boyutpedia Chapter 97 New Life Born on the Farm!
Chapter 97 New Life Born on the Farm!
Chapter 97 New Life Born on the Farm!
The mountain forest is a bit cold in winter.
Recently, there has been an increase in wild animals on the farm.
In the morning, you can see a flock of pheasants foraging for food in the harvested wheat fields.
There were about twenty of them, and they were all quite plump.
Little Gray was very playful. When he saw a flock of pheasants, he immediately rushed over and deliberately chased them away. Then he ran back with a sly grin on his face.
When the pheasants saw it leave, they circled around and landed back in the wheat field.
The new living and office areas are still under construction. Although the weather is cold, it's not the kind of freezing cold in the north where the soil is rock hard, so construction can still proceed.
Everyone wore overcoats, finished their work in the greenhouse, and then went to feed the pigs and sheep. That was about it for the day.
Xu Ran is very good at raising pigs; all the pigs he raises are plump and healthy.
But the technique of raising pigs is not that difficult, and most families can raise pigs well.
Therefore, Xu Ran had no intention of making a fortune by raising pigs, and even thought that he would raise fewer pigs next year, just enough to ensure the farm's own food supply.
The farm's revenue mainly comes from the crops it grows.
A gentle breeze blew by, and two sparrows landed on Xu Ran's hand, chirping and reporting what was happening.
Xu Ran could roughly tell that they were complaining about the pheasants on the farm.
It means that these pheasants are so voracious that they ate all the wheat grains in the fields.
They have nothing to eat.
Xu Ran found it very interesting; it was quite amusing to occasionally hear one kind of bird scolding another.
"It's alright, I'll prepare some millet and breadworms for you later."
"There's no need to compete with them."
Xu Ran replied with a smile.
Millet is very cheap; it won't cost much to feed sparrows.
Xu Ran also placed a basin filled with water at the end of the greenhouse so that the little sparrows could drink and bathe there.
The little sparrow chirped and squeaked for a while, then took off and went up to the tree to sunbathe with its flock.
A rare moment of leisure in winter.
He wandered around for a while and happened to run into some young men chatting.
Upon seeing Xu Ran arrive, Wang Hai asked with a smile, "Brother Ran, what are we planting on those 120 acres of land after the New Year?"
"Are we still growing watermelons?"
The farm's land can currently be planted in three crops: one crop can be planted from early spring to mid-summer, sunflowers from mid-summer to late autumn, and winter wheat at the end.
Last year we planted watermelons.
"I will continue to plant watermelons, but not all of them. I plan to plant 20 mu (approximately 3.3 hectares) of watermelons."
"We will continue to plant wheat on the remaining 100 mu."
"Then there's a piece of land outside that's empty, I'll rent that too and plant wheat on it."
"Large-scale planting requires crops like corn, wheat, soybeans, and peanuts, which have a high degree of mechanization and require little manual labor."
"If we were to grow cash crops, the costs would be too high."
Xu Ran responded.
As a farm owner, Xu Ran naturally has professional insights into running a farm.
He now owns 120 mu (approximately 8 hectares) of land, which is considered a relatively large area.
If you grow cash crops, you have to harvest them manually, and the labor and management costs are very high. If you can't get a high price for these crops this year, you will lose money.
Crops like corn, wheat, soybeans, and peanuts are easy to grow and require little human intervention, which can greatly reduce costs.
The safest option.
"No problem, wheat is easy to grow, we guarantee we'll do a great job!"
Wang Hai responded immediately.
At this moment, Zhao Shan reminded him, "Brother Ran, you still want to rent land? You should hurry up and rent it. That farm next door keeps looking this way every few days. Don't let them know your intentions and snatch the land away."
Zhao Shan is right.
The one next door is obviously a copy-paste job.
Xu Ran nodded, "Don't worry, I contacted the village before renting the land."
"I had planned to rent his farm last year, but he managed to do so, so there's nothing I can do about it."
At this moment, Li Wu said, "I'm worried that whatever we plant in the spring, he'll plant too. Once we start planting, he'll come over specifically to learn."
Xu Ran replied calmly, "It's normal, there's nothing to hide. We just need to do our jobs well."
"The wheat variety I found requires specific fertilizer combinations to achieve the same results as last year."
"No one else can grow this."
The group chatted idly.
As the Spring Festival approaches, the employees are taking leave, and the farm is a little deserted.
Of the crops, only cucumbers are still growing.
A batch of pigs and chickens were processed and sold.
Of course, only the broiler chickens were sold off; the laying hens were kept.
There's another important matter at the farm these days.
That means the lamb is about to be born.
Raising livestock and farming are similar in meaning. Just as planting requires sowing seeds, raising livestock also requires breeding at fixed times each year.
Take sheep farming as an example. Generally, there are winter lambs and summer lambs. Winter lambs are bred from September to November and give birth from January to March of the following year. Summer lambs are bred after March and give birth after June of the same year.
Xu Ran's farm raises winter lambs.
There are six pregnant ewes on the farm. They haven't been out and about for the past few days, staying in a clean pen and eating fresh fodder.
Xu Ran would come to check on the situation from time to time.
Xiao Hui seemed to understand what it meant and often came to watch it with Xu Ran.
If sheep farming had positions, Xu Ran would be the chairman, and Xiao Hui would at least be a general manager.
The gray manager cares a lot about the employees who generate new output.
Some of the rams were also sold.
With meat prices relatively high and the market active during the Lunar New Year, farmers are able to take the opportunity to recoup some of their costs.
That morning, Xu Ran came to the sheepfold, intending to send Xiao Hui out to herd the sheep.
When he arrived at the "birthing room," he was surprised to find that two ewes had already given birth to lambs.
And each of them gave birth to two lambs, making a total of four.
The four little ones looked particularly thin, almost unable to stand, and clung tightly to their mother.
When they saw someone coming in, they kept trying to hide.
"She's already born?"
"You don't need to help at all."
"That's wonderful!"
Xu Ran immediately laughed.
As soon as he finished speaking, Little Grey noticed the presence of the little lamb.
Little Gray immediately barked excitedly twice, its tail wagging rapidly, and it danced with excitement, even trying to squeeze into the sheepfold.
"Little Grey!"
Xu Ran immediately rebuked him.
Xu Ran's master status was still very obvious. As soon as his voice became serious, Xiao Hui immediately knew he was wrong. He pressed his ear behind his head, looked at Xu Ran apologetically, and then ran back.
"Don't frighten the lamb. Newborn lambs are very fragile, and it's not certain whether they will survive."
"Go and herd the sheep, drive them to the fields to find grass to eat."
Xu Ran said to it.
Now the farm is big enough that there's no longer a need to graze sheep along the mountain paths.
This is safer.
There's no need to worry about Little Grey getting into trouble.
Upon hearing Xu Ran's words, Xiao Hui immediately turned and ran away to drive the non-pregnant sheep out.
Xu Ran looked at the lamb.
Mammals are generally very good-looking when they are young, and lambs are no exception.
Farmers typically keep lambs as pets when they are young.
They are not kept in cages, nor are they herded to graze like large sheep; instead, they stay close by.
Once the lambs have grown up, they are released back into the flock and raised like the other sheep.
That's nothing.
Because sheep are very strange creatures; simply put, they have no brains and no emotions.
Once they reach adulthood, they will inexplicably bump into people, sometimes even knocking a grown man to the ground.
Sometimes they even bump into children.
It wasn't out of anger or revenge; it was just a whim, a sudden urge to do it.
Moreover, the sheep eat whatever you feed them. When someone in the village smokes, they throw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomp it out, and the sheep eat the cigarette butt directly.
But the lambs are especially cute and gentle, very adorable, and perfect as pets.
All I can say is that they were little angels when they were young, but grew up to be burly men, losing all their innocence.
All the sheep I raised before, like the original Pleasant Goat, Pretty Goat, and Lazy Goat, were pets that Xu Ran kept when she was a child. They were especially cute.
They completely change when they grow up.
They have absolutely no feelings for people.
Xu Ran stood inside the sheepfold, briefly checked the lamb's condition, and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that everything was alright.
The birth of new life in winter brings a touch of life to the farm.
The other four ewes were lying on their sides, their bellies rising and falling, and they looked like they were about to give birth.
Fresh hay is laid on the ground, and the temperature inside the sheepfold is suitable. The doors are opened for ventilation every noon to provide them with a comfortable environment.
"As long as everyone is healthy, that's all that matters."
"There will be new lambs next year."
"We'll take them out and have some fun then."
Xu Ran thought to herself.
The lambs curiously observed Xu Ran, still hiding behind their mothers.
The ewes also deliberately blocked them, instinctively protecting their young.
Xu Ran glanced at it briefly, then turned and left.
As soon as I stepped outside, a cool breeze blew in from the direction of the empty fields, instantly making me feel much more refreshed.
The farm is unobstructed, the temperature is lower than in the city, and the wind is stronger.
Nothing's wrong, hurry back inside and warm up.
The farm has its own boiler and heating, and although the houses are old brick and tile buildings, they are not cold in winter.
Go back inside, play some games, eat something, and that's how winter will pass.
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