It was one of the three major ranches in the former Matown.
The pasture alone reached a total of thirty thousand acres, with eight hundred pastoral households.
Last year, the Wang's Clan mobilized all eight hundred pastoral households, and even transferred two thousand strong men and three hundred auxiliary workers from Ping'an Town, just to harvest the old alfalfa grass like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
The sandy loam was also turned over, burying the inedible alfalfa roots and stems into the ground, recycling them into nutrients for the earth.
Alfalfa is a magical pasture. Since humans domesticated it, it has been inseparably linked to the development of animal husbandry. It is not picky about the land, produces a large amount of forage, and also has the function of fertilizing the field.
The alfalfa seeds originally planted by the Huangfu's Clan in Matown were ordinary excellent varieties that the Huangfu's Clan had painstakingly obtained from the main vein, and they had been cultivated into high-quality alfalfa grass over hundreds of years.
Each acre of pasture can be harvested multiple times a year, and the annual yield of fresh forage can reach twenty dan per acre!
The cattle raised on the ranch are usually divided into several types.
In this respect, it is very different from ancient China. Ancient China usually only raised draft cattle, and even many dynasties' governments prohibited the people from killing cattle, which is fundamentally different from the social structure.
Daqian cultivates the wind, from the out-of-mainstream Xuanwu family to the scattered cultivators, to the families of various grades, which one does not need a large amount of meat to supplement qi and blood.
Although the meat of fierce beasts is very strong in supplementing qi and blood, the price is too expensive after all, and ordinary meat has become the daily expense of many cultivators. Even the Wang's Clan's family soldiers and clan soldiers would have meat supplements every now and then.
The cattle, pigs, and sheep specifically used for food have also been functionally strong after generations of cultivation.
Just to speak of the Short-horned Red Cattle, its meat ratio is very high, it is a high-quality beef cattle, and it is also a popular breed for families engaged in similar breeding industries.
Wang Shouzhe's carriage team is about to arrive at Tianhong Ranch.
Wang Luotong, who had heard the news and came to meet him, was waiting outside the ranch on horseback early. The wind on the ranch was a bit strong, and the black cloak outside the Xuanwu outfit was hunting in the wind, making her look particularly heroic.
In addition to the two family generals, there was even a young man in a gorgeous dress riding a tall horse next to her. The young man was also tall and handsome, but when he looked at Wang Luotong, his eyes were a little timid and he couldn't help but glance at her.
"What are you looking at? Believe it or not, I'll gouge your eyes out?" Wang Luotong glared at him, her hand on the hilt of her sword, and stared at him with a murderous look.
The young man in the gorgeous dress stiffened his expression, hurriedly chuckled twice, turned his head, and explained in a low voice, "I'm not looking, I'm not looking, I'm just here to greet the head of the Shouzhe family."
"This Tianhong Ranch is now our Wang's Clan's property." Wang Luotong said coldly, "Does my fourth brother need you, Young Master Lei, to greet him when he comes to inspect? If you know what's good for you, hurry up and roll back, don't get in the way here."
Speaking of this, Wang Luotong was also somewhat speechless.
This young man in a gorgeous dress was Lei Bowu, the seventh of the Bo generation of the Tianren Lei's Clan, the current second son of the direct line. Last time because he provoked her younger brother Wang Shouye, he was severely taught a lesson by her.
Originally, she wanted to draw the hatred to herself for her brother, so that he wouldn't bother her brother and disturb his alchemy. However, she didn't expect that this guy would chase to Matown in a few days.
Then no matter how she beat him up and humiliated him, he always stuck to Matown like a sticky candy and wouldn't leave. Except for going back for a year, he came back as soon as spring started.
"Luotong, you can't say that." Lei Bowu said with a thick skin, "Fourth brother is a hero of the world, one of the top bosses in Changning Guard, I have admired him for a long time, it is my duty to come and greet him."
Wang Luotong gave a sideways glance, does my fourth brother need you to admire him? What kind of sin did she commit to provoke such a remarkable thing.
Fortunately, at this time.
Wang Shouzhe's carriage team had already arrived, Wang Luotong hurriedly rode up to greet him, jumped off the horse in front of the carriage, and smiled, "Fourth brother, you're here."
Wang Shouzhe got off the carriage, walked up to her and ruffled her hair, saying with a heartache, "You girl, you didn't even go back to the main house for the New Year. You've really worked hard these days."
Although Luotong was only two years younger than him, in Wang Shouzhe's eyes, a younger sister is always a younger sister. No matter how old she is, she is his younger sister.
"Fourth brother, the family spent so much money to buy the assets of Matown." Wang Luotong shook her head and said, "There are too many things here that need to be handled, we need to hurry up and activate these assets, missing one New Year is nothing."
Wang Luotong is also a heroic woman, and she has a big sister's style in front of her brothers and sisters. But in front of Wang Shouzhe, she has a bit of a little girl's demeanor.
This made Lei Bowu a little infatuated, so the Luotong who always had a whip and chili water at any time, actually had such a gentle and lovely side.
"Is this the young master of the Bo generation of the Lei's Clan?" Wang Shouzhe's gaze fell on Lei Bowu, his eyes were slightly serious and scrutinizing.
With Wang Shouzhe's intelligence network and ears and eyes, if there was such a person who had been pestering his sister for several months and he knew nothing about it, then he might as well quit.
Lei Bowu grew up in a honey jar since he was a child, and he has seen many big people. But when he faced Wang Shouzhe's eyes, he was startled in his heart, and hurriedly dismounted and saluted, "Lei Bowu has seen the head of the Shouzhe family."
Today's Wang Shouzhe is not a small figure, he is someone who can talk and laugh with his father Lei Yangyu, and call each other brothers. Moreover, he is Wang Luotong's brother.
Even with his status as the second son of the direct line of the Tianren Lei's Clan, he dare not act rashly.
Wang Shouzhe just nodded slightly, and didn't pay much attention to him.
Although the Lei's Clan is a Tianren family, the Ping'an Wang's Clan is also a top-tier eight-grade family, and Wang Shouzhe is the head of the family. In his eyes, Lei Bowu is just a junior.
Under the guidance of Wang Luotong.Wang Shouzhe and his group quickly arrived at the Tianhong Ranch. They were arranged to stay in a decent mansion. After settling in, Wang Shouzhe was in the study, discussing matters with Wang Luotong and Wang Zongwei.
"Fourth Uncle, please have some tea." Wang Zongwei, now thirty years old, had grown a small mustache, making him look much more mature.
However, in front of Wang Shouzhe, he didn't dare to breathe too heavily. When sitting, he only dared to perch on the edge of the chair, his back straight as if ready to be scolded at any moment.
"Zongwei, this is the spring clothing and family letter that Miss Rong asked me to bring to you." Wang Shouzhe took out a large package and a thick letter from his storage ring and handed them to Wang Zongwei.
Wang Zongwei quickly stood up, took the package and the letter, and said anxiously, "How dare she bother Fourth Uncle, that's really inappropriate."
"What's the bother?" Wang Shouzhe said indifferently, "Xiao Rong is my niece-in-law, the wife of the Wang's Clan, married in a proper manner. We are all family. She is a gentle girl, you must treat her well and not let her down."
The marriage with Gongsun Rong was ultimately arranged by Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui. Otherwise, with his irresponsible nature when he was young, he wouldn't have been able to marry a girl like Gongsun Rong.
However, the naming of the girls in the Gongsun's Clan was quite casual, unlike the girls in the Wang's Clan who were named according to their generation.
"Fourth Uncle, rest assured." Wang Zongwei hurriedly said, "If I let Rong'er down, I deserve to be struck by lightning and die a terrible death. Even if Fourth Uncle kills me with a sword, I won't complain."
"You've been doing well in the past two years, especially this time you've made great contributions." Wang Shouzhe rarely praised him, "This time, you also need to achieve something in Qianma Town, to show others that the men of the Wang's Clan are all capable."
"Yes, Fourth Uncle." Wang Zongwei, who was rarely praised, nodded repeatedly, extremely excited. Being praised by Fourth Uncle was better than anything else.
Then, Wang Shouzhe took out another package and gave it to Wang Luotong: "Your mother has been busy at the Jinsha Xu's Clan recently and didn't have time to buy you new clothes. These two sets of spring clothes were specially bought for you by your Fourth Sister-in-law."
"Thank you, Fourth Brother, and thank you, Sister-in-law." Wang Luotong was overjoyed when she received the gift. The value of the gift was not important, what mattered was the care from the family.
After some small talk, they got down to business.
"Fourth Uncle, let me first report to you the general situation of the Tianhong Ranch." Wang Zongwei became serious and took out a booklet to introduce, "The ranch has 800 households, totaling 3,100 people. There are 30,000 acres of pasture, but after years of development, there is not much room for expansion."
"There are 5,000 short-horned red cattle in stock, including 2,000 breeding cows, 400 calf cows, 100 young and strong breeding bulls, and the rest are beef cattle under one year old. The Huangfu's Clan used to operate in a way that about 3,000 calves are produced each year, and about 2,500 survive. Cows are usually raised for five years and give birth to three calves. Bulls, except for breeding, are fattened as beef cattle and sold."
"On average, 2,500 cattle are sold each year to maintain a stock of 5,000." Wang Zongwei explained, "Among them, 2,000 young and strong beef cattle can be sold for about 10,000 Top Gold, and the remaining 500 cows and culled breeding cattle can only be sold for 1,500 Top Gold. Under normal circumstances, the gross income from selling cattle averages 11,500 Top Gold per year."
"Tianhong Ranch has 30,000 sheep, of which 3,000 are lambs. 3,000 old sheep are sold each year to maintain the population, this income is 3,000 Top Gold. The annual wool output is 1,500 dan, each dan sells for five Top Gold, this income is 7,500 Top Gold."
"There are 1,000 horses, this income is not fixed. If high-quality war horses are bred, the price is high. Usually, the average annual income is 3,000 Top Gold."
"In addition, there are ten spirit-horned yaks, usually one can be bred each year. Calculated by selling one each year, it is 2,000 Top Gold. The spirit-horned yaks are very large, about 5,000 to 6,000 jin each. The Huangfu's Clan usually keeps them for their own consumption~"
"Besides, the 30,000 acres of pasture and 80 acres of spirit fields used to grow spirit alfalfa are all consumed within the ranch."
"Therefore, the average gross income that can be generated each year is about 27,000 Top Gold. In addition, other feed needs to be purchased, as well as the expenditure of the herdsmen, about 8,000 Top Gold. Therefore, the original gross profit of Tianhong Ranch was about 18,000 to 19,000 Top Gold per year."
Wang Shouzhe nodded as he listened, it seemed that Wang Zongwei had put in a lot of effort, and he had already started to get the hang of it. However, the initial auction price of this Tianhong Ranch was 170,000 Top Gold. Even if Wang Shouzhe overpaid a bit, the purchase price of this Tianhong Ranch did not exceed 200,000 Top Gold.
In a sense, Wang Shouzhe got a great deal. However, the valuation of the livestock industry is usually low, after all, if cattle and sheep are not raised well, the risk is quite high.
"What about the dairy products from the cows?" Wang Shouzhe asked.
"The milk produced by the cows is either fed to the calves or supplied in small quantities to the people of the Huangfu's Clan." Wang Zongwei said, "The rest is mostly made into dry cheese by the herdsmen, which is one of their own food sources. Some of it is also sold to Changning Guard, but it's not worth much. As you know, Fourth Uncle, many people can't stand the taste, it can only be used as a subsidy for the herdsmen."
Wang Shouzhe nodded repeatedly in his heart. Dairy products are not popular in this world, the main problem is that the scale is not large enough and it is difficult to preserve.
Fresh milk spoils too easily, and pasteurization has not yet been invented in this world.
But the noble families know that dairy products are very beneficial to children's growth.
Therefore, in the farms of families like the Wang's Clan, a small number of cattle and sheep are raised to occasionally supply young family members.
Most of the common people in this world have no chance to enjoy dairy products.
Even dry cheese can't be preserved for long, and the taste is generally hard to accept.
In the world before Wang Shouzhe's transmigration, dairy products were a huge industry.
Even Wang Shouzhe was slightly tempted.One of the most challenging issues - the sterilization and sealed packaging for transportation, can be completely solved with some high-end glass bottles!
Of course, dairy products are just an additional output.
What Wang Shouzhe valued more was the growth of the forage. He sipped his spiritual tea and asked, "Zongwei, tell me about the situation with the forage."
"The Tianhong Ranch has thirty thousand acres of grassland, which can produce about 450,000 dan of dry forage each year. Each dan of dry forage can be sold for one large copper and thirty corners, totaling about 6,000 Top Gold. However, this amount of dry forage is not enough. Therefore, we also need to transfer a batch of dry forage from Xingwang Ranch, as well as a large amount of soybean residue produced by Qianma Farm after oil extraction. The value of these materials is also more than 5,000 Top Gold."
Wang Shouzhe nodded and said, "So, the actual amount of forage and food consumed by those cattle, sheep, and horses in a year, plus spiritual grass and so on, also requires the value of over ten thousand Top Gold. Raising cattle, sheep, and horses is just a way to amplify this value."
"You could say that," Wang Zongwei nodded and explained, "But these prices are for selling to the Huangfu's Clan's large ranch, mainly because it's closer and after all, it's a branch of the main family. If we sell to other guards, the transportation cost would be higher, and overall it's not very cost-effective. Therefore, it was more cost-effective to sell to Huangfu's Clan, or to convert it into meat and wool ourselves."
"The total output of feed from the three large ranches and farms of Qianma exceeds their own consumption, and the surplus is supplied to the Tianren of Huangfu's Clan."
"Hehe~" Wang Shouzhe nodded repeatedly, "Whether it's selling calves, beef cattle, wool, or horses. Ultimately, it all comes down to the issue of growing feed. As long as the yield per acre of feed is higher and the nutrition is richer, then the cost of our beef cattle, wool, and horses will be lower."
Upon mentioning this, Wang Zongwei also became excited: "Fourth Uncle, you are absolutely right. Some old herdsmen say that the new alfalfa we planted is more favored by cattle and sheep and they have a better appetite. Moreover, the yield of alfalfa per acre is 70% more than before."