American Ranch

Chapter 22 The Fox Steals the Chicken
Today's young people, if they don't have the help of their parents, it is really difficult to buy a house of their own...

In their hometown, a fourth-tier city, the average house price has exceeded 7500.

Chen Xiao and Chen Chen are considered to have high salaries, but it will take many years before they can buy a house, save a down payment, eat or drink.

The all-terrain crossed the creek, and the bumpy feeling interrupted Chen Mo's thoughts.The creek used to be a dirt road, with alfalfa gardens on both sides... The alfalfa has been planted for more than two months, and the growth is very good, similar to that in the space, but the demand for water is greater than that of ordinary alfalfa...

Irrigation canals have been excavated in this park, and water is often pumped from the facade.

Alfalfa grows extremely fast, harvested once a week on average, and the yield is several times that of ordinary alfalfa...

A part of the alfalfa is directly used to feed cattle and sheep, and a part is crushed to make fermented (silage) feed to feed fattening cattle and chickens.

For slightly larger chickens, they can eat grass directly.Smaller chickens need to be broken up to be fed...or dried and used as hay stock.

Just one hundred hectares of alfalfa grass is enough to raise 600-700 head of cattle according to Calby's calculation.Canlby intends to increase the number of herds on the farm, but the problem is that he has no money to buy cattle.

During this period, many pastures have reduced the number of breeding, and the pasture cannot be sold.It can be sold to several large ranches near Montana in Canada. The problem is that it is very troublesome to inspect this and that for pasture export.Then there is the quantity, not particularly much.

Raising cattle is not the same as raising chickens…

Chickens can reproduce in large numbers by taking advantage of the time difference in space.But the cow, this is not enough... after all, it is a big thing.

Imported cattle from other pastures, each cow has a number plate... But for cattle bred on their own pastures, when a calf is born, they must report to the Animal Husbandry Bureau and receive a number plate.The number plate is equivalent to an ID card and a birth certificate. With this number, you can log in to the website to find out the cow's birth and transaction records, etc...

'boom……'

A gunshot was heard in the distance.Athor should be hunting...

The land in the small valley is fertile, there is a relatively abundant water source, and there are more wild animals.Such as rabbits, voles, black-tailed prairie dogs, wild boars...

There are moose on the side of the snow mountain. The snow mountain pastures are all fenced with barbed wire. There should be no moose in the pasture, and there are many wild boars.

The largest number is the black-tailed marmot, which is mainly concentrated in the grasslands of large pastoral areas.Black-tailed prairie dogs have traveled from Canada to Mexico. According to Canbi, there were no black-tailed prairie dogs in the grasslands around the snow-capped mountains. They have only bred in recent years. They are super annoying...

There are more voles and rabbits in the small valley, and there are occasional wild boars.

Athol likes to use a gun when hunting, and his marksmanship is superb.Canlby is a good marksman, and often makes traps to catch voles and rabbits.Some of the hunted animals were thrown away, and some were made into jerky to feed the pets at home...

"Boss." Calby and Athol were feeding the chickens in the car, and there was a shotgun with a sight beside it. This is where the gunshots came from just now, and a gray-haired rabbit was left on the side of the road.

Chen Mo stopped the car and asked, "Is there any problem with the free-range chickens?"

"It grows very well, and there is not a single one that is sick. That is, the chicken coop in the innermost part of the valley was bitten to death by some unknown animal yesterday, maybe it was a fox..." Asuoer said.

"There used to be no foxes in the Snow Mountain Ranch. Could it be wild boars?" Calby shook his head.

"It should be the fox... It doesn't mean that it didn't exist before."

Chen Mo scratched his head: "I think it's time to check the fence of our ranch again."

Calby was a little embarrassed. He was responsible for repairing the fence on the pasture...

The food fed to the chickens is alfalfa grass mixed with hay chaff, cracked beans, corn mixed with fine chaff, and corn, wheat...

Feed twice a day, in the morning and afternoon, and go to the fields for food at other times.

Free-range chickens grow slowly, and the snowy mountain pasture is no exception. However, because there is sufficient food, and the nutrient content of alfalfa seems to be particularly high, the coat color of free-range chickens is very beautiful.Not only the chickens, but even the beef cattle in the farm grow very healthy...

Chen Mo helped Sanliang to feed the chickens, and when he went to the innermost henhouse in the small valley, he found that three big chickens were killed by animals, another one was missing, and several small chickens were also killed.

"Damn." Chen Mo felt distressed when he saw the chicken that was killed.

A chicken costs tens of US dollars, but it costs hundreds of dollars in RMB, so it doesn't hurt.

"I think it must be a fox." Athor checked the bite marks on several chickens that had been killed.

Tooth marks are similar, probably made by a fox.

"Got to find that fox today. Or come out again tonight..." Canlby knew the price of these chickens, the only one in Montana, and the price of three adult reed chickens was almost as high as a Dorper sheep .That is to say, at least three Dorper sheep disappeared in two days...

"Can your shepherd dog chase after the prey?" Chen Mo looked at Athor.

"Lacon and Silbe are shepherd dogs, they are mainly used for grazing and cannot hunt for prey." Athor shook his head, checked the surroundings carefully, and found a small tuft of red fox fur: "It's really a fox."

Camerby went back to the car and took a plastic bag, and carefully packed the fox fur: "You can call Roosevelt over. He has two Plott dogs, and they are very good at tracking prey."

Athor slapped his head suddenly: "I'll call him..."

The Plott Hound, a breed of hound native to the United States, is suitable for guarding homes, but most of them are still mainly used as hounds for hunting.

A Suoer borrowed Chen Mo's car and drove out.The small valley goes a little deeper and there is no signal, so I have to go out and make a phone call...

Canlby still had things to do, turned around in the Ford F650, and was about to leave: "Boss, is the restaurant you and Mr. Bai opened in Billings open?"

"It's open."

"You bought hundreds of adult farm chickens, and they should have been sold long ago. In the past few days, some residents of the town have called me to inquire about the price of the reed chickens. They are all residents of the town who want to buy them back and taste the taste..."

"Reed chicken, 1 kg, 35 US dollars. Black-bone chicken, 1 kg, 30 US dollars, the price of live chickens. Retail and wholesale prices are the same. Only adult chickens are sold, and they have to be slaughtered on the farm." Headache.

The restaurant just opened a few days ago, with a loan of 5 US dollars, and according to the proportion of their respective shares, Chen Mo injected more than 1 US dollars in capital.

Opening a restaurant is mainly to spend time on decoration, in addition to finding chefs, staff training...

The cost is huge, but the free tasting is held every three days during this period.Chen Mo bought more than 300 adult chickens, and sold 85 of them at the wholesale price of the ranch, and 70 chickens were tasted for free...

Free Tasting Everyone Says Good, Tastes Great, Crooked Good...  

Today is the fourth day since the restaurant opened, and the remaining fifteen chickens seem to have not been sold out.If they are sold out, Bai Xiaoou or Zhang Kun will definitely come here to pick up the goods...

It's a real drop pit.

"There are more than [-] Dorper sheep that have reached the slaughter weight, how many should be sent to the slaughterhouse for evaluation?"

When the Dorper sheep are bought, less than half of them are almost adult sheep.

"Kill the rams, and keep the ewes for breeding. You can handle these things according to your needs, and strive for a good price... I can make money, so I can give you a higher salary."

Canlby smiled with a headache, even if it is a Dorper sheep of diamond quality, it is difficult to sell at a high price at this time, unless the quality of the mutton is particularly good.

(End of this chapter)