Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

This autumn can be considered a bountiful one. The reason it is called "considered" is because the cold wave came a bit early this year, causing many crops to be harvested less.

Fortunately, because Wang An and his family used semi-mechanized farming, they were able to plant their crops quickly in the spring. Wang An and his relatives had already finished planting their crops, while those who used mules, horses, and donkeys were still continuing to cultivate.

This gave Wang An and his family's crops an extra 10 days of growth period, so their crops were not greatly affected by the cold wave.

That's how farming is; you should never underestimate those 10-odd days of growth time, because for crops, 10-odd days is enough time to complete the grain filling and enter maturity.

The main point is that once crops have completed the grain-filling stage, even if the weather suddenly drops in temperature and the crops freeze, at most the grains will look shriveled and the overall weight will be lighter, but there will absolutely be no situation where there is no harvest at all.

Farmers rely on the weather for their livelihood. They can accept reduced yields, but they cannot accept a complete crop failure.

Of course, that's what they say, but the truth is, "You have to accept it whether you can or you can't!"
Regardless of whether production is reduced or not, the grain must still be handed over to the state, and it must be plump and full, with not a single shriveled grain!

Just ask you if you agree?

Before the autumn harvest, Wang An entrusted Wu Dong and Wang Shuai to purchase two small harvesters driven by tracked tractors at the Beidahuang Farm.

Although the harvester technology of that era was not perfect and it was impossible to harvest crops completely, Wang An understood the structure of the harvester. He then directed Wang Dazhu and Wang Li to make another round of modifications to the two harvesters.

And you know what? After the renovation, the efficiency of harvesting crops improved significantly. Even if there were still some left in the field after the harvest, all that was needed was for someone to take a bag and pick them up.

One of these two harvesters is specifically designed for harvesting corn, while the other is specifically designed for harvesting rice.

The main crops grown by Wang An's family are corn and rice. They grow very few soybeans and other miscellaneous grains and beans, and they don't grow any sorghum at all, so harvesting them by hand is not difficult.

Moreover, starting from the spring when the land was cleared and turned over, Huang Baoguo, Guo Chunyan and her husband, along with Huang Ying and her family of three, were kept at Wang An's house and temporarily lived with Huang Zhong in Wang An's old house.

The couple's combined salary is 80 yuan a month, and they also get room and board.

Of course, it wasn't about eating at the same table as Wang Anjia; rather, Wang Anjia provided them with grains, vegetables, and meat so they could cook for themselves in the old house.

After all, they are two families, and it would be quite inconvenient if they ate together every day.

Their task, or rather their responsibility, is to help with farm work during the busy farming season and to cultivate greenhouses in the winter.

Although Wang Anjia paid the couple a fairly high salary, the couple was never idle.

Fortunately, compared to their life in Weizigou, Huang Baoguo and his wife are quite satisfied with their current life.

At least they can see hope for life; in the local parlance, they have something to look forward to.

That's how people are; they only become energetic and happy when they have something to look forward to in life.

With food and lodging provided, the couple didn't have many expenses besides clothes and other daily costs, so they could save several hundred yuan a year. This income was much higher than that of other farming families in the village.

In short, if you look closely over these nine months, although Wang An didn't do anything particularly interesting, there were still many changes in Wang An's family.

First, the land area has increased, from more than 60 mu of arable land to more than 360 mu of arable land and 1000 mu of barren hills.

Secondly, the number of greenhouses has increased. Including the one from last year, there are now four greenhouses. In terms of square meters, the greenhouse has increased from 200 square meters to 800 square meters.

The reason why larger greenhouses were not built is because winters in Heilongjiang Province are extremely cold, and heating greenhouses in winter is a very big problem. The larger the area, the more difficult it is to keep warm.

Therefore, increasing the number of greenhouses to increase the vegetable planting area is the most economical and reliable method at this time.

Third, Wang Anjia acquired two more seed plows and two more harvesters.

Fourth, the crops were a bumper harvest. The average yield of corn was about 800 jin per mu, and the average yield of rice was about 900 jin per mu. As for soybeans and other grains and beans, there was no need to calculate them at all.
Fifth, the wild boars and gazelles have been cleared out, leaving none. The current pigsties and sheep pens house 12 local black pigs and 21 local fine-wool sheep.

The black pig was a little piglet that Wang An asked Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan to buy at the market in early spring.

Locals call piglets "little piglet quacks".

The fine-wool sheep were bought by Wang An, Wang Li, and Mu Xue from their village and the surrounding villages.

Anyway, the only purpose of raising pigs and sheep is to slaughter them for meat when hunting is not possible in the summer, so I didn't buy too many.

Sixth, the number of sika deer and roe deer in Wang Anjia's area has increased.

Previously, including the male sika deer, there were a total of 21 sika deer; now there are 31. Actually, these deer gave birth to 12 fawns, but unfortunately, 2 died for some unknown reason, leaving 10.

Wang An was heartbroken over the death of the two baby sika deer.

The main problem is that sika deer in the mountains are very difficult to catch, and Wang An's sika deer breeding has been slow to reach a large scale, so the death of even one deer would be a huge loss.

The number of Siberian roe deer has increased by two, from six to eight.

Previously, Wang An had intended to get rid of all the roe deer, meaning he would stop raising them and kill them all for meat.

The reason is that this thing never grows very big. It normally weighs only fifty or sixty pounds, and at most sixty or seventy pounds. The meat yield is just too low.

The key point is that, apart from the roe deer's penis and antlers which can be used to make wine, but whose effects are far inferior to those of deer penis and deer antlers, there's not much else of value about the roe deer.

In general, like the gazelle, this creature has little value in terms of domestication.

However, Wang An's idea was opposed by Wang Dazhu and his wife, as well as Mu Xueqing. Their reasoning was that they had plenty of grain at home and someone to feed them. The key point was that roe deer didn't have much meat on them, and it would be a waste to kill them after raising them for so long.

Therefore, Wang An gave up.

Perhaps out of gratitude for the Wang family's mercy in sparing their lives, the two female roe deer gave birth to two calves, one male and one female, in May of this year.

Seventh, Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan finally agreed to sell some of their mules, horses, and donkeys.

Now, Wang An's family only has 7 horses left.

These seven horses are a chestnut mare, a chestnut mare and its foal, a white horse and its foal, and two Oroqen horses.

As for the three blue horses, the mule, and the two donkeys, one big and one small, Wang Dazhu sold them all.

The reason for keeping those seven horses was that if Wang An went into the mountains to drive a sled, he would use the eldest son's horse. The eldest son's horse was large, had great endurance, and was also brave, so he was not afraid of the various wild animals in the mountains.

Those two Oroqen horses were used by Wang An to ride into the mountains.

As for the two mare, one white and one red, Wang Dazhu and his wife wanted to keep them, saying that they could sell the foals they gave birth to each year for a good amount of money.

Of course, Wang An didn't want to sell the chestnut mare either, because its courage and stamina were second only to his eldest son's.

And most importantly, this chestnut mare and that chestnut steed were genuine warhorses.

What does a warhorse even mean? You can't even buy one if you want to. Selling it as an ordinary foal would be a terrible waste!
Fortunately, due to the distribution of land to individual households, many families have saved some money, and many more families want to buy large livestock for farming, so the price of large livestock is much higher than in the first two years.

That's just how the market works in any industry; when more people buy, prices naturally rise.

The three blue horses each sold for 450 yuan, the mule sold for 400 yuan, and even the two donkeys, one big and one small, sold for a full 250 yuan.

The donkey isn't small anymore; it's already a half-grown donkey.

The reason they could sell for so much money was mainly because Wang An's family was willing to feed their livestock with grain.

Livestock fed grain every day will naturally grow fatter than those fed less grain, or even those that are not fed grain at all, and their fur will look glossy and smooth because of the good nutrition.

Therefore, anyone who wants to buy large livestock such as mules, horses, and donkeys can instantly spot Wang An's mules, horses, and donkeys at a glance. After checking the mules, horses, and donkeys' teeth, hooves, and thighs, the deal can basically be made.

To be honest, when Wang An sold the donkey, he intended to keep the little donkey and slaughter it for meat whenever he had free time.

The main problem is that this little braying donkey is incredibly annoying. Every day before dawn, it starts braying loudly, and the whole yard is filled with its braying.

Therefore, Wang An despised it so much that he plucked out half of its eyeball, and his desire to kill it grew stronger day by day.
Unfortunately, Wang Dazhu and his wife wouldn't allow it and even scolded Wang An, so they didn't get to eat the donkey meat.

Of course, the old couple had a valid reason for not allowing the donkey to be killed: good families don't kill their farm animals for meat; if they wanted meat, they should kill a sheep instead.

As a result, Wang An's family lost another sheep.

To be honest, the sheep was the most wronged, because it was slaughtered because of the donkey's braying.

This is infuriating! Who can I reason with? (End of Chapter)