Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

After checking the leather, loading it into the truck and paying the money, Zhao Hui left without stopping for a moment.

When Zhao Hui left, he told Li Long that he would probably come again in June or July, and hoped that Li Long could give him a surprise then.

Li Long thought that the surprise would be gone, because the skins are easiest to collect and most expensive in winter. When the animals shed their hair in spring and summer, the skins are not as expensive as before, and these wild animals are not so concentrated. How could there be any surprises?
Li Long counted the money in his hand, and now he could only make a rough estimate - after selling these skins, he would make a net profit of 4,100 yuan.

Not much.

But this was just a trial run for the first time, and the purchasing station was not kept open.

Moreover, this year was the first time that I led others to the north to hunt yellow sheep.

Li Long believes that this winter, a large number of people will hunt yellow sheep and then skin them and sell them at purchasing stations.

There will be more leather by then.

Of course, as long as there are more skins, there will definitely be competitors. Li Long is not afraid of this. Competition is good. Monopoly will not end well.

The skins were moved out, leaving a large space in the compartment, which was just right for the purchasing station to collect and store things.

The more categories of things you collect, the larger the space you need to store them.

Originally, the purchasing station had enough space and was large enough, but Li Long didn't live there, so it was not very safe at night.

Or he felt that he was not very safe.

But if we continue like this, the big yard at the back will be too full to hold everything, and we'll have to store things there. At worst, we'll just have to make a few more trips.

The snow melted quickly. In less than half a month, the fields were visibly changed from being covered in white by the initial heavy snow to revealing patches of dark brown land. Later, the ice and snow turned into small pieces, stubbornly occupying the places where the sun could not reach.

By late March, there was basically no snow to be seen in the fields. Only when you looked towards the south mountain, you could see the tops of the high mountains on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains still wearing white hats.

Locals don't call such mountains snow mountains. Only those with snow all year round are called snow mountains, such as Khantengri Peak, Muzart, and Bogda.

After the snow melted and the sun became warm, the ground dried quickly. Li Long stopped the purchasing station for half a day in the morning and drove the jeep to the Lao Ma No. of the Fourth Team.

Now that the snow had melted, the people in Team 4 began to get busy. Li Qingxia began to prepare to dry the nets and catch fish, and the team also began to gather people to prepare to clear the canals, repair the roads, and remove the obstacles in preparation for the broadcast.

(Speaking of today, in reality, the team notified people to clear the canal, and they volunteered to go. Each person was paid 260 yuan, and they had to prepare sickles and shovels. Thinking back to the past, clearing the canal only earned one or two work points a day, and every household had to provide a laborer. It was a world of difference.)
Li Long walked around his family's yard. His elder brother and his wife were tidying up the vegetable garden. Seeing Li Long coming over, Li Jianguo stopped shoveling and chatted with Li Long for a few words before asking:
"Xiaolong, how is the road in the mountains now? I want to go into the mountains to pull two trucks of sheep manure. Is it possible now?"

"There is definitely no problem with pulling sheep dung, but it won't work in the next two days. The snow in the mountains melts slowly, and the road is still full of mud, making it difficult to walk. We have to wait another two days." Li Long said.

"Okay, I plan to apply manure to the vegetable fields in our two yards so that the vegetables will grow better." Li Jianguo said.

In fact, there is manure in Lao Ma Hao, but firstly, they only started raising cattle and sheep on a large scale last year, and the manure has not yet been fermented. Secondly, Lao Ma Hao also has a vegetable field, and Uncle Luo and his family grow vegetables themselves, so it is not convenient to get manure from there.

Of course, it will be fine in two years. Li Long plans to get more cattle and sheep this autumn, so that the manure produced in a year will be quite a lot.

While helping Li Qingxia sort out the net, Du Chunfang asked Li Long:

"Have the two children gained weight? Are they not sick?"

In the simple concept of the elderly, children should grow up to be fat, and fat children are healthy.

"I've gained weight," Li Long said with a smile. "I'm very active and healthy. I can now bask in the sun outside."

"That's good. We'll be able to walk again in two months." Du Chunfang said with a smile, "It's just that the kids are a little naughty. Two of them are enough for you to take care of."

"It's okay as long as there is a yard. Just let them run in the yard." Li Longxin said that compared with later generations, things are much better now. At least there are not so many cars. Even if you take your children to run on the main road, you basically don't have to worry about too much danger.

Li Long returned to the team to check on the situation. It was time for spring sowing, and he wanted to see how the Lao Ma No. was doing. After all, Professor Luo would be here with his men soon, and it would be troublesome if it wasn't done well.

"Xiaolong, your brother found you a dairy goat with two lambs from Xinhu Farm the day before yesterday. You can bring it back today and make some goat milk for Mingming and Haohao." Liang Yuemei said in the vegetable field, "Do you have any sugar residue? If so, just bring back a bundle of grass."

"Dairy goat?" Li Long was a little confused.

"Yes, dairy goats." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "They produce a lot of milk, more than one kilogram a day. I remember you said Mingming Haohao likes to drink milk. Goat milk is better than cow milk."

Obviously, Haohao really likes to drink milk, but milk is hard to buy in the county now and is available intermittently, so most of the time he still drinks milk powder.

Li Long actually thought about raising a cow, but it was inconvenient to do that in the yard because there was no cowshed. In the previous life, someone in the team had raised dairy goats. These goats produce a lot of milk and give birth to a lot of lambs, at least two per litter, or even three. With two litters a year, they can quickly develop into a herd.

"You have to bring the lamb with you when feeding, otherwise your milk will dry up and you'll have to wait until autumn when the lambs are born to have milk," Li Jianguo reminded.

"Okay, okay." Li Long said with a smile, "Okay, I'll take the sheep with me now."

Locals call goats "colts". Colt meat is only delicious in September. When they are young, they are perfect pets. Their feces are in the shape of eggs, which are easy to clean. They are naughty and will gently nudge people. Their calls are very cute, and they are very clingy and will take the initiative to play with people. Most importantly, they do not have sharp teeth and claws like cats and dogs.

Of course, it is not fun anymore when it grows up. It becomes strong and aggressive, never stopping for a moment, climbing up and down, and likes to try all kinds of plants.

So Li Long felt that with these two civet babies in the spring, plus the two little elk, and Xiao Hei, Mingming and Haohao would never have to worry about having no playmates.

Li Jianguo and Li Long went to the pen together to catch the dairy goats, tied up their hooves and put them in the car. The two civet pups followed them obediently, bleating, and allowed Li Long to easily catch them and put them in the car.

"The two civet cubs can't eat grass yet, so you have to wait at least half a month. Don't milk them too much during this period, they will be able to eat grass later." Li Jianguo reminded.

"Okay, okay." Li Long smiled.

Li Jianguo's family still keeps the injured yellow sheep that he brought back from the north. The sheep has now recovered and seems to have lost its wildness. It eats grass very docilely.

Li Long said something to his family and drove his jeep to Laomahao.

In Xinmahao, Lao Luo and others were taking manure out of the pen. Although Xinmahao had been feeding cattle and sheep for a short time last year, a lot of manure had accumulated. In the beginning of spring, the manure had to be taken out and cleaned up so that the cattle and sheep could be fed cleanly this year. This was also a must-do job for farmers every year.

There was a radio on the wall of the stable, and there was some music playing, but I didn't know which channel it was.

When Li Long's jeep drove over, Uncle Luo and the others heard the sound and gathered at the door to look outside.

"Hey, Xiaolong is here." Uncle Luo came out of the sheep pen, followed by Yang Laoliu.

"Well, Uncle Luo, Uncle Yang, are you guys taking out the manure? Take your time, don't rush."

"No hurry, no hurry. This pen won't be used for a while. The ewes have given birth to lambs. They are in the pen over there." Old Uncle Luo said with a smile, "Do you want to take a look?"

"Let's go and take a look." Li Long was actually also paying attention to the ewes giving birth, but he didn't know the lambing situation.

"There are 52 ewes with lambs in our pen," said Old Uncle Luo as he walked toward the pen. "Seventeen of them are twins. When the lambs were born, a few died, and some were not fed alive. Now there are 58 lambs in total. Some ewes have poor milk production, so we have to let other ewes feed them."

It is common for ewes to have insufficient milk. In this case, farmers will usually move the lambs that have no milk to other ewes with sufficient milk. This is called milking.

Most of the other ewes were unwilling, so they had to be forced to hold the lambs. Except for the first two days when the lambs were a little slow in feeding, they knew how to find their own milk when they were a little older. The most nutritious milk is the first milk of the lambs, which is called colostrum. Later generations gave it an official name, colostrum. It is very nutritious, and the squeezed colostrum is yellow and has a layer of oil.

It is generally said that lambs that do not drink the tender milk will suffer from congenital deficiencies and be prone to illness.

When Li Long approached the pen, he heard the cries of lambs one after another, and occasionally the responses of adult sheep.

He was tall and he leaned his head over the wall to look inside. Most of the ewes in the pen were eating grass and feed.

"Yesterday, Master Song brought another truckload of sugar residue. We dried some of it and fed the rest to the sheep." Old Uncle Luo said with a smile, "These lambs also learned to eat it at first and grew up very fast."

The pen is very large, half open and half warm. With the current outdoor temperature, the cotton curtain on the warm pen no longer needs to be lowered at night. Li Long looked at the lambs. Although they were also somewhat lively, they were obviously not as naughty as the goats. They looked very cute.

He thought of the lamb he had promised Hongqin, and planned to send one to Song Ming the next time he came over, or when he was free - but he had to wait until the lamb was old enough to eat grass.

"These lambs look good." Li Long glanced over and saw that basically none of the lambs had diarrhea. He nodded in praise.

With the little knowledge he had about raising sheep, he knew that as long as the lamb didn't have diarrhea and could drink milk, it was healthy.

"It's OK. We old men had a hard time in those days. Many sheep were born at night, and some were frozen and had diarrhea, so we fed them medicine and milk. Now it's much better. These lambs can drink milk by themselves, so it's much easier." Uncle Luo said, "In a few days, we can take these sheep out to graze."

According to Uncle Luo’s breeding habits, it is better to leave the sheep alone when there is grass outside. This saves grass and allows the sheep to walk more.

If you keep it in a circle all the time, not only will it be difficult to manage, but it will also make you more likely to get sick.

"Yes, yes, we have to let it go once the grass grows." Li Long thought of the brucellosis that is most likely to occur in sheep raised in captivity in later generations, and said hurriedly, "Is there anyone who wants to let it go?"

"How can there be no one?" Old Uncle Luo laughed, "It's just herding sheep. We can't do anything else, but this is easy. We are better than Ma Jinbao anyway!"

"That's right!" Yang Laoliu said with a firm face.

"The professors from the College of Agriculture may be coming over in a few days, so I'm going to take a look at where they live."

"It has been cleaned up a long time ago." Yang Laoliu said with a smile, "There are two rooms, with beds, bunks, stoves and everything else. When they come, they can eat with us or cook for themselves."

"Let's go and take a look." Uncle Luo said with a smile, "Everything has been packed up."

The row of brick houses in the old horse house that were originally used as offices now had one room filled with dried sugar residues, one room where Uncle Luo and his family lived, one room was the kitchen, and the other two rooms were cleaned up and used to make bunk beds with wooden boards placed on bricks.

Li Long often went to the mountains, so it was easy to get these wooden boards. When Li Anguo and Chen Xingbang lived here, they made their beds like this. Each room had a bed, a table and a stove.

In the yard of Lao Ma Hao, a large pond was built with bricks and covered with plastic sheeting. Li Long smelled the water and thought it was full of sugar residue. Sugar residue was also drying on the open space near the wall, and a sweet aroma floated in the air, which was quite pleasant.

Uncle Luo and Yang Laoliu opened the doors of the two adjacent rooms. As expected, the rooms were cleaned tidy. There was a pot on the stove. Uncle Luo explained:

"We can set up this stove in the spring. When it gets warmer, if they don't like it, we can just build them a clay stove. It's simple and can be done in a morning."

Li Long could tell that this meant that when the stove was not needed, it could be quickly set up so as not to delay cooking.

There was still some dampness in the room. Li Long thought about it and said:
"Uncle Luo, please light the stove in this room for the next two days to dry out the moisture. Maybe someone will come in a few days."

"Okay, we'll set up the stove after we get rid of the manure today. That's quick, it'll be done in a short while." Old Uncle Luo said with a smile, "We'll cook fish for lunch today, do you want to eat here?"

"No." Li Long pointed at the car and said, "My brother got a dairy goat for my son Mingming Haohao. I have to take it back and fix it up and build a shed."

"A civet cat?" Yang Laoliu was curious and walked to the jeep to take a look. He saw the tied civet cat through the car window and exclaimed: "Hey, it's really big!"

"You're an adult, but you're so unruly!" When Uncle Luo said that to him, Yang Laoliu just chuckled.

Li Long drove the jeep back to the county.

Back at the county compound, Sister Yang was playing with Mingming and Haohao outside by the bed cart. When she heard the noise, she went to open the door of the jeep, came back and pushed the bed cart aside, and said to Mingming and Haohao:

"Look, your dad is back, welcome!"

Li Long got out of the car, picked up the dairy goat, untied the rope on its hooves, and led it to the back.

The two civet cubs were still a little scared after they jumped off the car. Two little red deer came over, and Xiao Hei also came over. The two civet cubs were so scared that they jumped and chased their mother. Li Long tied the dairy goat to the tractor and fed it some sugar residue.

"Is this a raccoon?" Sister Yang looked at it curiously. "What did you bring it back for?"

"Milk the milk for Mingming and Haohao to drink." Li Long said, "Dairy goats have a high milk production. Goat milk is better for the two children than cow milk."

Sister Yang was also very happy and said with a smile: "Then Mingming Haohao will grow stronger and firmer in the back."

She has been taking care of the two children since they were born. She has feelings for them and she also hopes that the children can be safe.

At this moment, the two little raccoon pups were no longer afraid. Xiao Hei didn't pounce on them. Although the two little elks were bigger than them, they were not as agile as them. They seemed to have sensed that the two children were the center of the yard. They jumped and ran to the bed cart and played with Mingming and Haohao.

Haohao was obviously very happy to see his new friend. He babbled and reached out his hand from the railing to reach the lamb. The lamb was not afraid at all and just butted his head towards him.

Yeah, it's fun.

Li Long saw that there was still time, so he went to the back to clean up the greenhouse. The two young red deer were used to living in the ice and snow, and they basically didn't need to live in the yard, and they ate sugar residue and grass.

But it is different for dairy goats. Li Long plans to clear out a space in the greenhouse for the dairy goats to live in, and find time to build a shed next to the greenhouse.

Anyway, we won't raise many, just this one is enough, and we can carry two lambs at most. When the goats grow up, we will either slaughter them or take them directly to the stable or to my eldest brother.

This thing cannot be left in the yard when it grows up, otherwise the yard will be in trouble. If it is let loose, it can destroy the house more than a Husky.

In the afternoon, Li Long went to the purchasing station again. What puzzled him was that there were fewer people in the afternoon - compared with the usual dozen or more people who came to sell things half a day, there were only seven or eight people coming today.

"Boss, don't you know?" Li Long was chatting with the person selling Fritillaria. The person smiled and said, "Someone in the market has also opened a purchasing station, just like you, buying everything, with different prices. The Fritillaria here is a little cheaper than yours, and the prices of those leathers are about the same. There are many people over there, so some people sell there."

Hey, that’s really cool. You thought of opening a purchasing station in the market!

The first thing Li Long thought of was that it must have been done by those two young men.

The advantage of this place is that it is the original site of the purchasing station, and many people from the countryside recognize this place.

The advantage there is the large flow of people. There is no need to advertise when opening a purchasing station. As long as you shout a few times when there are many people, people will know what is going on.

Li Long thought to himself that he should find time to go and see this competitor to see if he was competitive.

After all, we are all making money on the same track. Only by knowing ourselves and the enemy can we win every battle! (End of this chapter)