The joy and hope of cattle farmers

At present, the basic situation of the whole Chinese beef cattle market is that the stock of beef cattle has been declining, while the price of beef has been rising. Under the huge contradiction between supply and demand, what kind of situation are cattle farmers facing?

There is a big profit margin for raising cattle.

In 2013, Wu Guangrong joined the cattle base of a family farm in Caiyi Township, Daxiang District, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province. At present, there are more than 20 beef cattle on this farm.

When asked why they raise cattle? Wu Guangrong told the reporter firmly: "because raising cattle is a big profit."

Wu Guangrong said that at present, there are very few people raising cattle in Shaoyang, and there is huge room for development. "in the past, there were more than a dozen cattle in a village, but now the farmland is mechanized instead of cattle, and it's not bad to have one or two cows in a village group!" For this reason, most of the cattle on the farm are from Yunnan and Guizhou, as well as "foreign cattle" from Myanmar and Thailand.

Secondly, the price of beef is higher than that of pork.

Public data show that pork prices fell for 11 weeks from April 28 to May 4, 2014, while beef prices remained high with no sign of falling. If the backtracking time is longer, the comparison effect is even more amazing: while pork prices continue to experience periodic ups and downs, beef prices are always rising!

The reporter learned that at present, the lowest price of beef in Shaoyang City is 35 yuan per 500 grams, and the price has reached more than 40 yuan per 500 grams during the Spring Festival this year. Wu Guangrong said: "in the past, you could buy three or four jin of beef for one jin of pork, but now you can buy three or four jin of pork for one jin of beef."

Wu Guangrong told reporters that since the second half of last year, with the decline in pork prices, many pig farmers have lost money.

With the continuous growth of beef prices, Wu Guangrong sees business opportunities. He calculated an account for the reporter. Now, apart from labor wages and machinery costs, a cow can earn a net profit of 4000 to 5000 yuan. "in fact, if you raise cattle in the countryside, you can earn more." Wu Guangrong said, "because raising cattle in rural areas is stocked, there is no need to hire people, and feeding is simple, so you can earn at least 6000 to 7000 yuan."

Lack of money is the biggest problem.

Since raising cattle makes so much money, why are there only more than 20 cows on the farm?

Mr. Ruan, who is in charge of the farm, told reporters, "I also want to raise 200 to 300 cattle, but the funds are limited."

"before, the Municipal Bureau of Agriculture summoned the heads of family farms in the city to a meeting and said that they would support the development of family farms. At the meeting, everyone said with one voice that they were short of money." Wu Guangrong said.

"my initial investment is hundreds of thousands, but now the cattle basically cost about 10000 yuan per head, and the ones with better breeds cost 15000 yuan." Mr. Ruan said.

In addition to buying cattle requires a lot of money, raising cattle is also very expensive.

According to he Xianjun of the Mountain Livestock Farm in Linhai City, Jiangsu Province, the most important thing in raising cattle is feed money. Cattle are the king of big appetite, and it takes 200 jin to eat food including level in a day. If you want the meat to be delicious, you should also have plenty of food, such as brewer's grains, soybean meal, wheat husk, corn meal and broccoli leaves. It costs 25 yuan per cow for feed, or 12000 yuan for 16 months.

In addition to the large investment, Wu Guangrong told reporters that the long cattle raising cycle is also the main reason for the lack of money on the farm.

It is understood that cattle basically give birth to singletons, and at the current feeding level, it takes at least 18 months for a cow to be fattened out of the pen, and cattle breed two calves in three years, compared with pigs giving birth to two babies a year, each giving birth to more than 10 calves. the breeding cycle of beef cattle is not only long, and the reproduction rate is low.

The one-time investment is large and the capital recovery cycle is long, which increases the risk of raising cattle on the farm. Mr. Ruan sighed and said, "if only the state had a discount on cattle loans!"