Chapter 384 - Pigs and Cattle

The farm possessed two pairs of Landrace pigs and one pair of Northeastern Min pigs as initial breeding stock. To expand the pig population, relying solely on the brought-in sows was insufficient—it wasted the precious semen of breeding boars. A sow could only produce two litters annually, while a boar could naturally breed twenty to thirty sows per year. With artificial insemination, a single boar could serve nearly one thousand sows annually.

So Yang Baogui had specifically collected Lingao's most representative native breed—the Lingao pig—as maternal stock, rapidly expanding populations through artificial insemination. Local pig farming was fairly developed—every farm household raised pigs—but unfortunately the standards were abysmal. By modern husbandry criteria, every animal was malnourished. Yang Baogui had barely managed to acquire about ten passable sows for breeding, plus carefully selected and raised over ten gilts as future breeding stock.

Because Xiong Buyou constantly lamented the loss of purebred Lingao pigs—every time discussion turned to how Lingao's animal husbandry station had hybridized away the purebred stock, Xiong Buyou grew visibly indignant—Yang Baogui had specifically obtained several growing pigs from farmers for fattening. He discovered Lingao pigs weren't suited for modern large-scale agricultural production—their growth period was excessively long, weight gain unprecedentedly slow. He asked locals and learned that fattening a two-hundred-jin pig took twenty-four months before market. Compared to modern breeds' one-year cycle, quite uneconomical.

"It's understandable that Lingao's animal husbandry bureau hybridized the Lingao pigs. Otherwise how could they have met such export volumes?"

"You're also hybridizing Lingao pigs now."

"True—but I'm preserving several purebreds. I'll maintain a few breeding animals of each variety. Preserving original strains is important."

The newly-built pigpen rows were mostly still empty. Lingao's winters weren't particularly cold, but summers were brutally humid and hot, with heavy rain plus typhoon concerns. So Yang Baogui had chosen single-slope open-style pens for his piggery design—optimal for ventilation and cooling. Construction materials were quite refined, with cement-smoothed floors throughout. The entire piggery had been built sturdy to withstand strong winds, with excellent waterproofing.

"Summer typhoons are no joke," Yang Baogui said. "Build cheap now, and when the piggery collapses and crushes pigs—that's the real loss."

Wu Nanhai noticed a large area near the piggery enclosed with sturdy bamboo fencing. The soil had been thoroughly churned, with several black mud wallows scattered about.

"That's the exercise ground for the pigs." Yang Baogui explained. "Though we're not raising 'jogging pigs,' moderate exercise benefits their appetite. The mud wallows are something they genuinely love—plus they help with disease prevention."

Around the piggery and exercise yard, numerous plants had been established, including windbreak tree seedlings. Pumpkins grew along piggery wall-bases; trellises over open-air pens supported climbing squash. These not only shaded and cooled the pens but supplemented feed.

"These pigs really do live well. Surrounding sanitation looks impressive too."

"Of course. Animals experience psychological stress too. Don't imagine pigs enjoy dirty, smelly environments. Happy pigs get sick less, grow faster, and develop better meat quality. Breeding stock especially needs good hormonal vigor."

"Look, these are purebred Lingao pigs." Yang Baogui pointed at about ten weaned piglets sleeping peacefully in a pen. "Lingao pork genuinely does taste excellent, especially roast suckling pig." Yang Baogui smacked his lips appreciatively. "So we raise some separately. Let Xiong Buyou prepare roast suckling pig for you sometime."

Here strict separate housing was rigorously implemented. Yang Baogui told Wu Nanhai there were nine different pen types alone for different pig categories and age groups. Each pen type varied in area based on head count, with slightly different equipment configurations. Additionally, there were specialized breeding rooms and sow farrowing sheds.

"So-called scientific pig farming doesn't necessarily require complete feed, antibiotics, disinfectants, and vaccines—those are unavoidable necessities of modern commercial mass production. With our limited conditions, many simple effective techniques can achieve excellent results—just with somewhat lower scale and efficiency. But absolutely eco-friendly."

"Take this piglet pen for example." Yang Baogui had him examine the floor—iron grating raised one meter high on stone supports.

"This technique is called 'platform weaning.' Piglet droppings fall through to be absorbed by bedding below. The platform stays clean and dry, so piglets don't easily contract dysentery. Survival rates are vastly higher. Very simple principle, not difficult to implement."

"Somewhat like 'elevated platform poultry raising.'"

"Correct—related techniques actually." Yang Baogui confirmed. "Also automatic waterers. I asked the Industrial Committee to fabricate them last time. Those fellows insisted they needed plastic or rubber. What plastic or rubber? Just use a lever-type valve. Minor leakage doesn't matter. But with automatic waterers, not only is pig drinking water sanitary, pen hygiene improves dramatically. Pigs get sick less—no need for constant antibiotics."

The homemade waterers from the Industrial Committee's machinery shop used primarily ceramic and bamboo, with only a few metal components. Water flowed from an elevated reinforced-concrete tank through thick bamboo pipes. When pigs nudged a bamboo lever, water flowed from a ceramic reservoir into a drinking tray below. The equipment did leak somewhat, but was considerably cleaner than pouring water into stone troughs and wasted far less.

"Another example is feed delivery. Here they still use traditional 'thin soup plenty feeding'—watery pig feed, fed until the animals are full. Looks like it saves feed, but excessive water impairs digestion and actually hinders fattening. As for cooking pig feed—completely unnecessary. Not only damages nutritional value but easily causes nitrite poisoning. Wastes labor and fuel. Except for slop from kitchen waste, regular feed can be fed raw. Many such simple improvements are possible."

Yang Baogui's current pig-raising priority was expanding Northeastern Min pig breeding. In modern society, beyond their use as hybrid maternal stock, Northeastern Min pigs were essentially no longer raised as meat animals—they deposited excessive fat. Modern demand was for maximum lean meat: besides lean-meat breeds, there were "jogging pigs" and even ractopamine shortcuts. So this breed wasn't popular. But for the transmigrator collective, pigs besides providing meat also bore the crucial task of supplying fat as an industrial resource.

After pigs, cattle represented the largest livestock group. Historically, Hainan's major exports had included cattle. Lingao had considerable water buffalo and yellow cattle locally. Li territories were the primary local cattle source. Over one hundred cattle had been continuously shipped from Lingao Li territory trade and Changhua Fortress, greatly expanding the cattle farm's scale.

The cattle farm's animals mainly served as draft animals. Currently not extensively used in field labor—primarily cargo transport. Ox-cart transport was becoming the transmigrator collective's principal land freight method. Yang Baogui needed to balance rapid herd expansion with draft animal supply. Accelerating cattle imports from Changhua was optimal—arrivals could be put to work after brief rest and conditioning. Cattle had low feed requirements with no feed supply concerns.

He categorized arriving cattle systematically: water buffalo meat was tough and coarse, so they primarily served as draft animals for plowing and hauling—breeding scale was controlled accordingly. Main breeding focused on various yellow cattle. Yellow cattle could pull wagons while serving dual purposes: meat and leather.

The cattle were resting now—mid-afternoon, the weather hot. Several farm workers were sprinkling water around the cattle sheds for cooling. These cattle, bearing heavy daily transport duties, received particularly attentive care—not only daily concentrated feed supplements but guaranteed adequate rest.

"Quite a large cattle herd," Wu Nanhai observed. "Seems beef might actually become widely available first."

"Actually for our purposes, ideal livestock are cattle and sheep—they just need grass. Pigs require substantial grain. Green feed is only supplementary. The local custom of fattening pigs with rice—far too wasteful."

"Large-scale sweet potato planting is precisely for securing feed grain supply. But cattle also need grain, surely? Corn and such."

"Traditional cattle farming was purely grass-fed. Specialized green fodder also works perfectly. Corn-fed cattle only work in countries with excessively favorable conditions like America." Yang Baogui sighed—he harbored a particular fondness for North America.

They passed the breeding bull shed—fencing here was extremely heavy-duty. Bulls were temperamental, large-bodied and powerful—care was essential for both feeding and handling. But Yang Baogui didn't think highly of local breeding bulls—he was keeping only a few as original strain preservation. Currently pregnant local cows had all been inseminated with frozen semen from various purpose-specific improved breeds brought from modern times.

Breeding cows had all been served during spring. Pregnant cows were housed individually, each stall displaying cards with cow number, age, conception date, expected calving date, dam breed, and sire breed.

Seeing Yang Baogui approach, several cows extended their heads, pairs of large, gentle, moist eyes regarding him, lowing softly.

"See—they all recognize me." Yang Baogui joked, stroking one cow's neck. "This one's particularly precious—she's carrying a Holstein calf. Future milk supply depends on her offspring." He checked the feed trough for consumption patterns, then compared with the blackboard on the wall to verify that handlers had accurately recorded feedings. Yang Baogui strictly controlled feed delivery—hay, concentrated feed, salt—all timed and precisely measured.

(End of Chapter)