One day in the middle of the night, Jiang Yue was suddenly awakened by the squeal of a pig, and her heart began to pound.
The sound of pigs squealing really has a shrill feeling.
Jiang Nian patted her back and said, "It's okay. The sow is probably about to give birth. Go to sleep. I'll go downstairs and get them a light."
Jiang Yue shook her head, stood up and put on her clothes.
How could she sleep after waiting for so long?
The two sows became pregnant at different times, and one of them went into labor first tonight.
Zhang Xiaomu looked at the stove, keeping the water boiling constantly in the pot. It was no different from human labor.
Mrs. Zhang brought a bucket of warm water, put a clean cloth into the water, wet it, and then handed it to Zhang Liang.
Zhang Liang had already replaced the dirty straw. Now it was necessary to wipe the sow's body clean with a wet cloth to prevent it from being too dirty and contaminating the wound. Not only would the piglets not survive, but the sow might also die.
The sow grunted and was laid sideways on the straw by Zhang Liang.
Jiang Yue put a lantern shell on the flashlight and hung it at the four corners of the pigpen after turning it on.
Zhang Liang had been raising pigs for so long, and delivering babies in the dark was common, but he had never seen it this bright...
A quarter of an hour later, the sow finally gave birth to her first piglet, a red, soft, palm-sized piglet.
Zhang Liang held up the piglet with both hands. Mrs. Zhang was obviously used to this job. She quickly took a clean cloth to wipe the mucus off its body.
The piglets were born with their navels severed, but now there is a small piece of umbilical cord attached to the navel.
At this time, Zhang Liang did not know how to operate his hands. He pressed the bottom with his left hand and twisted the right with his right hand, and quickly severed the umbilical cord with just his hands. This is how to cut the piglet's umbilical cord.
"If the umbilical cord is not cut, it will fall off naturally, but the piglets may easily step on it and get hurt." Seeing the host's curiosity, Zhang Liang said casually.
He didn't use scissors, but he prepared them in advance just in case a caesarean section was required.
On average, a piglet was born every half a quarter to a quarter of an hour. Zhang Liang and his wife repeated the same process.
After about two hours, it was bright, the sow expelled the placenta, and stopped giving birth.
There were 14 piglets in a row, lying on the straw in a row, so pink and tender, Jiang Yue was stunned!
No wonder people say she's as fertile as a sow! She always thought a sow giving birth to seven or eight puppies was a feat! She never expected she could give birth to fourteen! That's more than a rabbit can give birth to!
Zhang Liang was sweating all over, but he was excited and said happily, "Ordinary sows give birth to about ten piglets at a time, but my wife raised her pigs so well that she gave birth to fourteen piglets in one litter!"
Jiang Yue suddenly felt that she should give the sow some more nutrition. It was so great!
This is a "founding father"! He made great contributions to her pig industry!
After Zhang Liang cleaned the sow, he placed the piglets next to the sow to drink colostrum.
I thought I could sit down and rest for a while, but the other sow, I don’t know if it was stimulated by “her best friend”, actually started to hum, which means she was about to give birth!
Zhang Liang and his wife immediately started another round of busy work...
The second sow gave birth faster, finishing in just one and a half hours. Correspondingly, she gave birth to fewer piglets, only ten.
Jiang Yue looked at the messy, smelly "delivery room," filled with blood and feces. The pungent smell made her chest feel choked. She stepped out and took out a piece of fruit to chew, suppressing the nausea.
Jiang Nian also felt very sick and poured her a glass of water.
Jiang Yue patted her chest and calmed down for a while. Seeing that the couple would probably be busy for a while, she went to the kitchen to light up another stove.
Zhang Xiaomu was young and had been watching the fire all night. He was dozing off when he saw the owner of the house coming in and was a little scared.
Jiang Yue whispered, "It's almost done. You can go to sleep. Just keep the water warm on the stove."
He shook his head and came over to help light the fire.
He didn't want to sleep, but Jiang Yue couldn't stand it anymore, so she simply took out a basket of meat buns and left them for him, letting him keep them warm on the stove.
After his parents were done with their work, the whole family would share the food and then take a nap after they were full.
After working non-stop for five or six hours, Jiang Yue was not reluctant to eat some meat buns.
What's more, raising pigs is not just a matter of these few days. You have to keep an eye on them for the next month. The piglets are fragile and the sows are not strong. Now that there is no medicine, you have to keep a close eye on them.
Raising pigs is indeed hard work, and you need to replenish your energy.
Zhang Xiaomu swallowed his saliva and nodded vigorously, his eyes glued to the steamer, where bursts of fragrance emanated. He hadn't eaten baozi in two years and no longer knew what they tasted like.
Jiang Yue and Jiang Nian went upstairs to catch up on their sleep and didn't wake up until mid-afternoon.
I don’t know how long the family of three worked before they fell asleep. They were so tired that they were snoring. They didn’t wake up when Jiang Yue and the others went downstairs.
The two went to the pigpen and saw that the two sows and twenty-four piglets were all clean, pink and tender, and looked in good spirits.
Jiang Yue did not choose the wrong person. This skill is worth passing down from generation to generation.
On the second and third days, Zhang Liang cut the piglets' teeth and tails one by one.
Docking the tails of pigs, sheep, and dogs doesn't restrict growth, but rather improves performance. Docking tails in fattening pigs can reduce mortality and injury, increase weight gain, reduce tail wagging, and reduce energy consumption, while also reducing feed intake.
When pigs are two or three months old, it's time to castrate them. Pig castration is one of the 72 rural trades. There's an old saying: boars must be castrated, and sows must be castrated. Without castration or castration, they won't grow fat.
Therefore, pigs that are fattened for meat basically have to be castrated.
If the pigs are not castrated, the hormone secretion in their bodies will be too strong, and they will not grow meat. Instead, the meat will have a very strong fishy smell.
Zhang Liang is not only familiar with sow production, but also takes meticulous care of them.
He cleans the pigsty every day with great care. You can tell he really enjoys raising pigs.
There were people watching over the store and guarding the house, and Jiang Yue made careful plans for his villa.
In addition to the small lotus pond in the backyard, there is also a fish pond in front of the mountain. Jiang Yue definitely wants to raise fish. It would be nice to fish when she has time to cultivate her sentiments.
As for the several hundred acres of land, the bulk would definitely be used to grow crops. In addition, she would have to set aside fifty acres to grow common herbs.
Regardless of the era, herbal medicine is always profitable. Furthermore, the city is in ruins and King Liang's expansion plans will not stop, so the demand for medicinal herbs must be great.
This time she won't be working for nothing.
King Liang: When was the time I worked for nothing?
When she was selling ginseng before, she had talked to the owner of the clinic. She learned that there was no cultivated medicinal herbs nowadays. Most of them were wild herbs that were collected by herbal farmers who went through numerous hardships and dangers in the mountains and rivers.
No wonder medicine is so expensive.
However, the high price is not used to subsidize the farmers, but is given to the medical clinics with the skills to prepare the medicine.
She and Jiang Nian went to visit Jiang Dashu's family at sunset.
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