Chapter 118: Raising Buffaloes
Xia Wu didn't know that two of her employees were about to fall in love. She was concentrating on the Sannong website, trying to find a reliable seller to buy dozens of buffaloes.
Yang Guofeng helped her inquire locally and found out that there were no large-scale buffalo breeders in the area. After all, buffaloes are too large. Apart from producing milk from farmland, local people basically do not eat buffalo meat. The breeding cost is high and the return rate is low.
Many people raise cattle instead of buffaloes.
However, they have always raised buffaloes and grown rice here. Some of the corners near the foot of the mountain are not convenient for mechanized farming, so buffaloes are still the main force in farming.
Xia Wu had no choice but to find a way to buy buffaloes on her own. There were some large buffalo breeders on her Sannong.com forum, but considering the transportation costs, Xia Wu thought of buying the cattle breeds locally first. If she couldn't buy them locally, she would consider contacting sellers online.
Sannong.com has a forum, which is an official Sannong exchange forum. Users must use their real names to access the Internet.
Xia Wu's ID name is the same as the name on her ID card, Yang Xia Wu.
The forum uses a points system. You have a chance to get points by posting or answering other people's posts.
Xia Wu had no points at all at the beginning, and she became a first-level rookie by signing in and browsing other people's posts. However, after hanging out in the forum for half a year, she was already familiar with the ins and outs.
Xia Wu had bought blueberry seedlings there. It was said that there were many breeders and growers in the forum, as well as students and expert professors from the Agricultural University.
Xia Wu posted on Sannong.com: "I'm looking to buy 40 to 50 buffaloes of milk-producing age. Can anyone recommend a suitable source?"
Jiang Xun is 28 years old and is a doctoral student. Unlike the stereotype that many doctoral students have a bright future, he is studying ecology and is very stubborn in his studies all the way from college to doctorate.
The bad news is that even if he gets a PhD, he will not be able to find a job with a high annual salary; the bad news is that since he has a PhD, he has naturally integrated into the small circle of ecology and has no worries about finding a job that can provide him with food and drink.
Jiang Xun has a hobby. He likes to browse the Sannong website while eating. The forum brings together people from Sannong from all over the world. The posts in the forum are all kinds of strange. Most of the time, Jiang Xun can keenly get the information he wants from these posts.
He once found traces of the long-lost Chinese Crested Tern in a post; he also discovered plants that could cause serious species invasions by looking down at farmers, and eliminated them in the cradle in time.
Ecology is a large category that includes environmental protection, wildlife and plant protection, etc. It is closely related to the environment and is inseparable from the lives of millions of people.
Jiang Xun is a little different from others. He didn't insist on studying for a doctorate just for the sake of employment. He really likes this major and loves it from the bottom of his heart. Therefore, his hobbies in his spare time are more or less related to his major.
Browsing the posts as usual, he was soon attracted by the most popular post in the forum. Someone wanted to buy a buffalo, and it was a buffalo of milk-producing age.
Forty to fifty cows is considered a small to medium-sized breeding scale. Buying so many cows will cost at least seventy to eighty thousand yuan.
There are transactions in the forum. Since it is a real-name system, the transactions here are more reliable than many shopping apps. Nearly one million in business is considered a considerable amount in the forum.
Many people clicked on the post to see who would raise so many buffaloes.
"Why would the poster want to buy so many dairy buffaloes? Buffaloes don't produce as much milk as cows. Forty or fifty sounds like a lot, but the milk production is limited. I see the poster is only level three. As a large cattle farmer, I'd like to remind you not to be impulsive. This is a lot of money."
"It's better to buy cows directly than water buffaloes. I have a group of cows of the right age that can meet your needs. The price is also lower than that of water buffaloes. Would you consider it?"
"Where is the poster from? Is there a place to raise buffaloes? Buffaloes are different from dairy cows and cannot be kept in farms forever."
Jiang Xun read the post from beginning to end. There were only replies from netizens, but no sign of the poster. Could it be that he deliberately posted the post to lure people away?
He clicked on Xia Wu's profile picture and checked her information, and found that she was located in Tong City. Tong City has many rivers and lakes and is a rice-growing area. The locals are indeed more accustomed to raising buffaloes.
The forum will have corresponding labels based on each person’s speech, so that you can know whether the other party is a relevant person before the transaction.
Xia Wu's label is very simple, just a blueberry grower. He seems to have no breeding experience, but he wants to raise dozens of buffaloes right from the start. No wonder everyone advises him.
Unable to see Xia Wu's reply, Jiang Xun habitually left a scientific explanation in the post, "Water buffalo milk has a high fat content of up to 8%. The milk is white in color, has a rich taste, and is highly nutritious, making it better than regular milk. However, water buffalo are difficult to raise on a large scale, as the cost of raising them is high and the milk they produce is even more expensive. Currently, the domestic market for water buffaloes is relatively empty. If you don't have breeding experience, I don't recommend buying so many just to get started."
After leaving the message, Jiang Xun exited the post, continued eating, and browsed other posts.
Most of the posts are asking for help. Even experienced farmers with many years of planting experience will encounter all kinds of difficulties during the planting process, not to mention some novice breeders and growers. A random problem they encounter may make their year's efforts go to waste.
Jiang Xun loves to look for help posts to help these people solve their problems. If he can't find the reason, it doesn't matter, because he has many teachers and fellow students behind him, and each of them is an expert.
This is also the original intention of the official establishment of the Sannong.com Forum.
Jiang Xun received a reply from Xia Wu after helping someone solve the problem of no mushrooms growing in the mushroom shed.
"Thanks for the reminder! But I'm already mentally prepared to raise them and am currently looking for a channel to buy them (smiley face)."
A stubborn kid who refuses to listen.
This was Jiang Xun's first impression of Xia Wu.
Xia Wu responded to every comment, rejected others' suggestions to buy dairy cows, and did not mind the high cost of raising buffaloes. It is not known whether she was stubborn or strong.
Jiang Xun shook his head helplessly. The big water buffalo farmers in the forum were too good to be true. After all, water buffaloes could not make a lot of money. Who would have nothing better to do than raise water buffaloes to plow the land?
No one could provide Xia Wu with a purchasing channel, and Xia Wu's reply seemed a little disappointed. Jiang Xun was kind-hearted and decided to help Xia Wu.
"I know a guy who raises buffaloes. If you're sure you want to buy one, I can help you find out the price. He's not on the forum."
"Okay, thank you very much!"
Jiang Xun immediately took out his cell phone and made a call. After a while, the call was connected. "Hello, Lao Zheng, are there any cows of suitable age for sale on the farm? Someone wants to buy forty or fifty of them."
The Lao Zheng that Jiang Xun mentioned is a big buffalo breeder. He raises at least 300 buffaloes. The farm alone covers an area of 100 acres. Most people simply don’t have the conditions to do so.
Lao Zheng can make money by raising buffaloes because there is a market demand in his area. Local people like to drink buffalo milk. Two generations of Lao Zheng's ancestors have raised buffaloes. He not only sells buffalo milk, but also opened a small milk powder factory that specializes in producing buffalo milk powder. The fact that he can obtain a qualification certificate to run a milk powder factory shows how valuable Lao Zheng's buffalo breeding is.
They don't aim to go public, and they don't even think about leaving their hometown, but they can still make a lot of money.
Hearing Jiang Xun's request, Lao Zheng immediately said, "Don't even mention forty, I can get you even a hundred."
Hearing what he said, there was something wrong, Jiang Xun quickly asked: "What's wrong? What happened?"
"I haven't had any problems here. You don't know, but there's an incident at a kindergarten here. The food they cook for the children is unclean, and many children have been poisoned. Now the parents are making a fuss. Originally, these kindergartens were the main buyers of our factory's buffalo milk. Damn, now with this, all the milk we squeeze out every day is wasted."
Old Zheng also suffered an unprovoked disaster. The kindergarten poisonous meal incident caused a lot of uproar here. For some reason, even his buffalo milk farm and milk powder factory were affected.
The factory's business was getting worse and worse, but the buffaloes had to be kept. Every day passed meant more expenses. Old Zheng was just worrying about this when Jiang Xun came to visit him.
Jiang Xun understood immediately that this was a trust issue between both parties in the market. Consumers now did not trust sellers and their desire to consume decreased. The main consumers of Lao Zheng's buffalo milk were children. If Lao Zheng could not get out of this turmoil, the milk powder factory would probably be on the verge of bankruptcy.
Jiang Xun only knows how to solve planting and breeding problems, and cannot give him any advice on his business. Coincidentally, one wants to buy and the other is willing to sell, so he acts as a middleman and introduces Lao Zheng to Xia Wu.
The suitable breeding period for buffaloes is between two and a half and three years old, with a gestation period of up to one year. After the calf is born, it enters the milk-producing period. A normal-sized buffalo produces two tons of milk a year, which sounds like a lot, but a normal dairy cow produces six tons of milk a year.
Scarcity makes things valuable, and the price of buffalo milk is higher than that of regular milk.
The buffaloes that Lao Zheng agreed to sell to Xia Wu were all around two or three years old. Although these newly mature buffaloes were in the milk-producing period, their milk production was not high because it was their first lactation period. It usually peaked only during the third or fourth pregnancy.
Most of the buffaloes raised by Lao Zheng are local buffaloes, of medium size, with vaccination certificates. Among them, more than 20 are in the lactation period, and more than a dozen are already carrying calves. They will give birth in a while and enter the lactation period.
The price agreed upon with Xia Wu was 23,000 yuan for a lactating buffalo and 25,000 yuan for a buffalo with calves, which was a buy one get one free deal.
The two sides had a video call, and Xia Wu was taken to see Lao Zheng's cattle farm. The buffaloes were well raised, but Lao Zheng's breeding was on the farm. For buffaloes that like water, it was a bit uncomfortable to only be washed with tap water.
In order to ensure that there were no problems with the buffaloes, Xia Wu took the high-speed rail and traveled hundreds of kilometers to visit Lao Zheng's cattle farm in person. Led by the staff of the local animal husbandry station, both parties confirmed the purchase quantity and delivery date. Xia Wu and Lao Zheng signed a contract and paid a 30% deposit. Next, Lao Zheng would find a car to deliver the buffaloes.
It took almost a week to discuss and finalize the transaction. Xia Wu planned a buffalo breeding area on the mountain, near the foot of the mountain in the north, adjacent to the river flowing through Haotang Village. It is the middle and lower reaches of Chaotian River. Water also flows through this area from Yantou Mountain. There are many small rivers and streams here, and the whole area is in an uncultivated state.
Xia Wu didn't put too much thought into it. He just built a cowshed normally, with a place for people to live and a place to store feed. The buffaloes didn't have to be kept in the cowshed all the time. They could roam freely here during the day and return to the pen at night.
There was no one living near the foot of the mountain where she grazed cattle. In Xia Wu's opinion, this was the most suitable place to raise cattle.
The cowshed is easy to build, and the living quarters are even easier to build. A few sets of detachable mobile houses can be built in no time.
Xia Wu was ready and sent a message to Lao Zheng to agree on a time to deliver the cattle.
Lao Zheng found a big truck. It was not easy to transport forty-five cows, so he decided to go to Xia Wu's place with the truck himself.
It happened that Jiang Xun followed his teacher into the mountains, in a mountain in Tong City. Knowing that the transaction between Lao Zheng and Xia Wu was in progress, he wanted to follow out of curiosity.
Jiang Xun learned from Lao Zheng that Xia Wu was a novice in breeding. She had rented a hilltop to start a plantation. As a newbie, she was fearless and worried that the girl's money would be wasted. Jiang Xun decided to go and take a look, and then say hello to his acquaintances at the local animal husbandry station.
One day in mid-May, Xia Wu and her men were waiting at the village entrance. When she saw a red heavy truck approaching from a distance, she was a little excited.
Yang Guofeng asked: "Is this the car?"
Yang Guofeng invited all the staff from the animal husbandry station and epidemic prevention station in their town. With a business worth nearly one million yuan, they couldn't afford to be cheated by selling inferior products as good ones.
“Here it comes!”
The heavy truck was parked outside Yanggou Village. It took nearly two or three hours just to unload the cattle. After the cattle were unloaded from the truck, their temperature and epidemic prevention certificates were checked, and then they ran around the village.
The weather was hot and the buffaloes couldn't help but drink water. Xia Wu first fed them a few buckets of water. The buffaloes were very docile and well-behaved. After confirming that there was no problem, Xia Wu started to have people take the buffaloes to the mountains, where the streams and rivers were already ready.
Jiang Xun shook hands with Xia Wu. He had also been helping unload the cattle for quite some time. Knowing that he was the one who had helped to make the connection, Xia Wu was very enthusiastic. "Dinner is ready at home. Let's go have dinner together."
At the dinner table, Liu Guizhen used her best skills to cook a table full of delicious dishes. Xia Wu took out the homemade green plum wine. The truck driver couldn't drink it, but Lao Zheng and Jiang Xun could drink some.
There were also staff from the epidemic prevention station and animal husbandry station, with seven or eight people sitting at the table.
At the dinner table, Jiang Xun asked Xia Wu why she insisted on raising buffaloes. Lao Zheng took the opportunity to tell her a lot of experience in raising buffaloes. Xia Wu actually had a simple idea. She liked buffaloes, and especially liked the presence of these docile big guys in the rivers and lakes near Yanggou Village.
In addition, buffalo milk tastes good. The old guy raised by Master Yang Si is almost infertile, and this is probably its last milk-producing period. Logically, the milk should not taste so good, but it is nourished by the spiritual spring water. Even the picky Xu Li says that the buffalo milk tastes very good.
There is a market for buffalo milk, she has the space, and she likes to raise buffaloes, so she just raises them.
Xia Wu's reasons sounded like playing house to everyone. Jiang Xun felt helpless and really wanted to ask her family to persuade her, but it was too late to say anything now. The transaction had already been completed.
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