The meaning of the old saying in the countryside that the rich don't raise sheep, and the poor don't raise chickens
The farmer recalls the days when he played in his hometown and village as a child. Every time he has a holiday, he loves to go to the mountain pond next to the village to catch some fish and shrimp.
Passing through a houseyard, in the chicken coop in the yard, a group of old hens are foraging, they are foraging on the road, and occasionally "quack" a few times. The ewe and her lambs were resting in the shade of the courtyard, occasionally crowing grass in their mouths and crowing from time to time.
In the hometowns of smallholder farmers, almost every household has a poultry, and many have a sheep. The chickens are busy hatching eggs and chicks all day long, while the roosters put on a majestic appearance and show off their power in their territory.
The ewes eat grass every day and give birth to lambs;Occasionally, they will tilt their heads and bump into each other, looking "domineering".
Such a scene, in his childhood memories, became the most common scene in his hometown. The old people in the village say that chickens and sheep can bring income to the family, eggs and chicken are often made, and every year during the Chinese New Year, the mutton will make people very happy.
He recalled what the older generation often said: "Don't raise sheep if you have money, don't raise chickens if you don't have money".
Growing up with a small farmer and living outside the big city, whenever I return to my hometown and look forward to seeing the scenery of the old countryside, I always feel that something is missing. Later, he heard from his parents that in recent years, the state has vigorously promoted the construction of new rural areas and banned raising poultry at home.
The small farmer suddenly realized that everyone in his hometown and village was busy. Instead, a special farm was set up in the village to raise chickens and eggs.
There was no sound of chickens and ducks bumping into each other, nor did they sound chickens and dogs barking. The chickens that used to be raised in the yard are now transferred to a unified farm, and they can get some eggs every month.
The same goes for the sheep, and at the entrance to the village, a shepherd is tending to them. Villagers can pay for the purchase of sheep, while shepherds regularly trim their wool for them, and dividends are shared.
The environment in the village has improved, and the people in the village have relaxed, but it is not as lively as before.
Small-scale farmers have also noticed that remote villages and ethnic villages living deep in the mountains and forests still maintain the production patterns of the past, and many farmhouses can still see chickens, ducks, geese and other owners in front of their homes, reminding them of many rural life in their childhood.
The small farmer remembers that there was once a wealthy family in the village who managed hundreds of acres of vegetables and had a prosperous business. The proprietor of this family, during the busy farming season of the year, had a whim to set aside a piece of land in the yard and graze some sheep.
Unexpectedly, in just a few months, his brows furrowed. It seems that all the troubles of raising sheep have exhausted the rich man.
Raising sheep is not an easy task. Both suckling sheep and goats should get up before dawn and cook fresh feed before feeding. When it's time for lunch, he has to feed him to eat more.
That's tiring. What's even more outrageous is that the feces of these goats are not only dirty, but also exude a pungent smell, which greatly affects their survival.
While tidying up the sheepfold, the farmer also noticed that the rich man was coughing violently, covering his nose with his hand, and looking impatient.
In the end, he chose to give up. When he was chatting, he complained to the parents of small farmers, saying that farming is a very hard thing, with large investment and low returns, and only a batch can be produced in a year, and the gains outweigh the losses.
Why do you have to go to such trouble, running around?To be honest, how can a rich life endure such hardships?He suddenly realized that the saying "rich don't raise sheep" was true.
He remembered his hometown, where there was a tenant who was so poor that he was tinkling. On Chinese New Year's Eve one year, he saw that the big families in the township were busy killing chickens and entertaining guests, so he followed his example and prepared to add a few more chickens so that his wife and children could have a good year.
He bought some chickens from the city market and looked for food everywhere to raise them so that they could have children. As a result, within two days of breeding, he developed a disease, because the chicken he brought back was mixed with his own old chickens without quarantine, which led to the spread of the disease.
The tenants lost their wives and soldiers, and in the past few days, many chickens have been sick, and now there are only a few still alive, and not a single one has laid eggs.
The small landlord still clearly remembers that during the Chinese New Year that year, the tenants' life was still very sad, and not a single chicken was killed. Later, under the entanglement of the tenant's daughter-in-law, he didn't want to raise more.
No matter how high the ** is, it won't take long to get sick. Moreover, their family does not have much food to spare, and the cost of raising so many chickens is not small. Even if you work hard, you won't make much money, the village is not as good as the city, they only have a few eggs at most, and the chicken is cheap, so they can't feed it at all.
At this time, those tenants finally understood what it meant to be "poor and not raise chickens", and if they wanted to make a fortune, they had to earn their money back first. Besides, sick chicken is also a common thing, and it is troublesome to spend money, so there is no need to rush.
Times have changed, and today's countryside is no longer the hometown of the peasant's childhood. Intensive farming in the new countryside is a popular form of agriculture, making it easy for villagers to join the chicken and goat raising industry.
Although there are also free-range breeders, they all live in remote mountain villages.
For many villagers, raising some chickens and ducks is a good income**, and they can also get fresh eggs and poultry meat to support their families. However, not everyone can achieve large-scale cultivation and get rid of poverty.
In addition, it is necessary to consider the issues of disease control, breeding technology, sales channels, etc.
Smallholder farmers feel that capable villagers can naturally invest in mechanized farming on a large scale. However, for ordinary farmers, I recommend that they start raising a small portion at home and slowly accumulate experience, skills and financial resources.
In the future, it may be possible to adopt a cooperative approach to carry out centralized operations, expand scale, and help local economic development. In any case, aquaculture is a good way to increase farmers' incomes.
At present, the process of industrialization and urbanization is accelerating in our country. Outside of this trend, there are still a large number of residents in the countryside who need to improve their living standards. In these aspects, animal husbandry has played a great role in increasing farmers' incomes and enriching the dining table.
Smallholder farmers believe that more measures should be put in place to support agricultural development, and that these enterprises should be guided to return to their hometowns and set up larger farms to solve their employment problems. At the same time, it is also necessary to increase the provision of credit to rural financial institutions to provide funds for young people to return to their hometowns to develop agricultural industries.
Districts and counties should strengthen the training of agricultural scientific and technological personnel, and carry out regular training in agricultural scientific and technological knowledge, so as to improve the level of scientific breeding of peasants.
As long as we focus on the development of rural animal husbandry and enable more people to get rid of poverty due to increased incomes, we can bring the living standards of the Chinese people to a new height and eventually reach an all-round level of prosperity. We firmly believe that with the full cooperation of the whole society, China's animal husbandry industry will usher in a bright spring.