1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 202 This is not just saline-alkali land, it is a treasure land for him!
After hearing what the other party said with certainty, Su Wenchen also peeled an egg.

After taking a bite.

He discovered that there was a faint smell of seafood. He actually tasted seafood in the eggs. Although the smell was not strong, it still surprised him.

Su Wenchen picked up another alkali-spur steamed bread from the steamer, broke off a small piece and tasted it. As expected, the steamed bread had a strong salty and alkaline taste, much stronger than that of eggs, and the taste was actually not very good.

The reason why the eggs have a faint seafood flavor is probably because the hens eat too much Suaeda salsa, which causes a large amount of this substance to accumulate in their reproductive system.

However, after being filtered through the hen's body, the taste of the eggs is obviously much lighter than that of the steamed bread that is directly mixed with this grass.

Li Zhimin looked at Su Wenchen expectantly and said.

"Our local chickens are good in every other way, except for one big drawback: they have a short egg-laying cycle and a low egg-laying rate. They only lay one egg every few days. When I asked around earlier, I heard that your new breed of chickens can lay two eggs a day?"

"Brother Su, do you think we can try to import your new breed of chicken?"

It was obvious to Li Zhimin that if they could achieve two eggs a day by feeding the fish with Suaeda salsa, then their problem would be solved.

After all, they don’t lack land, but they lack land that can produce food.

People can indeed eat a little bit of this stuff called Suaeda salsa, but it is not advisable to consume it in large quantities.

However, Su Wenchen felt that the other party was thinking too much.

"Director Li, I think your problem is not about the chicken breed at all. The low egg production is probably caused by the hens eating too much Suaeda salsa."

"If you mix it with coarse grains, the frequency of egg laying of hens should be similar to that in other areas."

After hearing what Su Wenchen said, didn't Li Zhimin know that there was such a possibility? He actually knew.

But they are reluctant to use even coarse grains or wheat bran, and feed them directly to the chickens.

So even if he knew that the hens laid fewer eggs because they ate too much saltwort, he had no way to solve the problem, because people don't have that much staple food to eat, so how could they feed chickens coarse grains?

He was actually looking forward to the chickens in Su Wenchen's farm. They could lay two eggs a day when eating food at the other side, but the food they ate was worse, so one egg a day should be ok!

That's much better than laying an egg every few days now.

So he spoke directly to Su Wenchen in a pleading tone.

"Brother Su, I also know the reason, but there is nothing we can do!"

"We now rely on the allocation of most of our staple food from above. How can we possibly use the food to feed the chickens?"

"Besides, our saline-alkali land doesn't have many weeds growing on it, and we can't even find earthworms, so the chickens can only eat this."

As he spoke, he picked up a steamed bread mixed with salsa grass powder.

"Director Su, since the chickens in your farm can usually lay two eggs, even if the food here is a little worse, as long as they can lay one egg a day, we can do it too."

"Even one every two days is better than now."

Hearing what the other party said, Su Wenchen didn't intend to refuse.

After all, life here is really not that good, and it has no impact on him.

Said directly.

"If Director Li just wants to introduce a batch of chicks to try it out, our farm will definitely be able to do it."

“But!”

Su Wenchen didn't say anything else, but it was obvious that he felt that even if the blue moorhens were bred, they would most likely not be able to adapt to the local climate.

After all, the local species have been growing up eating this stuff for years, so they will definitely be more adaptable to it.

But for normal varieties, it should be okay to eat a little bit of it, and it may even have some benefits. After all, this kind of saltwort definitely contains a certain amount of salt.

However, if consumed in excess, the stomachs of most chicken breeds may not be able to handle it.

Li Zhimin naturally understood what Su Wenchen meant.

"Brother Su, I have no other choice. To be honest, we have tried a lot before this."

"After all, we can still get in touch with quite a few units here."

"But the results were not satisfactory. Some chickens were fine but stopped laying eggs, and some chickens died after eating it for a few days."

"So I am actually mentally prepared, but I won't give up if I don't try. What if?"

While talking, the other person picked up the chopsticks.

"Come on, come on, Brother Su, move your chopsticks, the fish is getting cold!"

After knowing the other party's plan, Su Wenchen felt a little embarrassed to have this meal.

I thought it was a big deal.

This is the result.

Of course, this may be very important to the commune where Li Zhimin is located, but it is not a big deal for Su Wenchen.

So looking at this big carp that must weigh at least four or five kilograms, Su Wenchen felt a little embarrassed.

Give the other party advice directly.

"Director Li, since you have such a large area of saline-alkali land, why don't you think of ways to plant plants?"

Li Zhimin took a bite of fish and waved his hand.

"How could we not think of a solution? I heard that our provincial agriculture department has worked with some national institutions to develop a salt-tolerant rice variety."

"I heard that in places like Pei County on the south bank, after so many years of restoration, this newly developed salt-tolerant rice can now be grown."

"But it's not working here. We tried and although we were able to grow crops, we basically couldn't grow any food."

"So we only tried to plant this kind of rice in a small part of the improved fields. The main reason is that this kind of rice needs a lot of water. Although we are close to the Yellow River, there is not much rain. We have to rely on artificial irrigation of the Yellow River water. Not only is it too laborious, but the yield is also very low."

"Why not use these improved fields to plant these coarse grains such as sweet potatoes and corn? One more pound of corn can feed one more person."

"Although the salinity of our remaining land is not that high after so many years of water diversion and flushing, we can only grow plants such as Suaeda salsa. It will take some years before we can grow food crops." "Although we can grow crops now, it is useless if they don't grow food."

When Su Wenchen heard this, his eyes lit up because he remembered something he had accidentally talked about with Zhang Zhenhua before.

At that time, we were talking about the scale of the fur rabbit breeding sideline industry in the farm.

After all, if the fur rabbit industry can have a large-scale source of feed, it can actually develop further.

At that time, Zhang Zhenhua said that it was a pity that there was no saline-alkali land in their area.

Otherwise, a batch of salt-tolerant alfalfa could be introduced from the provincial farm, saying that this is a recently developed high-quality forage grass that can be grown on saline-alkali land.

Whether it is for cattle, sheep, horses, donkeys, deer or rabbits, this kind of forage can be used as one of the main feeds.

Although there is no saline-alkali land around their Lan City, there are large areas of saline-alkali land in the Yellow River floodplain here.

If Dongfeng Commune can use saline-alkali land to grow this kind of forage grass.

Can the scale of their fur rabbit industry be expanded a lot?

Even the cattle-raising industry that Su Wenchen only talked about later, the subsequent feed problems have already been solved.

As for others developing their own breeding industry after development, Su Wenchen believes that this is certain.

However, they will definitely not be able to develop in a short period of time.

Because whether it is a rabbit, a cow or a chicken, they cannot eat only one kind of feed.

It must be combined with other feeds.

Otherwise, even the best things will have problems over time.

Just like it is impossible for people to eat only one kind of vegetable, even the most nutritious thing will cause problems if eaten too much.

As the land here gradually improves, the other party will surely slowly develop their local breeding industry, but this will definitely be a long process.

Because it is impossible to improve the saline-alkali land in one day, and there are so many Yellow River flooding areas. In Su Wenchen's impression, it seemed that it was not until after the new century that the last Yellow River flooding area was completely controlled.

Su Wenchen also suddenly discovered that these areas of Yellow River flooding seemed to be saline-alkali land, which was a treasure land for him!
Because at this time, places where grain can be grown basically will not be used to grow pasture.

Therefore, it is very important to make use of this large area of saline-alkali land.

Thinking of this, he found that he had to thank Director Li. Otherwise, even if he saw this large area of Yellow River flooding, he would never have thought of planting forage grass here.

Subsequently.

Su Wenchen looked at Li Zhimin seriously.

"Director Li, I wonder if your commune has any plans to grow forage grass?"

When Li Zhimin heard this, he was stunned at first, and then said with some confusion.

"Grass? Brother Su, you want to buy this Suaeda salsa?"

A happy smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Brother Su, if you really come to our commune to purchase this Suaeda salsa, is that true? Then we have as much as you need."

"We can even deliver it directly to your doorstep. What do you think?"

"I tell you, this Suaeda salsa is OK for feeding pigs, and it also contains salt, so pigs like to eat it."

"But don't eat too much, otherwise you'll get indigestion."

Although Li Zhimin was eager to find the next way out for their commune, he had no intention of deceiving Su Wenchen.

After all, they also feed this kind of saltwort to pigs, but they can only feed it in small quantities, and the rest can only be fed mainly bran and soybean meal.

Su Wenchen shook his head.

"It's not Suaeda salsa, a kind of forage grass that is more tolerant to salt. Have you heard of alfalfa?"

"Now we have cultivated more salt-tolerant varieties. This is a relatively high-quality forage grass and can be used as one of the main feeds for livestock such as cattle, sheep, rabbits and donkeys."

"If your commune can grow large quantities, we can sign a purchase contract and we will directly purchase in large quantities."

"If the area you plant is large enough, I can even help you connect with our city's Planning Commission and directly exchange the grass for food in our city."

It is obvious that although their city is not a region with particularly high grain production, they do not need to supply the surrounding areas, and mainly supply Lan City.

So it seems to be quite sufficient. Maybe too much is not enough, but it is definitely enough to meet the needs of a commune.

Hearing this, Li Zhimin became excited instantly.

"Brother Su, are you telling the truth?"

"Is there really such salt-tolerant grass? And you came here to purchase it, and even exchange it for grain?"

"Brother, if it's true, you are the benefactor of our entire commune!"

"Well, brother, just tell me what you want to do, and I will definitely cooperate with you without hesitation!"

Compared with Su Wenchen, Li Zhimin thought more, because the sheep they raised locally were mainly fed with Suaeda salsa, and occasionally some weeds growing around the improved fields.

If this kind of forage grass can be grown on saline-alkali land on a large scale, then they can not only sell the forage grass, but also exchange it for some food.

There is still enough energy to raise more cattle and sheep.

In fact, he didn't expect to get much in exchange for food. After all, if he exchanged grass for food, even if it was only fodder, the proportion must be very large.

But even so, if the subsequent ferry crossings are really closed, they will still be able to find a way to survive.

Otherwise, they would have to rely on the little food ration allocated from above every year, which was actually not enough.

After all, many places are short of food now, and the amount allocated to them is not much, so they still have to find ways to solve many problems on their own.

(End of this chapter)