Recently, a living room at the foot of the mountain in Liuxiu Village, Liucheng County was very lively, crowded with groups of guests, and the spacious living room was slightly crowded. The male and female hosts were busy greeting each other, serving tea and pouring water, preparing to harvest deer antler velvet utensils, and this was our first deer breeding base in Liucheng - Yang Hua's home.
In May and June every year, Yang Hua is the busiest time, busy harvesting antler velvet for the male deer, and busy taking care of the doe to give birth. On the day of the interview, when the antler velvet was harvested, more than 30 people came to Yang Hua's family, including the owner of a pharmaceutical factory from Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County, customers from Liuzhou City, and self-employed people in Jiangxi.
Shi Guoqiang, a customer from Liuzhou, said that this is the first time he has come to Yanghua's deer farm to purchase deer antlers, and the reason why he chose the antler here, is because he can see the deer antler harvesting process with his own eyes, and he can use it with peace of mind. Sika deer are raised at the foot of the mountain, the air is better, the temperature is more suitable for the growth of sika deer, and the quality of deer antler velvet is also more guaranteed.
Chen Xingjin, the owner of Jinxiu, said that he has been in the Yao medicine business for more than 10 years, and this time he came to survey the deer farm to promote and sell the deer antler industry with Jinxiu's Yao medicine and Yao medicine. The sika deer in Liucheng County have been domesticated by Yang Hua, and they are not so repulsive to humans, and they have adapted to the climate, water and soil of Guangxi. He plans to introduce deer breeds from Yanghua Deer Farm within two months and start to open his own deer farm, with an estimated initial investment of more than 200,000 yuan.
As the saying goes, "everything is difficult at the beginning", not to mention "raising deer in the north and raising in the south", introducing sika deer to Guangxi, which is completely different from the climate, water and soil, vegetation and light conditions of origin. Yang Hua is the first person to breed sika deer in Liucheng County, born in 1987, after graduating from junior high school, he has been working outside, but he thinks that there is no hope for such a life, so he chose to return to his hometown to develop.
Happened to see someone in the village breeding bamboo rats, which made Yang Hua, who likes to raise animals since childhood, has a strong interest, borrowed money to buy 20 pairs of rat seedlings to start breeding, after seven or eight years of breeding, I feel that the breeding industry is not only his interest but also easy and profitable, and he has also accumulated a lot of breeding experience.
Later, the national policy was adjusted, and bamboo rats could no longer be artificially bred, so he carefully consulted the "National Catalogue of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources" and found that sika deer could be artificially bred. He learned that there were people in Nanning who used to breed sika deer, but they eventually failed due to the hot climate and the lack of adaptation to the water and soil. At the same time, he also learned that there are also people in Guangdong and Hainan who breed sika deer, and he believes that since they can be bred in hotter places, so can they be raised in Liucheng.
In January 2021, Yang Hua introduced 58 artificially bred deer cubs from Jilin with the mentality of giving it a try. The deer cubs that have just been introduced have the characteristics of fear of people, timidity, and strong vigilance, and there is a problem of hitting the fence. Yang Hua gradually mastered the habits and breeding techniques of sika deer by reading books, studying on the Internet, and communicating with other deer breeders.
Yang Hua said that the sika deer is less sick, the body odor is small, the maintenance cost is small, there is no need for a large breeding space and feed, each deer only needs 1.5 kg - 2 kg of feed per day, 5-6 kg of grass, only one quarter of the forage needed for raising cattle, and he can take care of the sika deer in the entire breeding base by himself. Compared with the sika deer in the north, the deer in the south can eat grass all year round, the meat is more delicious, the temperature is higher during the breeding season, and the survival rate of the cubs is also higher.
At present, Yang Hua's farm covers an area of 3 acres, with an early investment of more than 30 yuan, a total of more than 150 sika deer, 40 male deer, and more than 110 female deer, with an annual profit of more than 40 yuan from 2022. Yanghua Deer Farm mainly sells deer antler velvet and deer litter, the price of deer antler velvet is about 2,000 yuan per catty, and the price of each deer cub is 7,500 yuan to 8,000 yuan.
Every year, Liucheng County sends veterinarians to distribute vaccines free of charge to avoid livestock plague. Yang Hua also cooperates with veterinary drug factories to purchase vaccines specifically for sika deer every year. So far, Yang Hua's deer farm has never had a single deer die of illness. Due to the current production of deer antler velvet and deer litter in short supply, Yang Hua is applying for breeding land, plans to expand the scale of breeding, on the existing basis of the site to expand another 6 acres, 150 male deer, 100 female deer.
In today's hot era of short videos, Yang Hua seized the opportunity to release content such as raising deer, cutting deer antlers, cutting deer antlers, and treating deer cubs on the short video platform, and there are often popular videos with more than 10,000 likes. At present, he has more than 10 million Douyin fans and more than 30 Kuaishou fans. Every day, he receives dozens of private messages and more than a dozen purchasing calls. He attracted a large number of online customers to offline and formed his own customer base.
Now Yang Hua's customers are basically recommended by short video platforms, and they are generally customers near Liuzhou and in the south. In the past, guests from the south wanted to buy deer antler velvet and had to go to the northeast, which was very inconvenient, and it was easier to buy fakes online, so nearby guests liked to buy Yang Hua's deer antler velvet. Deer antler velvets are cut and sold here, and free slicing and vacuum-packing services are also available for easy portability.
Yang Hua not only raised his own, but also drove the villagers of Liuxiu Village and Liucheng County Dongquan Town, Hechi City, Guigang City farmers to breed sika deer, during the interview, Yang Hua received 4 calls asking him about sika deer breeding technology, he smiled and said that these are all daily, the surrounding villagers have questions that do not understand him. At present, Yang Hua has helped the surrounding villagers to introduce more than 300 deer cubs, and has volunteered to teach farmers breeding management, mushroom cutting techniques, midwifery, cub management, and short video publicity and operation techniques.