Nghe An farmers raise Cambodian cows and earn billions

(Baonghean.vn) -Raising cattle imported from Cambodia is proving effective because of its good adaptability to the environment and high efficiency in Western Nghe An.

With the form of raising pigs 3-4 times/year, earning about 6 million/pig, on average, Mr. Nguyen Van Tan in Khe Sai 1 hamlet, Nghia Loc commune (Nghia Dan) earns more than 1 billion VND per year. Photo: Minh Thai

Cattle farmingFattening cattle is developing strongly in Nghia Dan district, because cattle are low-risk livestock, easy to raise, easy to care for, low feed costs, and can utilize agricultural by-products, so farmers choose to raise them. In particular, some farmers have imported cattle breeds from Cambodia for fattening. This breed of cattle has shown to adapt well to the environment and local farming conditions; bringing in billions of VND/year in income.

The fattening cattle farm of Mr. Nguyen Van Tan's family in Khe Sai 1 hamlet was designated by Nghia Loc commune as a model in the local economic development movement. When it was first implemented, this model encountered many difficulties and was not supported by the people, because most of the people here only raised traditional cattle, so the economic efficiency was not high.

With the help of the local government, at the end of 2016, Nguyen Van Tan's family invested in building a standard farm system and completed procedures to import 60 cows, 18-24 months old, from Cambodia to fatten as commodities, for sale within 3-3.5 months. With this method of raising, each year he sells 3-4 batches of cows in a pillow form.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tan shared: "To fatten cows successfully, when choosing breeding cows, you must choose cows with large frames and wide backs, not too old cows. During the fattening process, you need to take care of them such as: bathing the cows 1-2 times/week, feeding and drinking enough. In addition to green grass, you need to supplement with concentrated foods such as rice bran, corn bran, feeding 2-3 times a day for the cows to grow quickly. With this way of raising cows, the daily investment cost for feeding a cow is about 40,000 - 50,000 VND. With 60 cows, after 3 months of raising, after deducting expenses, each cow earns 6 million VND in profit, thanks to proper care, he earns more than 1 billion VND per year. Currently, he also creates regular jobs for 3 local workers.

Processing milkweed and elephant grass as main food for Cambodian cows. Photo: Minh Thai

In the context of increasingly limited grazing areas and the current pig price crisis, implementing a fattening cattle model like Mr. Nguyen Van Tan's family is a suitable direction in livestock farming. With the advantage of shortening the raising time by 7-8 months compared to traditional breeding cows and not having to spend time on grazing, after implementation, initially achieved great results that were approved and responded by the people, contributing to increasing economic efficiency, helping to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty.

Mr. Le Van Thanh - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Nghia Loc commune said: "Implementing the policy of transformation in economic development, in recent times, the Party Committee has promoted propaganda and mobilization work, from which there have been many livestock models in economic development for high income such as the fattening cow model of Mr. Tan's family. From this model, in recent times, many households have come to learn and replicate it in the area".

Identifying livestock farming as one of the key economic sectors of the locality, in the coming time, Nghia Loc commune will continue to propagate and mobilize people to replicate the model of fattening cattle, especially cattle breeds imported from Cambodia, thereby creating conditions for people to expand production scale, increase income, and become rich.

Minh Thai