Training the Heavens

Chapter 217 Big Satellite

Xu Lingjun took out the form and reported, "Our fifth team's horse, cattle and sheep production rate increased by 26% this year, and hay production increased by 34%."

After listening to the first half, everyone thought it was normal. Team 5's performance was good, but it was not too far behind other production teams. It was still within their expectations for the time being and did not surprise them too much.

But when Xu Lingjun got to the second half of his story, everyone's mouths were wide open. "A new pig farm has been built. As of now, 52 pigs have been slaughtered, including 45 special-grade pigs and 7 third-grade pigs. Forty of them have been sold, with a cumulative income of 4,842.65 yuan."

Nowadays, the live pigs handed over by farmers are divided into grades: first grade weighs 0.49 kilograms, second grade weighs 0.53 kilograms, third grade weighs kilograms, and special grade weighs over kilograms; and the purchase price of live pigs is approximately between and yuan per kilogram, with special grade being the most expensive and first grade the cheapest.

Ordinary farmers work hard to raise pigs for a year, but the weight of the pigs they sell is only about 100 pounds, which can earn them 70 or 80 yuan for New Year expenses.

It cannot be compared with the large white pigs weighing two or three hundred kilograms in pig farms in later generations. The reason is simple. First, the pig breeds are different. The native pigs taste good, but they grow meat much slower than specially bred fine pigs.

The second is that the feeding methods are different. Ordinary people mostly feed pigs with pig grass, but later farms feed them with carefully developed feed, so the results are of course different.

"How much? Xiao Xu, don't talk nonsense. How can there be such a high proportion of special pigs?" Director Dong couldn't help but interrupt Xu Lingjun as soon as he heard the first item.

Ranches don't raise pigs, but even if you haven't eaten pork, you've seen pigs run. When Director Dong went out to attend agricultural reclamation system meetings, he often heard data reported by other ranches and farms. The pigs they raised were definitely better than those raised by ordinary farmers, but they didn't have such a high proportion of special-grade pigs. Most of them were still third-grade and second-grade pigs, and the proportion of special-grade pigs was far from the level reported by Xu Lingjun.

So, he instinctively wondered, was this Team Five planning a big move? Anyway, they had negotiated a fixed contract with the farm management, charging between 50 and 200 yuan per mu, or receiving a discount in kind. Any excess would go to them, so even if they produced a lot, the farm management couldn't take it.

Director Dong couldn't help but feel a little angry. You just took off your hat and you're already doing crooked things again. So his expression suddenly became serious. "Xu Lingjun, this is a formal meeting. You must be responsible for your words!"

"I'm telling the truth." Xu Lingjun remained calm as he took out a stack of slips and handed them over. "This is the receipt for the pigs from the county slaughterhouse. Everything is clearly written on it."

Director Dong took it and began to read it aloud. "One first-class pig weighed 213 jin (7 catties), and the purchase price was 0.53 yuan per jin (113.26 catties), for a total of 221 yuan. One first-class pig weighed 6 jin (0.53 catties), and the purchase price was 117.45 yuan per jin ( catties), for a total of yuan."

There was a thick stack of bills, all from the sale of premium pigs. Each bill was worth more than one hundred yuan, and the total of forty bills was less than five thousand yuan, which was completely normal.

"How do you raise them? Why do you raise all special pigs? Also, where are the remaining five special pigs and seven third-class pigs?" the team leader asked immediately.

"We built our own feed mill and use feed to feed the pigs. Moreover, when we bought the piglets, we chose only good-quality pigs, so we achieved such results. As for the remaining 12 pigs, we plan to hand over five to the farm headquarters, and distribute the rest to everyone as New Year's goods." Xu Lingjun replied calmly.

The captain of the second team stood up immediately and said, "Your production team only has a little over a hundred people, right? More than a hundred people sharing seven pigs? And they're all special pigs weighing over 200 kilograms. Doesn't that mean each person can get more than ten kilograms of meat? You're even more generous than the landlords of the past!"

Last year, the national average per capita pork consumption was only 8.2 kilograms. Now, Team Five gets over ten kilograms of meat per person for the Lunar New Year. For a family of four, that's upwards of fifty kilograms! From New Year's Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, that's three kilograms of meat every day—how could they possibly eat all that? "How can we have so much? Seven special pigs, five of which will be handed over to the farm headquarters, and we'll keep two." Xu Lingjun shook his head. Actually, the remaining seven third-grade pigs were also special pigs. The slight change was just to make the leaders feel better.

"Xiao Xu, you've really helped us solve a big problem. With these five pigs, our New Year will be much easier." Director Dong couldn't help but smile. With the New Year approaching, the leaders were also worried about the New Year's goods, especially pork. Who in the county doesn't want it? Even with money and coupons, it was hard to buy.

Now Xu Lingjun has sent five big fat pigs weighing more than 200 kilograms. The ranch got more than 1,000 kilograms of pork without spending any money or issuing any tickets. Everyone can finally make dumplings happily!
"Lao Xu, Lao Xu, can we make a deal? Our team will help you hand over the horses, and you can give us a pig, how about that?" The captain of the team immediately tried to get close to him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we have Team Two too, so you should give us a piece of the pie. You have the final say on how it's played!"

"And our three teams."

Everyone stopped talking and gathered around Xu Lingjun to grab the pork.

"Ahem!" Director Dong coughed twice and said seriously, "It's meeting time now. Let's discuss these things back downstairs!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he looked at Xu Lingjun with a smile and said, "Old Xu, after the meeting is over, I will bring people to your place to pull the pigs. Is there any problem?"

Several team leaders complained in their hearts, "Good fellow, I thought you really wanted to hold a meeting, but it turns out you were afraid that we would act too early and pick out the fattest pigs!"

"No problem. We were originally planning to deliver it to the field office. If you bring people with you, it will save us fuel." Xu Lingjun agreed readily, saving himself the trouble of making a trip.

"We'll go too." Several team leaders hurriedly followed, accepting criticism from their superiors. Now that they had such a good opportunity, if they didn't lead the big fat pig back, wouldn't the people in the team tear them apart?
"Everyone is welcome to come to Team 5 to provide guidance." Xu Lingjun was eager for them to come over.

Everyone gave a thumbs up. Since they were allowed to go, it meant that the pig exchange was possible. When they brought back a big fat pig, wouldn't the team members be so happy?

After the incident, Xu Lingjun continued to report on his work, "...the cumulative production of chicken eggs, porcini mushrooms, and quail eggs."

Everyone opened their mouths wide again. They were surprised at first, but were completely stunned at the end. There was nothing they could do. The gap was just too big. They originally thought that their production team had a good year, but now they could see that they were not comparable to Team 5 at all.

After the report was completed, a full five minutes passed before Director Dong woke up and praised, "Xiao Xu, you really launched a big satellite this time!"

(End of this chapter)