Leisurely Life: I Have Ten Thousand Acres of Grassland-Chapter 69 - 67: A Unique Way to Feed Chickens! (Bonus Update)
One day, several people from the hay company came to Jiang Feng’s ranch to inspect the quality of the hay.
All they needed to do was take a quick tour around the ranch and pull out a few stalks from the stack to assess the quality of the hay.
The hay at Jiang Feng’s ranch was of great quality, although not as specialized as a hay farm, it boasted a variety of species, was nutritionally balanced, and grew well.
Everyone started discussing prices.
On the 30,000-acre grazing land, some areas had a lot of grass making it easy to harvest, while others had less. They eventually managed to gather close to 4,000 bales of hay.
Each bale weighed about five to six hundred pounds, with a few reaching up to 700 pounds.
Jiang Feng sold 3,000 bales at a price of 600 yuan per bale, making 1.8 million yuan.
After deducting 100,000 yuan in costs, the revenue was roughly 1.7 million yuan.
With a land rental cost of 2 million yuan per year, selling hay brought back some of the initial costs, especially after selling a few adult sheep and cattle, as well as wool during this period.
Only now has he managed to cover the year’s rent.
Running a large ranch that has seen an investment of 30 to 40 million yuan, it is only this year that he has started to become profitable.
"Well, at least the investment made this year has been recovered,"
Jiang Feng felt a huge relief in his heart.
Ranchers bear risks and incur costs in raising cattle and sheep; they do it for profit and naturally calculate their yields.
"However, both the number and weight of the cattle and sheep are increasing, technically the assets are growing,"
"And the growth will become faster,"
Jiang Feng thought to himself.
The initial accumulation of capital is the hardest.
For a rancher with only 20 sheep, growing that to 100 can take a particularly long time.
But for Jiang Feng, who now has 4,000 sheep, growing that to 20,000 is not so difficult.
Simply put, by selling more rams and retaining more ewes, choosing carefully, the number of sheep can quickly grow to reach 10,000.
"Now is the starting phase, there’s more investment than anything else,"
"When the number of sheep maintains at 20,000 and cattle reach 4,000, that should be about right,"
"Then, I can focus on selling cattle and sheep for profit, which will be stable,"
He planned out his ranch.
During the starting phase, he would invest more to lay a solid foundation, coordinating all aspects of the operations.
Once stable, he could simply watch the income flow in.
Jiang Feng discussed the selling price with everyone and agreed on when to pick up the hay bales.
So, the ranch was busy handling the hay bales over the next few days.
On the next morning, the live stream started, with drones capturing the whole view of the ranch from above.
In the live stream, five forklifts drove into the ranch.
A forklift lowered its forks, inserted them beneath a hay bale, lifted it up, and wobbled back.
On the edge of the ranch, a few large trucks were prepared to load the hay.
Jiang Feng and the buyer of the hay stood beside the truck, witnessing it all.
The online viewers were highly enthusiastic.
This scene was an example of a therapeutic video.
At a glance, it seemed like a real-life ranching game, where forklifts lifted hay bales and transported them onto trucks, which once full, drove away into the distance.
A viewer entered Jiang Feng’s live stream for the first time.
After joining, he was extremely surprised.
[Whoa! 90,000 people are watching? So popular? I found it interesting and decided to check it out, but I didn’t expect so many people!]
[The rancher’s live stream is indeed soothing to watch! The person is comfortable too!]
[I wonder how much this can sell for!]
[Look at the ranch, it’s filled with hay bales, selling them all should fetch at least two million or more.]
[Two million? So profitable?]
[His ranch investment is massive, along with various costs; is earning two million from a multi-million investment a lot?]
[True, you can’t evaluate earning two million from our perspective, for him, it might not even cover the cost.]
Everyone was lively discussing in the live stream.
Forklifts drove one by one.
Lifting the hay bales and transporting them onto the trucks.
The live stream attracted many viewers over these few days.
From the initial harvesting, followed by raking with a hay rake, bundling with a baler, to finally lifting the hay bales with forklifts for sale.
Each step of the process was mechanized, and each one was extremely pleasing to watch.
There was something pleasing about such videos, like shoeing horses and shearing sheep. Yet, people love watching them.
The best way for men is simply to sit idle while watching something move, letting their minds go blank, and feeling at ease during such moments.
Seeing forklifts bustling on the prairie, and occasionally the camera panned to show cattle and sheep in herds.
Such a sight was much more relaxing.
His uncle and the workers from his home were helping out here.
Of course, courtesy begets reciprocity, Jiang Feng would give his uncle 20 hay bales as a token of gratitude.
Twenty hay bales amount to about 12,000 yuan, roughly the value of a cow, not a big deal.
The drone captured activities on the prairie.
Jiang Feng planned to host a feast after selling the hay bales.
Everyone had worked hard during this period, and the expansion of the ranch required hay harvesting and raking, as well as caring for the cattle and sheep.
So, once this busy period was over, Jiang Feng would reward everyone well.
They wouldn’t just have a good meal, but employees would also receive extra bonuses.
He watched the situation on the ranch for a while and then went to feed the chickens in the coop.
In just over a week, the chicks had grown as if mature, their feathers becoming denser.
Jiang Feng kept a close eye on the chick he helped hatch from the shell.
That chick showed strong vitality, now indistinguishable from any signs of weakness.
Tabby Cat was nearby, lounging in a clean spot. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
Jiang Feng sprinkled chicken feed into the bowl, and a bunch of chicks came over to eat.
He gently picked up the chick he had helped hatch; the little fellow didn’t fuss, just stared at Jiang Feng.
After the drone finished filming the prairie, it returned to capture scenes inside the ranch.
Jiang Feng took the opportunity to show everyone this little chick.
"Look at this chick, this is the one I helped hatch."
"It was born with nutritional deficiency, making it difficult to hatch, but its survival instinct was strong."
"In fact, many chicks fail to survive because they lack a strong survival instinct; they don’t eat or drink and eventually freeze to death."
"This one, though it struggled to hatch, is quite lively."
"Look at it now, its feathers are so dense."
"If it weren’t for that scar, I wouldn’t be able to recognize it."
Jiang Feng showed off the little chick to everyone.
The fluffy chick kept chirping.
[It’s the chick that hatched, I remember it!]
[It actually survived, amazing!]
[I remember it was lying on a warming pad!]
[Thought it was destined to die, but it survived!]
The viewers were very surprised.
Jiang Feng placed the chick back in the food bowl.
The little guy returned to peck the feed around the bowl.
Jiang Feng watched the chicks, but felt only feeding them feed wouldn’t grow them fast enough, lacking nutrition.
So, he opened the coop and rallied the chickens to move outside.
He walked a few steps and turned back, calling out to the chickens with "lolo-lolo-lolo-lolo" sounds.
The leading roosters knew what Jiang Feng was up to, they flapped their wings and followed, with several plump hens trailing. The chicks, seeing their parents leave, chirped incessantly and wobbled with their little yellow bums tightly following.
The scene was quite amusing.
After all, chickens have low intelligence, unlike ducks which follow inherently, chickens often eat independently, unlike ducks and geese who always gather in groups.
That’s why chickens are rarely raised free-range, usually housed within coops.
[What’s the rancher up to?]
[Why is he letting the chickens out?]
[Is he moving to a different place to feed the chickens?]
[Haha, this seems so interesting!]
[The chickens are actually following him!]
Comments flooded in.
Outside the chicken coop was the field adjacent to the ranch.
Jiang Feng walked out through the gate, and a large flock of chickens followed out into the cement-walled yard outside.
Then, everyone saw Jiang Feng pick up a shovel.
He went to the edge of the field and started digging.
With each shovel stroke, damp dark brown soil was turned over, with little bugs crawling within.
This area had fertile soil, abundant with bugs.
Jiang Feng continued turning over a large patch of earth, and the chickens rushed over to pick out bugs to eat.
The chicks also joined the bug-eating frenzy.
Several roosters even ventured directly into the field looking for bugs.
Biological pest control, scientific and reasonable.
It drove pests away from the crops and let the raised chickens eat well and fatten up, a win-win situation.
After turning a large patch of earth, Jiang Feng stuck the shovel in the ground.
The flock was busy devouring bugs.
He then walked into the watermelon patch to check on the watermelons he planted.
