"And you can also take on some small outside business, killing two birds with one stone."

"After all, buying someone else’s finished product, wouldn’t that cost at least a few hundred bucks per ton?"

"Producing it yourself is different; how much does it even cost to harvest an acre of pasture?"

"Anyway, seeing Song Tan these days, after exchanging a few polite words, he changed the topic and asked:

’We didn’t get to chat much over the phone yesterday. You’re a young girl, raising cattle by yourself? That can’t be easy, can it?’"

"In fact, he suspected that this girl was just arranged by her family to keep an eye on the feed and wouldn’t actually know how to raise cattle."

"Look at her, so pretty, with skin that is fair and tender. Does she look like someone who raises cattle? Even working in the fields for a couple of days wouldn’t leave her looking like this."

"But Song Tan pondered for a moment and seriously thought about the difficulties of raising cattle—difficulties like treating diseases, breeding, birthing, slaughtering..."

"But she hadn’t done any of those things; it was all done by the Chen Xi and Chen Chi brothers."

"So she said, ’It’s okay.’"

"’Okay? What’s okay?’"

"The feed factory boss had a knowing look on his face—just as he thought, the girl wouldn’t know how to raise cattle!"

"He was right into raising cattle, and had made a bit of money from it, even built a new house, but his family still lived in a simple concrete house at the cattle farm every day."

"Keeping watch in the rain, keeping watch in the scorching heat, just afraid something might go wrong."

"In this scorching weather, not only do the fans in the cowshed have to be in place, but cooling and heatstroke prevention measures also have to be done!"

"It’s a worry!"

"The bitterness and hardship inside, only those who have done it will know."

"However, he was also considerate of the young people, so he changed the subject:

’How big is your farm?’"

"Song Tan thought for a moment and said, ’Right now, with the big and small cattle combined, there must be over 200 heads, right?’"

"It’s not that she didn’t care about Riverside Beach, it’s just that Chen Xi and Chen Chi took good care of it. And every so often, one always needed to be slaughtered for Boss Chang, so in the end, the count of big and small cattle wasn’t as precise."

"Hearing this, in Boss Dafeng’s ears, he was more convinced that she didn’t understand."

"But not understanding was okay, this number was here after all!"

"Over two hundred heads?"

"The boss was a little surprised:

’Your, your scale isn’t small, is it?’"

"He became more serious, ’What kind of cattle do you have? How do you breed them? Do you do secondary fine processing of your roughage? The market was low last year; it must have been painful to sell?’"

"Cattle feed needs to be mixed with roughage and concentrate, but concentrate tastes better. If the roughage isn’t also crushed a bit, the cattle will only pick out the concentrate over time, and they won’t grow well."

"The boss learned this lesson the hard way over a year, so he quickly started asking—

’It’s all about being livestock farmers; let’s not be stingy. Nobody wants to hold each other up.’

’They even have a special group for livestock farmers.’

’It was another livestock farmer who introduced him to an expert who came and looked, only then did they find the problem.’

’As for the price...’

’In livestock farming, when cattle are released, the price is calculated for the whole animal.’

’The higher ones go for eleven or twelve per pound, the cheaper ones are seven or eight bucks or even lower.’

’Nowadays, with such a large-scale farmer here, the boss also wants to make connections—farmers fear cattle diseases, and even more so, they fear a downturn in the market!’

"When the market goes down, and the cattle are ready for market, you have to pinch your nose and take the bitter pill."

’As for keeping the cattle and not selling them?’

’These penned cattle stop growing after reaching a certain weight in the short term, but they eat a lot, consuming feed daily at home—all costs.’

’It also affects the next batch of cattle coming in.’

’Anyone who’s never raised them can’t truly know the troubles inside.’

’Having more friends means more opportunities. If someone could introduce me a bit later, even five cents more per pound would be something!’"

"The boss was serious, the workers were swift at unloading, sending charcoal, taking the bottle of mineral water handed over by the other party. After some thought, he also answered earnestly:

’We have several breeds, we raise more local yellow cattle, and also Simmental crossbreeds. This year we added a few Angus, they say the meat is good.’"

"The boss contemplated for a while; it was still different from his place. His family was slightly inclined to Charolais, which grows fast."

"And then there are Simmental local crossbreeds, and Limousin local crossbreeds—"

"He was still wondering why the other party was raising all the breeds that beginners like when he heard Song Tan continuing to answer the next question—"

’For breeding, we contacted experts for good breeding materials and did artificial insemination back at home. It’s expensive but effective.’"

"This kind of large-scale livestock, without artificial insemination, would require long-distance travel, which is very unfavorable for the cattle’s growth."

"Moreover, artificial insemination had already become quite mature domestically in the ’60s and ’70s, and it’s mainstream now."