Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1007 Following the same method, going into battle lightly equipped is the solution.

Li Long said, "The best way is to slaughter and sell the sheep that the herders have to cull before they freeze or starve to death. This will save on feed and reduce the burden on the herders."

Li Xiangqian was somewhat surprised; he had considered this method before.

After all, it's freezing cold now, so collecting enough fodder is really not easy.

However, slaughtering cattle and sheep to reduce the consumption of feed is achievable.

Although the cattle and sheep are slaughtered in batches at this time, the price will be much cheaper, but at least some money can be made to make up for some losses, so as not to wait until they really freeze to death and then it will be difficult to sell them for a good price.

“I’ve actually thought about this idea too,” Li Xiangqian said, “but I’m worried the herders won’t agree. Cattle and sheep are their most precious and cherished assets. Do you think they’d be willing to slaughter these culled animals? I doubt they would.”

“We don’t need to communicate directly with the herders about this. The herding team is there, isn’t it? Just contact the herding team,” Li Long said. “We can’t give the fodder we’ve collected directly to the herders, right? It’s delivered to them through the herding team.”

We're just offering suggestions. To be honest, we can collect some wheat straw and corn stalks now, but with the freezing weather and current transportation capacity, how much can we really bring? It's a drop in the ocean. Unless we launch a nationwide donation drive, we simply can't collect anything, and our transportation capacity is insufficient right now.”

Li Xiangqian nodded repeatedly in agreement with Li Long's words, as he shared the same thought. Frankly, at present, collecting hay wasn't very effective; it was merely a temporary measure to alleviate their worries.

The real solution, as Li Long suggested, is to slaughter the culled sheep and make a drastic decision.

Otherwise, by January or February, all the fodder stored by the herders will have been eaten, and the snow will still be there, which will be devastating for all the cattle and sheep.

"We can only submit this suggestion; we don't know how the higher-ups will implement it. But it's going to be troublesome if it's actually done. Who will collect the slaughtered cattle and sheep? What will our supply and marketing cooperative do with them?"

“I won’t talk about the big places, but I can buy some in our Ma County,” Li Long said confidently. “When I get back, I’ll contact the merchants in the area to see if they need any cattle or sheep from here.”

The beef and mutton here are of good quality, so there should be a demand. Even if there isn't, I'll store it up and release it to the market before the Lunar New Year. I don't expect to make a profit, but at least I should break even.

Through two years of fattening cattle and sheep, Li Long has learned just how booming the pre-Lunar New Year markets are in Ma County and Shicheng.

Even the poorest families would still spend money to buy some beef and mutton, make dumplings, and have a reunion dinner after the year before last.

In families like the Fourth Team, which are relatively well-off, some can even afford to buy a whole sheep to eat during the Lunar New Year.

So although we are still in the primary stage of socialism and people's lives are still far from being well-off, they are already much better than they were five or six years ago.

The reason why the Engel coefficient doesn't work in China is simply because once Chinese people have some wealth, they almost always prioritize eating well.

“I didn’t expect you to have such courage. That’s right, you’ve made a lot of money from this purchasing station these past two years, it’s time to give some of it to society. Alright, I’ll submit this suggestion. If you really want to buy, you should do it within your means, don’t ruin yourself just for the sake of saving face.”

After Li Long returned to the purchasing station, he discussed with Gu Boyuan about clearing out the warehouse, as he genuinely intended to buy some culled sheep.

The Halim tribe, a small community, doesn't need to cull its sheep, but other tribes might. Li Long obtained a lot of sheep from the Halim tribe when they suffered a minor snow disaster, and through this, he got to know Li Xiangqian, Section Chief Hu, and others.

Now that I think about it, another cycle has come full circle.

The snow was truly heavy at that time. In the Altay, Ili, and Tacheng regions of northern Xinjiang, the snow could easily be a meter deep in winter, sometimes even reaching the necks of horses. This was frequently reported in the news at that time. However, about ten years later, such heavy snow gradually disappeared.

"Buying mutton?" Gu Boyuan was somewhat surprised. "Why did you suddenly decide to buy mutton?"

"The main reason is that the recent snow disaster has been quite severe, and many herders do not have enough fodder to raise so many cattle and sheep," Li Long explained. "Rather than letting the cattle and sheep freeze and starve to death when the fodder runs out in January or February, it is better to slaughter them now and sell them for some money."

Cattle and sheep that freeze to death in January and February will definitely not fetch a good price; at most, they'll only be worth the price of their hides.

"So how do you plan to collect it?" Gu Boyuan asked.

"I've spoken to Director Li, and he'll report it to his superiors. Our county has livestock teams, right? I'll ask them. As for those scattered farmers, I'll inform the middlemen and tell them I'm buying large quantities of cattle and sheep, and of course, the price will be cheaper."

These items need to be stored in a warehouse. For now, we're mainly receiving hides, so we need to clear out a large warehouse, set up shelves, line it with bags, and specifically store the kroner (a type of leather goods) for beef and mutton.

The warehouse at the purchasing station was specially built, with a brick-concrete structure, so there's no worry about rats getting in.

"Alright, I'll write this down on the blackboard when I have some free time. You think about the specific price so I can finalize the terms."

“Average price…” Li Long thought for a moment and said, “Lamb is 1.8 yuan and beef is 2 yuan.”

"So cheap?" Gu Boyuan was a little surprised. "Even the retail price in the market isn't this low."

“There are plenty, and they’re easy to collect.” Li Long shook his head. “We’re buying wholesale, not retail. Besides, with the snow disaster lately, I think even without encouragement, those smart herders would probably already be asking the imam to slaughter their sheep.”

When large quantities of beef and mutton enter the market, prices will definitely be driven down.

Li Long was the owner of the purchasing station. Since he had spoken, Gu Boyuan had no objection. Taking advantage of a moment when no one was around, he went to the blackboard and wrote the notice down.

Today it was Sun Jiaqiang's turn to do odd jobs, so Li Long asked him to clear out a large warehouse in the backyard to store beef and mutton.

Li Long then took the phone and started dialing numbers for Jia Tianlong, Zhao Hui, Huang Lei, and others.

He used to know quite a few people, but Bai Xiuming and Dong Zhichao tricked Li Long this year, so Li Long simply stopped contacting them.

The purpose of the call was to ask if they needed a large quantity of beef and mutton in the winter.

If needed, Li Long can send it over by train.

Luckily, all three answered the phone, but the results were all ambiguous, with the other person saying they needed to find out about the market situation before making a decision.

There's no way to force this; we can only wait.

(It's unbearably hot, that's all for now)

(End of this chapter)