Reborn in 1977

Today's dinner, besides being a welcome and dust-washing for Anquan, is mainly to discuss the sideline business of running a breeding farm.

Anquan put down his chopsticks, clasped his hands tightly, and looked at Secretary Yang and Captain Zhang, saying, "I've been thinking about it all afternoon, and based on your advantage of having many veterinarians, plus the presence of Teacher Chen, a breeding farm is indeed worth pursuing."

Secretary Yang looked at Chen Fan and smiled, interrupting his polite and humble words, and said directly, "That's what we think too. What are we most afraid of when running a breeding sideline? Isn't it just being afraid of the livestock getting sick, not growing big, or not surviving?

But we have our own veterinarians, and that makes it half the battle. The remaining half depends on whether the heavens are willing to let us eat this bowl of rice."

Chen Fan nodded and quickly said, "That's what I wanted to say too. It's not that having many veterinarians in our production team guarantees success in the breeding industry. That's not realistic.

After all, even Station Master Zhou, and even the county's Animal Husbandry Bureau, have livestock they can't cure. Furthermore, once a contagious disease breaks out among poultry and livestock, it's difficult to control without enough medicine.

So, on the one hand, I definitely support running a breeding farm, but at the same time, everyone should be mentally prepared for failure. You can't think that running this breeding farm will definitely be a success. That's unlikely."

Ye Shubao turned his body to face him, chuckled, and said, "You don't need to remind us of this. It's the same principle as when we plant crops. We choose good seeds, spread fertilizer, and agricultural technicians are there all the time, but if the heavens don't cooperate and insist on giving you a flood or a plague of insects, you can't do anything about it, right?!"

Chen Fan smiled and nodded, "Right, same principle."

Xiao Liewen waved his hand, "Let's not talk about these things, shall we? Now that we've decided to do it, let's discuss how to do it well."

Secretary Yang nodded, first looking at Anquan, "Xiao An, why don't you speak first?"

Anquan said with a smile, "I can only say that I'll express my attitude first. I'm fortunate to be assigned to Lu Jiawan this year. I won't do anything else this year, mainly focusing on this breeding farm. If I can make this breeding farm a success, I'll consider myself to have completed my merits. If I don't do well, I'll apply to the unit to stay in Lu Jiawan until it's done!"

Secretary Yang nodded vigorously twice, "Good, commendable ambition, come, let's have a drink."

The two of them clinked glasses decisively.

Secretary Yang took a sip of wine, turned to look at Chen Fan, and smiled, "Teacher Chen, tell us your thoughts."

Chen Fan's forehead was covered in black lines, "Secretary Yang, if you keep calling me Teacher Chen, I'm going to get carried away."

Xiao Liewen grinned and laughed, "If it were me, I would have been carried away long ago."

Ye Shubao glanced at him, "That's all you're good for."

Then he looked at Chen Fan, "Xiao Chen, the ultimate success of this breeding farm still depends on you. Why don't you tell us your thoughts first."

Chen Fan nodded, held up three fingers, and said solemnly, "Three questions: First, what to breed; second, how to breed; and third, how to sell."

As soon as these words came out, the dinner table fell silent.

Anquan nodded while thinking, "These three questions are well raised, very pertinent, and very comprehensive."

Then he took out a cigarette, first gave one to Old Captain Yang, then threw one to him, and then distributed them to the others, while looking at him and asking, "Tell us your thoughts."

After distributing the cigarettes, he immediately took out a small notebook and pen, ready to take notes.

Chen Fan held the fire that Captain Yang handed over, lit it, exhaled the smoke, and said with a smile, "I'm just throwing out a brick to attract jade, for the leaders' reference."

Then he began to talk eloquently.

"First, let's talk about the first question, what to breed. I think we can appropriately increase the breeding of water buffalo and horses. These two kinds of livestock have always been the main force in rural areas. Whether we use them ourselves, rent them to other production teams, or sell them after they grow up, we don't have to worry about them being stuck in our hands.

Then we can appropriately increase the breeding of chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Each production team has its own pig herders and duck herders. They are skilled in breeding. If we can give them two more helpers, not to drive ducks or pigs, but to assist in cutting pigweed and picking duck eggs, things that even children can do, plus the village veterinarians often go to check, we should be able to control the risks while increasing the number of breeding.

Then, the number of chickens raised by each household can also be appropriately increased.

I know that the biggest difficulty in raising chickens is feed, but this can be solved.

For example, there is a technique of raising chickens with earthworms, which can use pig manure, pigweed, and other things mixed with soil to raise earthworms, and then use earthworms to feed chickens, ducks, and geese. Earthworm manure and poultry manure can be treated and used to fertilize the fields…"

Hearing this, Secretary Yang couldn't help but interrupt him, "You said you can raise earthworms and then use earthworms to feed chickens?"

Chen Fan nodded and said to him, "I have a book there, now placed in the brigade's broadcasting room, called 'Common Rural Breeding'. Raising earthworms and then using earthworms to feed chickens is written in this book.

I myself have experimented in the courtyard of the educated youth center, and it works very well, no problem at all. Later, you can let Yang Ju and the others teach this technique to others."

Of course, it wasn't him who did the hands-on verification, but the four girls. It's just that Chen Fan told them that this technology is still in the verification stage, and the risks are uncertain, so Huang Ying and the three didn't tell their families.

There are also many precautions, such as earthworms containing a large number of germs. If chickens eat a small amount, it's okay, but if they eat a lot every day, the earthworms need to be treated. First, wash them clean with water, then boil them in boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes to sterilize them, and then cut the boiled earthworms into small pieces and mix them into the feed to feed the chickens. This is not only safe and reliable, but also promotes the growth and development of the chickens, and even the eggs laid are larger and more nutritious.

Although the chicks he bought haven't grown up yet, there are also three laying hens sent by the parents of the veterinary class students. Through these days of eating earthworm feed, this point has been verified.

After listening to Chen Fan's words, Secretary Yang couldn't help but nod repeatedly, excitedly saying, "The biggest difficulties in breeding are disease prevention and feed. But raising earthworms doesn't require feeding, just a little rotten vegetable leaves, and then using earthworms to raise chickens, ducks, and geese. This is a good way."

He looked at Captain Yang again, chuckled, and said, "Your daughter has learned an amazing skill."

Captain Yang smiled from ear to ear, but was being humble, "It's nothing, when the breeding farm is set up in a few days, it will still have to be taught to others."

Raising earthworms will definitely not be arranged for a dedicated person to do, and there is no need for it. Let Yang Ju and the others teach other commune members, so that one person teaches ten, and ten people teach a hundred. In a few days, all the commune member families in the whole commune will have someone who knows how to do it, which will be much more convenient for them to raise them themselves.

Although Yang Ju can't get any benefits from this matter, by teaching everyone breeding techniques, she can earn enough favors, and her family will naturally benefit.

Of course, the biggest benefit is for Chen Fan.

After all, everyone knows that Yang Ju and the others learned the technology from Chen Fan, and passing it on to everyone was also with Chen Fan's consent. This is the same principle as Liu Jujang teaching others how to make soft-shelled turtles.

Chen Fan waited for them to finish talking before continuing, "In addition to these conventional poultry and livestock, I also have an idea, which is to raise rabbits. Don't look down on the low price of rabbits, only a few cents for a rabbit skin, and rabbit meat is only half the price of pork, but in fact, the economic value of rabbits is very high, mainly because rabbits can reproduce, and grow very fast. Their skins, fur, and meat can all be sold for money, belonging to a low-input, high-output breeding category.

As for breeding methods, you can refer to the form of raising chickens or pigs, and distribute them to each household to raise. They only need to build a rabbit shed to take the rabbits back."

After thinking for a while, Chen Fan still said, "Of course, if you want to engage in centralized breeding, it's also possible, but the site selection and construction of the breeding farm are a bit difficult, and it also requires a certain amount of manpower and material resources, but the advantage is that it's convenient for management. The two breeding methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. It depends on which one you choose."

Captain Zhang thought for a while, pursed his lips and said, "Listening to you say that, raising rabbits is also a good idea, but…"

He spread his hands, "Where do we buy rabbit seedlings?"

Ye Shubao pointed to Chen Fan, "Xiao Chen has been collecting wild rabbits during this time, and that can be used as rabbit seedlings."

Looking at him, he said, "How many rabbits have you collected now?"

Chen Fan, "24 little rabbits."

After a pause, he added, "Rabbits can breed when they are half a year old, once every two months. The little rabbits I collected are about three or four months old, which means that in another 3 months, they can start breeding, and then continue to use these rabbits as breeding rabbits, while trying artificial breeding and increasing the number of breeding rabbits. By the end of the year, we can start large-scale breeding, or distribute them to the families of all team members."

Secretary Yang calculated with his fingers, "Isn't that still half a year away?"

Chen Fan nodded, "There's no way, we can't find enough rabbit seedlings, we can only breed them ourselves, but it's also good to gain some experience in raising rabbits."

Anquan had been taking notes, and hearing this, he raised his head and said, "In that case, the rabbits can be temporarily handed over to you to be responsible for. When we have enough little rabbits, we will start to deal with this."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly twice, without speaking.

Xiao Liewen understood him and immediately said, "We can't let Xiao Chen work for nothing. There are two ways, one is to give him a share of the breeding worker's work points, and all the costs of feed and rabbit shed construction, etc., will be borne by the brigade; the other is that the brigade doesn't care, and when Xiao Chen has saved enough rabbit seedlings, we will buy them from him at the market price."

Chen Fan immediately chuckled, "This is not urgent, not urgent, wait for the leaders to decide, I'm not in a hurry."

Now even Anquan could see it, let alone the others, and everyone burst into laughter.

Secretary Yang glared at him unhappily, "Tell us about your third question, how to sell."

Chen Fan said with a smile, "I have two ideas, one is simpler, sell directly to the commune, one is more troublesome, but the income should be higher, that is, we do product deep processing ourselves. It depends on which one you choose."

Anquan put away his pen, smiled and said, "You're not throwing out a brick to attract jade, you're throwing out all jade!"