a lot of chickens, ducks and other livestock at home, when they go out to slaughter pigs, they can tell people that they have these things at home, and people might think of them when they set up the banquet.
This is a rare sales channel.
Kang He had wanted to do this before, but he didn't have the right conditions. First, the land was too small to raise a few poultry and livestock, and he was also worried about the lack of food.
Gradually, a spacious shed was built at home, and more than 20 acres of land were purchased this year, so we no longer have to worry about feeding the children and food.
But this alone is not enough. Although they can raise chickens, ducks and other livestock at home, they are not experts and are not as good as those experts.
Farmers can raise a few of them, but if there are too many, it will be difficult to take care of them. If they get an epidemic, they will all die, which is heartbreaking.
If you want to raise dozens or hundreds of them, you have to hire someone who is good at raising them to take care of them.
Kang He used a rake to loosen the grass in the shed and said to Fan Jing, "Let's find a breeding sheep to breed with these two ewes at home, and then raise some sheep. There's a piece of wasteland in the north of the village where we can graze them."
After hearing Kang He's plan, Fan Jing threw a cabbage to the donkey and said, "Raising some sheep is a good idea. But as long as you think about raising these poultry and livestock, there are many varieties, and people may specialize in one thing but not another. How can we hire people to do it?"
"It's really hard to find someone who can take care of so many kinds of livestock. If that doesn't work, just find a few people who specialize in chickens and ducks, and people who specialize in livestock."
Kang He said, "We don't need to have people come every day. We can just have them come once every three to five days. This way we can save some money."
Fan Jing didn't say whether it was possible or not, but just said, "Let's find out first."
So Kang He spread the news, and within two days, a man with a crooked mouth came to the Fan family and said that he was good at raising chickens, ducks, rabbits and other poultry.
"At most, I've raised twenty chickens and twenty ducks, all by myself. Few people in the countryside have my skills."
"Give me two guan per month to cover my daily food needs."
Seeing how arrogant this man was, Kang He thought that this was the maximum he could raise. He already had this many pets at home. If he wanted to raise more, he was afraid that this man did not have the experience to do so.
However, since he was willing to come, Kang He still offered him a cup of tea and politely asked him, "Could you share your experience in raising chickens and ducks? That would be helpful for me to learn more about your skills."
Upon hearing this, the man stiffened his neck and said, "How can I easily tell others about this secret? If I reveal the secret, wouldn't it be a waste?"
Kang He saw that this man was willing to do things but was unwilling to reveal his abilities, so he thought he was probably not a reliable person.
He said, "I'm looking for an expert here, but even just saying you're an expert doesn't necessarily mean you're an expert. Brother, if you don't share your experience or show off your skills, how can I dare to hire you to do something like that?"
The man patted his chest and said, "Just trust me."
Kang He shook his head: "I never believe in empty promises. Go ahead. I can't rent you here."
When the man saw that there was no job to do, he left angrily.
Kang He sighed. Fortunately, someone came to his house, making him too happy for nothing.
After some time, an old woman and a young man came one after another, both saying that they were good at raising chickens, ducks and other poultry.
Upon asking, he found out that he had only raised seven or eight chickens at home and thought raising chickens and ducks was a leisurely job, just feeding them and cleaning up their poop.
Kang He felt a little annoyed, thinking that it was really not easy to find someone with specialized skills.
Fan Jing said to him, "If finding it yourself doesn't work, then go out and look for it."
Kang He thought it made sense, so when he and Fan Jing went out to slaughter the pig, they asked the farmers in the village.
One day, he went to a village south of the county town to slaughter a pig, and he actually got the answer by asking.
"There's a family named Mou in the mountain village to the north of our village. They're very good at taking care of chickens, ducks and other livestock.
A few years ago, my family was doing this kind of business. Later, there was a war and life was not peaceful. One year, we met a group of refugees who rushed into our village and robbed and looted.
The Mou family's livestock and poultry suffered a disaster. Old Man Mou was guarding his own property, but he was beaten to death by these people."
Fan Jing frowned when he heard this. He had heard of this matter before.
During the war years, refugees had nothing to eat or drink and left their homes to drift to their county town. The stronger ones gathered in groups of three or five and broke into farmers' homes to steal food.
At that time, people were in a panic. The Fan family even hid in the mountains for a while. They only dared to come down the mountain after the government cleared out the refugees.
When I came back, I heard that many families had suffered and many people had been killed or injured.
Such things happened not just once or twice during the war years.
Speaking of Mou Lai, the old man sighed and shook his head.
Then he continued, "Mou Dalang is a capable man. He not only raises livestock and poultry, but he can also cure their diseases. If anyone in the surrounding villages has livestock that is not doing well, they will call him to take care of it."
When Kang He heard about this family, his heart moved.
There are few veterinarians these days, and ordinary people are reluctant to spend money on seeing a doctor when they are sick. Few would ask someone to see a doctor when their poultry at home is sick. It is only because large livestock are valuable that people will spend money to have someone see a doctor.
There were not many people who could do it, and since it was a craft, it was rare at that time.
It was a rare opportunity to encounter such a thing, so after he and Fan Jing killed the pig, they went over to take a look.
There was only one person living in the mountain valley, so you could see it when you went over.
The two of them saw a few native chickens clucking and catching insects by the side of the yard. Their feathers were unexpectedly shiny and glossy.
Kang He knocked on the door and an old man came out. Seeing the two unfamiliar faces, he did not rush to open the door, but just asked who they were at the end of the yard.
Kang He replied that he came to the village to slaughter pigs, and then he told him in detail which family he was from and explained his purpose.
After hearing this, Mr. Mou opened the gate, brought a stool and asked the two of them to sit in the yard, and then went to pour water.
"Don't be busy, old man!"
"You two have come at an unfortunate time. My husband has gone to the next village. A family's cows won't eat, so I sent him over to check on them."
Kang He asked, "When will Brother Mou be back today?"
"He's only been gone for an hour or so. If he comes back, it will be afternoon at the latest."
Kang He and Fan Jing looked at each other. They still had to pull the pig back to the shop in the city, so they were not in a hurry to sell it today.
It takes an hour or so to get back to the county town, and another hour or so to get back to their village. The weather is bad today, with dark clouds, and I'm afraid it will rain later.
If it is a normal sunny day, it is fine to wait and go home in the dark. But it is inconvenient to travel at night on rainy days.
Kang He said, "I heard that Brother Mou is good at taking care of livestock and poultry. My family is now running this business, and I'm looking for someone skilled enough to take care of these livestock and poultry."
Mr. Mou originally thought that the two men were here to ask his eldest son to treat the livestock, but they didn't expect that they were here to rent people.
He continued, "Wait until Dalang comes home, and I'll tell him about it."
Kang He saw that the Mou family was not wealthy and might be willing to find a long-term job, so he said to Mr. Mou:
"We are sincerely looking for someone to do this job. The wages are negotiable. If Brother Mou is interested, please come to our village."
Kang He left his home address and spoke a few words to Mr. Mou before leaving with Fan Jing.
When Kang He returned home, he didn't have to wait long. At noon the next day, a young man came to ask for directions.
The man looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, tall and thin, with a box hanging on his shoulder. He looked a bit like a doctor, but not entirely like an ordinary doctor.
He was very polite, standing outside the yard and asking, "Excuse me, is this the home of Master Fan, the butcher? Yesterday, a man named Kang came to my house and told me to come here today."
Kang He heard the voice and quickly came out to greet him: "It's right here."
He opened the door. It had rained all night last night, and the eldest son of the Mou family must have walked a long way to get here. His shoes were covered with a thick layer of mud.
Seeing that the Fan family's yard was paved with stone slabs, the man did not rush in. Instead, he found a branch outside to wipe the mud off the soles of his shoes, and then wiped them on a patch of green grass. Only then did he enter the yard.
Kang Hejiao Erxi brought a bowl of hot tea and invited Mou Dalang to sit in the room.
Fan Jing came out holding Dafu and looked at everyone. The little one was clamoring to go outside to see the new litter of rabbits, so he didn't stay in the house for long and went out with the child in his arms.
"Unfortunately, Brother Mou was not at home yesterday, so Brother Mou rushed over wet outside."
"It's okay. Even if it's the coldest time of the year, I'll still go out if someone calls me. It's just that I came back to Xiandong Village the first time, and Lu Sheng was late."
After a few polite words, Mou Dalang said he wanted to check on the livestock and poultry at home, so Kanghe led him to the poultry shed.
Mou Dalang looked around for a while and saw that the Fan family had quite a lot of livestock and poultry.
"Oh, how come this quail has pooped again?"
Kang He saw that the layer of hay in the cage was covered with feces. A quail had died two days ago. It had diarrhea at first and then stopped eating. Within two days, its eyes were swollen and it died when it was fed the next day.
Seeing this, Mou Dalang went forward to take a look.
He inspected the cages and said, "The quail cages need to be cleaned of feces regularly. They need to be scrubbed with wood ash and water to remove toxins. If left in the hay for too long, parasites will breed, and the quails will be susceptible to diarrhea. Hang some mugwort in the cages to repel the parasites."
He also told Kang He that quails should be raised in a dry and well-ventilated place, and the young quails should be kept warm in a charcoal brazier.
Incubating eggs allows the hen to help hatch them.
Then, Guan Kanghe asked for some garlic, ground it into juice, and added a small amount to water to feed the quails.
"Garlic juice and vinegar are both effective in preventing diarrhea in quail."
After listening to his words, Kang He was convinced.
Few people raise quails, but Mou Dalang knows everything about it, so how could he not be an expert?
Out of caution, Kang He asked Mou Dalang some other matters related to poultry and livestock farming. He explained them very clearly, and there were many things Kang He didn't know.
Kang He thought that if he hired Mou Dalang, he would have to go through the trouble of finding someone else to look after the livestock.
It's hard to find such skilled people, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to offer them a better salary.
He then told Mou Dalang that he could pay him one string of silver a month to help look after the livestock at home, and he would not do any other work. In addition, he would be allowed six days off every month to go home.
Mou Dalang thought about it and agreed. Kang He offered a generous salary, so who would refuse?
Before this, he ran around looking after livestock for others, and each time he went out, he could only earn three or five copper coins. If he met a polite and generous family, he could give him ten copper coins.
His medical skills on animals cannot be compared with those of ordinary doctors.
In January, I earned some extra money, which was just enough to cover the family expenses. I have always wanted to save some money to resume my previous livelihood, but I have never been able to do so.
His father also hopes that he can get married soon...
After both parties agreed, Mou Dalang went to his home and explained the job to his father.
Then, he took out some money to buy a table of food and wine and invited a few close neighbors to eat.
Although he is not going to a foreign place this morning, he can come home several times a month, but he has to stay in other people's homes most of the time. His little father is alone at home and needs relatives and neighbors to help take care of things.
Two days later, Mou Dalang packed up some simple living supplies and went to Fan's house.
The Fan family also cleared out a small house for Mou Dalang to live in.
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