Chapter 1054 - The New Paddock

Nick personally went to the horse paddock outside the city to survey the terrain and consider how to design the new facility.

The paddock he was designing would primarily house the working horses currently under the Jeju Military Control Commission's control. As for the public and private horse ranches elsewhere, he could not intervene for the time being—not because he did not want to, but because he simply could not.

He currently had neither the personnel nor the fodder to effectively manage tens of thousands of horses. In the end, he would still have to rely on the old hands and old methods.

Rather than cause disruption through immediate changes, it was better to let these ranches continue operating under their existing systems.

Moreover, these ranches presumably used an open-range, herd-grazing system. This approach required no paddocks and demanded minimal fodder and labor. Despite its many shortcomings—such as lower reproduction rates—it remained a viable method for maintaining a herd under current conditions.

Even after he eventually assumed control of all the island's horses, he would need to maintain this system for several years.

However, to significantly expand the herd, select superior bloodlines, and implement stall-feeding, large-scale changes were inevitable.

Stall-feeding required substantial space and a long construction period, but it facilitated better management, protected foals, and improved manure collection and preservation. Although Jeju Island was relatively warm, winter lows in the 21st century still reached zero degrees Celsius. The coming year of 1632 would see even Lingao experience heavy snowfall and temperatures dropping to freezing. According to Lingao's meteorological station, Jeju Island's winter minimum might fall to six or seven degrees below zero. Constructing horse shelters would help the horses survive the winter safely.

With proper shelters, he could implement a new husbandry system to serve as a model for training personnel and extending technology. The Jeju paddock therefore needed to accommodate three functions: work, breeding, and training. If conditions permitted, it would ideally include supporting facilities for fodder processing and manure treatment.

In terms of building materials and labor, manpower was abundant. The Volunteer Corps, composed of large numbers of emancipated official slaves, provided ready labor—and many of them had previously worked as fence-builders, with extensive experience constructing enclosures and horse corrals. They were skilled workers.

As for building materials, Nick decided to work with what was available. Waiting for ships to transport bricks, tiles, and cement from a thousand li away was unrealistic. Fortunately, horse paddock construction required relatively basic standards and could be improvised. Volcanic rock blocks were abundant on Jeju Island—practically everywhere—and were used in everything from residential houses to official buildings. Usable timber was also relatively plentiful. Once the old paddock's fencing was dismantled, most of the wood could be reused, except for portions too rotten for anything but firewood.

Although Nick knew nothing about construction, he knew how to build horse paddocks. The horse shelters at the Mopanling Ranch in Gaoshan Ridge had been constructed under his guidance by the Construction General Company. As Mei Lin had said, building a paddock was a mutual learning process. After completing the Mopanling Ranch paddock, both the Construction General Company and Nick had learned how to properly build a facility that met requirements.

According to standards, paddock sites should ideally be on dry, flat or gently sloped ground facing away from prevailing winds and toward the sun, with a substantial water source nearby. The current Jeju paddock site met all these criteria, so he decided to keep the location and ordered the Volunteer Corps to first level the foundation.

The paddock floor was relatively simple and did not require stone or cement hardening—this would be both labor-intensive and material-intensive, and harmful to horse health. Such materials were too hard and lacked insulation. Floors were therefore typically compacted clay, which provided warmth, protected hooves, and was easy to repair.

Horse shelters came in fully enclosed and semi-enclosed varieties. As in Lingao, Nick chose the semi-enclosed type.

Fully enclosed shelters, though offering better insulation, had higher internal temperatures and humidity. Horses housed in them had weakened resistance and were susceptible to colds. Poor ventilation also meant that irritating gases from horse urine and manure were detrimental to horse health.

The new paddock's shelters would be semi-open: walls on the back and two sides, with the front left open. Semi-open shelters were structurally simple, received abundant sunlight, and had fresh air. They were easy to keep clean and dry, convenient for husbandry work and manure collection. The drawback was poor heat retention, making them unsuitable for northern regions with very cold winters.

Horses were animals that preferred cool conditions and disliked heat. Nick believed that given Jeju Island's extreme winter lows below zero in this timeline, the horses could tolerate the cold. Moreover, moderate exposure to low temperatures would improve the horses' cold resistance and adaptability.

Nick designed the shelters as multi-row, single-slope structures. This shelter style was the simplest, using minimal building materials while housing many horses. It was easy to manage and offered reasonable insulation. The sloped roof used the surrounding walls as load-bearing structures, with rafters resting directly on the walls and eliminating the need for beams and columns. This was especially suitable for Nick, who lacked both thick-trunked timber and enough qualified carpenters.

The walls were built from volcanic stone found everywhere on the island, bonded with a mixture of clay and sand. Constructing walls from irregular stone blocks required skill, but since nearly all local buildings used this method, many official slaves in the Volunteer Corps were experienced at the work.

Most shelter interiors had no individual stalls, using an open-plan layout. Only a few shelters had stalls, specially prepared for pregnant and nursing mares.

The shelters contained purpose-built feed troughs—all shipped from Lingao. Nick was concerned that the old troughs might harbor bacteria and parasites, so he had them all discarded and chopped up for firewood. Additionally, special hay racks were installed. These were made of wooden poles, positioned horizontally above the feed troughs, at roughly the height a standing horse could reach by slightly raising its head.

The hay racks were specifically necessary because local horses were mostly fed dried grass in winter. If hay were simply piled on the stable floor, horses could ingest manure and parasite eggs—highly unsanitary.

This small improvement was actually a critical step in improving horse health.

Furthermore, Nick constructed several separate fully enclosed shelters—these were for breeding stallions. He did not yet know whether any of the current working horses were suitable as studs. However, the plan had always been to import new breeding stallions to Jeju Island. Based on his assessment, the Jeju horse population was essentially descended from those 150 Mongolian horses crossbred with the island's native stock. Since then, there were no records of any other external breeds being introduced, meaning the horses here had very little outside genetic material.

From a breeding perspective, Jeju horses were quite "pure," but such "pure" Mongolian horses were not the optimal choice for the Exemplar Council. Mongolian horses fell short of the Council's military and labor standards in terms of height, load capacity, and pulling power—they were barely adequate at best. Improving the bloodline was urgent. Superior external breeds would need to be introduced to undertake a large-scale herd improvement program.

The paddock was designed to accommodate four hundred horses, including all those currently under the Military Control Commission's control plus future additions. Nick issued orders through the Commission to have all forty horses from Jocheon driven to Jeju for inspection.

Since paddock construction was a top priority, and both Feng Zongze and Nangong placed great importance on horse resources, Nick received everything he requested—personnel and materials alike. With the Volunteer Corps in sufficient numbers, various craftsmen assisting, and tools and carts shipped from Lingao, the shelter construction was soon two-thirds complete. Another team began work on supporting facilities, including personnel quarters, a horse veterinary clinic, a quarantine and isolation facility, and a dedicated biogas pit for manure processing.

Water collection systems and irrigation channels were also under urgent construction. Nick further planned to build a simple water purification pool to provide clean drinking water for the horses.

At a location far from the stables, on dry soil that would not affect surface or groundwater, a site was selected for burying horses that died of disease.

Finally, the entire paddock was surrounded by a fence—primarily to prevent horses from escaping rather than as a defensive measure. After all, the site was less than a kilometer from Jeju City. A detachment of Japanese Security Company soldiers was stationed there as guards.

While the paddock was being constructed, Nick began seeking adequate fodder. The Jeju Provincial Office had not stockpiled much horse fodder. Apart from a fair amount of hay, there was very little concentrated feed. The previous year's famine had meant that coarse grains normally used as concentrated feed—buckwheat, barley, and the like—had mostly been consumed as human rations. Now the fodder storerooms contained almost nothing but scraps.

Nick had no choice but to seek help from Feng Zongze. He knew well that Jeju Island was a region where buckwheat and barley were the primary crops—indeed, they formed the staple food of the local population. The thirty thousand shi of grain stored in Jeju's warehouses would certainly include substantial quantities of these coarse grains.

However, Feng Zongze found this request awkward. A large portion of this grain had to be used to feed the Volunteer Corps. Of course, individual households had their own stores and could scrape by until the next harvest, but Jeju Island itself was food-deficient. It needed to feed the local population while also supporting the large influx of refugees soon to arrive. If some grain were diverted for horse feed and the Hong Kong shipping of relief rations experienced even a slight hiccup, the entire food reserve would be jeopardized.

After vigorous negotiation, and given that Feng Zongze also did not want horses dying en masse under his watch, he finally allocated several hundred shi of barley and buckwheat.

Nick immediately instructed his Volunteer Corps members to draw a portion of the feed grain, load it onto Zidian handcarts, and transport it all the way back to the paddock.

The paddock's fodder warehouse and silage storage were still under construction. To store this precious grain, he ordered it temporarily placed in the former watchmen's quarters. The original paddock watchmen were absorbed into the "Paddock Volunteer Corps."

As for the Volunteer Corps members' living quarters, Nick did not need to worry about that. Most had their own houses inside or outside Jeju City, or lived in government housing. He simply had a row of simple barracks built for duty personnel.

(End of Chapter)