The old sheep man has brought out a team of "sheep men" who have become rich.

"if there were no'Yi old man'to drive me to raise sheep, I would never be on the road to becoming rich." Speaking of the sheep industry, Ding Zujiang of the Shangyizhai Group in Hou Ba Village, Pingzhuang Town, Cengong County, Guizhou Province, said endlessly that this winter he expected to produce more than 70 commercial sheep and earn at least 50,000 yuan.

The "easy old man" mentioned by Ding Zujiang is Yi Zhongxiang, a veteran party member of the Xiaohexi formation in Houping Village, Houpingzhuang Town. Talking about the experience of raising sheep, the 66-year-old Yi Zhongxiang said with delight that Houping Village has more mountains and less land, good vegetation and beautiful environment, so it is suitable for breeding. Before liberation, his parents also grazed cattle and raised sheep for landlords and rich peasants. since childhood, he had a lot of feelings for raising sheep and accumulated a lot of experience in raising sheep. In 2007, in order to develop the industry, with the mobilization of the village party branch, Yi Zhongxiang, as a party member for more than 30 years, took the lead in developing the local goat breeding industry, invested nearly 20,000 yuan to build an enclosure, and bought more than 20 ewes to raise. In a short period of one year, his stock of sheep reached more than 100. After that, through the continuous development and growth of the scale of sheep, he produced an annual income of about 60,000 yuan to sell commercial sheep. Because his local goat meat is fresh, delicious and of good quality, and is favored by the market, he has set up supply and marketing outlets with bosses in Kaili City, Tongren City and Huaihua City, Hunan Province, and the products are in short supply. In 2015, he kept more than 120 sheep and produced nearly 100 commercial sheep a year, generating an income of 80,000 yuan.

"Thank you so much for providing me with technical guidance and helping me sell commercial sheep." Yi Deyong, the Xiaohexi group in Houping Village, said gratefully that in 2011, with the help of Yi Zhongxiang, Yi Deyong engaged in the sheep raising industry. at first, he lacked skills in raising sheep and did not understand epidemic prevention. On one occasion, 30 goats he raised developed mangy disease, and some sheep were dying. He immediately asked Yi Zhongxiang to help with the treatment. After passing Yi Zhongxiang's diagnosis, he gave him a prescription for treatment. in less than two days, the 30 sheep he raised began to graze, turned the corner, and saved him more than 30,000 yuan in economic losses.

In order to promote the pace of poverty alleviation, drive more people to become rich, and achieve "group" development of industries. Yi Zhongxiang actively mobilized the poor farmers around him to raise sheep. Some people did not have a capital to buy ewes, so he gave credit to the masses to raise their ewes; some people had no skills, so he unreservedly taught them the skills of raising sheep. At first, the children of the "easy old man" did not understand him and thought that helping other villagers raise sheep would steal business and was not cost-effective. Some neighbors laughed at him for being silly. Selling ewes to the villagers not only made no money, but also helped with epidemic prevention management. In the face of this, he just smiled and said, "one is not rich when he is rich, but only when everyone is rich."

In recent years, led by Yi Zhongxiang, a "sheep man" team has been brought out in the whole village. at present, nine sheep farmers have been developed in the village, with nearly 700 sheep in stock, making poor farmers earn more than 700,000 yuan a year, and the masses call him "Yi old man."

According to ran Mengping, party branch secretary of Houping Village, there are 2431 people in 588 households in the village, and the existing poor households have been listed as one of the poverty-stricken villages in the county this year. In the future, relying on the sheep-raising foundation laid by Yi Zhongxiang, it is planned to develop 10 more poor sheep farmers with more than 1500 sheep in stock, generating an annual income of about 1.5 million yuan, leading more than 20 poor households and nearly 100 people to achieve the goal of getting rid of poverty.