The picture shows Jacky Tsang (right) making smoked horse sausages. Taken by the giant sea.
**Xinjiang News, February 2 (Cheng Han) Six years ago, Lao Zeng, who was already the general manager of the northwest region of a well-known enterprise, suddenly made a decision that stunned everyone - to return to his hometown Mulei to start a business and engage in animal husbandry. Many people persuaded Lao Zeng to say: "With an annual income of hundreds of thousands of yuan, I am already 50 years old, is it too hasty to make such a decision." In the end, no one could stop Lao Zeng's determination to return to his hometown to start a business.
Lao Zeng's name is Zeng Xueyou, perhaps because of his mature appearance, everyone shouted the nickname "Lao Zeng" when he was young. Lao Zeng often teased himself that he could afford the word "old" - at home, he shouldered all the responsibilities like a parent, and took good care of every younger brother and sister; In the unit, he is conscientious for every job, and his performance is often among the best. Because of the experience of going to Qinghai to serve as a soldier for 3 years at the age of 17, Lao Zeng often regarded himself as a "veteran". Lao Zeng is also notoriously stubborn, once he makes a decision, ten cows can't be pulled back, just like he decided to return to his hometown to start a business.
Lao Zeng said: "This decision is not a whim, I was born in the countryside of Mulei, I have lived here for more than ten years, no matter how far I go, it is difficult to give up my hometown, and I always want to do something for my hometown while I am energetic." In 2018, when he learned that Mulei County was going to build a breeding area in Sanqi Village, Xinhu Town, he signed up as soon as possible. He invested more than 1 million yuan to build a breeding pen in the breeding area of Sanqi Village. In September 2018, he bought more than 40 fattening sheep at one time, ready to raise them until the Spring Festival next year and sell them at a good price, but he didn't expect to lose money on his first investment.
Recalling the original scene, Lao Zeng still remembers it vividly. "At the time, I thought that farming was very simple, that is, it was a matter of feeding and drinking, but I didn't expect it to be quite difficult. At that time, I was raising production sheep, and seeing that the ewes were going to give birth to sheep babies, I didn't know how to help them, so I was in a hurry. That year, more than 30 sheep died at once, and all the money invested was lost. ”
After the failure, many people persuaded him to give up. But Lao Zeng just admitted to death, he said: "I can't raise me to learn, I don't believe that I can't learn." ”
Since then, Lao Zeng's WeChat circle of friends has begun to change, adding a lot of local old herdsmen and veterinarians. People often see Lao Zeng holding a notebook and taking notes everywhere he goes, from lambing to raising and seeing ......Lao Zeng's breeding level is improving day by day, and he also handed over the lambs produced that year to the local herdsmen to raise, pay management fees to the herdsmen, and accumulate breeding experience by observing their breeding process. Three years later, Lao Zeng became a professional breeder, and the scope of breeding expanded from simple sheep raising to cattle raising.
I feed peas, buds, and bran, so that the beef and mutton taste different, and I want to make sure that my meat products are really green. Lao Zeng said. The "old three" feeding method makes the cattle and sheep of the Lao Zeng family favored by consumers, and the number of slaughtered sheep has increased from dozens of sheep and a few cattle every year to hundreds of sheep and more than a dozen cattle later.
In 2020, Lao Zeng began to raise horses again and made smoked horse meat and smoked horse sausages. For this attempt, Lao Zeng did his homework in advance. "I ate more than a dozen kinds of smoked horse meat and smoked horse sausage from different places, as long as others said it was delicious, I bought it back and tasted it, and finally I found that the local herdsmen in Mulei smoked the most authentic taste, with a faint pine fragrance. ”
The pine flavor mentioned by the old man comes from the climbing pine, a specific smoked material of Mulei. In order not to destroy the vegetation, every year when it is smoked, Lao Zeng will go to the forest farm in advance to buy the abandoned climbing pine dead branches. Although he studied with the herdsmen for a long time, the meat smoked by Lao Zeng was either light or salty, and the smoke was either too heavy or too light. Those unsuccessful smoked products, Lao Zeng took them out and distributed them to his family, and it was not until the smoked products that he was satisfied with**.
As sales continue to climb, the number of horses purchased increases. Every year when the buying season comes, Lao Zeng rushes to Dashi Township and Baiyanghe Township in Mulei County to select suitable horses. He said: "Every time I buy, I have to go to the herdsmen's homes to see their living conditions, and the herdsmen who encounter difficulties in life will buy at an appropriate price, so that I can help them." ”
At the end of the year, it is the busiest time in the breeding area of Sanqi Village. At the initiative of Lao Zeng, the farmers here set up a mutual aid alliance, and whoever is in need, everyone will go to their house to help, filling horse sausages, smoking horse meat ......There are basically no hired workers in the farming area.
When asked about Lao Zeng's New Year's resolution, he said: "I want to set up a breeding cooperative, unify the breeding model, unified purchase, unified sales, and apply for a registered trademark when the time is right, so that more people can taste our local traditional green meat products." ”