dkrc Chapter 59
Chapter 59
At this time of year, the reeds in Baiyang Lake have grown to more than half a person's height.
Wild ducks in Nanwan swim in a line on the water, accompanied by their fluffy ducklings.
Occasionally, one would dive into the water and only emerge from a great distance after a long while.
The goji berries along the pond embankment are in bloom, a deep purplish-red, and bees are buzzing around the flowers.
After attending a routine meeting at the town's promotion station, Chen Zheng ran into Zhang Jianguo and Liu Jiawang at the village entrance.
A basket of crucian carp, freshly caught from the lake, sat at Zhang Jianguo's feet, their scales glistening wetly.
He said that a lot of wild loaches have recently been dug up on the grassy slope at the Nanwan inlet, and people from the neighboring village are also catching them.
Liu Jiawang had a thick book titled "Aquaculture Engineering" tucked under his arm.
He pushed up his glasses and said that the training plan for the promotion station next month had already been arranged.
This issue will focus on the prevention and control of gill rot and rotifer breeding. The notice has been distributed to six surrounding villages.
He opened his notebook and added another sentence.
He said he would have to go back to school after the summer vacation, and before leaving, he would need to train someone to take over the data recording.
As Chen Zheng looked at the two people who had been with him on the lake since their teenage years, he was thinking about something else.
The scale of aquaculture in Baiyang Lake is expanding, with the number of aquaculture households in the surrounding six villages increasing to nearly one hundred.
These fish farmers need someone to coordinate and allocate their fish fry, feed, fish medicine, and oxygenation equipment.
The promotion station currently only provides technical training, but could it also distribute production materials in the future?
Could we sign a long-term supply contract with a seafood company in the provincial capital?
Collect all the adult fish from the fish farmers and sell them to the provincial capital.
In this way, the Baiyanghu area will no longer be a place where a few dozen scattered households roam.
He kept the thought to himself, planning to have a proper talk with Director Fang when he came to town next time.
When he got home, his mother was stewing fish head and tofu soup in the kitchen.
Steam rose from the large iron pot on the stove, the fish soup was simmering and turned milky white, and the aroma of scallions filled the yard.
The black cat crouched on the edge of the water tank, its paws gripping the rim, its eyes fixed on the crucian carp swimming at the bottom.
Chen Zheng scooped up a ladle of well water and washed his face.
The cool water splashed on my face, washing away all the fatigue of the day.
The wind blowing from the direction of Baiyang Lake carries the fresh scent of reed leaves.
Dusk turned the pond embankment a dark green.
In the third fishpond beside the embankment, the aerator's impeller was spinning, creating fine water droplets.
He knew very well that when he pulled that tin box out of the water in 1983, it was just that God had opened a crack for him.
What truly transformed this crack into a door were the steady, solid steps taken over those two hundred days.
The Grain in Ear solar term is just a few days away.
The wheat is ready for harvest, and the rice seedlings are ready for transplanting.
The spring floods in Nanwan have just passed, and the summer breeze is already faintly blowing across the lake.
After the Grain in Ear solar term, Baiyang Lake officially enters its flood season.
After several days of heavy rain, the lake level rose by more than two feet overnight.
The reeds in Nanwan were mostly submerged, with only the tops of the reeds visible, swaying on the water's surface.
The water in the rice paddies overflowed the ridges, and the villagers were busy digging ditches to drain the water.
Because Chen Zheng's three fish ponds were designed with overflow outlets in advance, the water level rose, but the ponds did not overflow.
The inlet's barrier net blocked the water plants and dead branches washed down with the water flow.
The gates open and close normally, and water is being discharged from the cascade overflow outlets one level at a time.
The entire system withstood the test for the first time during the flood season.
In mid-June, the first training course on rotifer cultivation at the Baiyang Town Extension Station was held in the town government conference room.
The number of people who came was almost twice as many as expected.
In addition to farmers from the six surrounding villages, there were also farmers who came from neighboring towns.
There wasn't enough room in the meeting room.
Chen Zheng temporarily moved the table to the yard and hung a blackboard on a tree for outdoor lectures.
It was his idea to talk about rotifer breeding.
Rotifers are the first food for fish fry and are crucial to the success of mandarin fish fry breeding.
Many fish farmers directly scoop plankton from the lake to feed the fish fry, feeding them whatever they can find.
The fish fry survival rate has remained low due to a mix of species, insufficient density, and inadequate nutrition.
If we can teach everyone how to cultivate rotifers and control the variety and density of live bait, the survival rate of fish fry can be increased significantly.
Among the fish farmers who came to listen to the lecture was Old Zhao from Lijiawan, the one who almost drowned his fishpond last year because of pollution in the irrigation canal.
He came with his son, and the two sat in the front row, notebooks spread out on their laps, taking notes more diligently than anyone else.
There's also Sun Xiaozhu. After his father, Sun Maocai, signed a land lease agreement with Chen Zheng, he also started learning how to raise fish.
He came by himself this time, saying he wanted to learn first and then teach his father when he got back.
Sitting in the last row was a young man Chen Zheng didn't recognize, wearing a Zhongshan suit with a pen in his pocket.
After the training, he stayed behind and introduced himself as Song Changhe, from Liulin Village, downstream of Baiyang Town.
My family owns a fishpond and I want to learn some skills. I asked if I could stay and volunteer.
Chen Zheng asked a few basic questions and found that Song Changhe was clear-headed and that his questions were all on point.
He thought for a moment and said that the promotion station was in need of an informant.
Liu Jiawang will be returning to school after summer vacation, and someone needs to take over the data recording work.
Song Changhe agreed on the spot and came to town the next day with his bedding.
In late June, Deputy County Head Xu visited Baiyang Town once again.
He brought an inspection team from the Provincial Fisheries Department with him this time.
The head of the inspection team was Zheng, the deputy director of the Provincial Fisheries Department. He was in his fifties, with gray hair and wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
Deputy Director Zheng has been in charge of freshwater aquaculture in the province for more than a decade and has seen countless fish ponds.
However, the integrated model of tiered fishponds, circular seedling nurseries, and technology extension stations at Baiyang Lake...
This was the first time he had ever seen it.
Chen Zheng led the inspection team from Pond No. 1 to Pond No. 3, presenting the aquaculture data, the number of people trained in technology, and the records of mandarin fish fry breeding over the past six months.
Deputy Director Zheng squatted by the circular seedling pond and examined the third batch of mandarin fish fry that had just hatched with a magnifying glass.
The fish fry darted around in the tank, their silvery-white bodies shimmering under the magnifying glass.
Deputy Director Zheng looked at it for a long time, then stood up, dusted off his hands, and said something.
"This model should be promoted throughout the province."
He turned to Deputy County Head Xu, who was accompanying him, and said...
This year, the province plans to designate one provincial-level model family farming household in each county.
Baiyang Town has the most suitable conditions and can be directly upgraded to a provincial-level family farming demonstration site.
The special support fund of 3,000 yuan will arrive next month, and the Provincial Fisheries Research Institute will continue to provide technical support.
The county aquatic products company prioritizes supplying fish fry and guarantees to purchase adult fish.
Deputy Director Zheng gave another special instruction.
It is said that artificial breeding of mandarin fish is a rare technology in the province, and Baiyang Town should take the lead in making this path a success.
The day the news reached Lutang Village, Chen Laosan was squatting in the yard sharpening his fishing spear.
After listening to Chen Zheng's words, he pushed the whetstone aside, stood up, took out a pipe from his pocket, and filled it with tobacco.
His hands were trembling slightly, and tobacco shreds spilled all over the floor.
He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and the smoke billowed from his nostrils, only to be dispersed by the June evening breeze.
He walked into the kitchen with a pipe in his mouth and rummaged through the cupboard to find the jar of old rice wine that his grandfather had buried.
The red cloth covering the mouth of the jar had faded and turned a dull gray.
He untied the red cloth, poured two full rough porcelain bowls, pushed one bowl in front of Chen Zheng, and picked up the other himself.
I touched it.
He tilted his head back and gulped it down completely.
After finishing his drink, he put the bowl on the table, wiped his mouth, and told his mother to have a bowl too.
In early July, a provincial on-site meeting on freshwater aquaculture was held in Baiyang Town.
This is the highest-level meeting ever held in Baiyang Town.
The town government compound was packed with skilled breeders, technicians, and agricultural bureau officials from more than a dozen counties across the province.
Ma Yuanchao from the Provincial Fisheries Research Institute presented a technical report on the artificial breeding of mandarin fish.
Zhou Haiming shared his experience in water quality management in the Baiyanghu area.
As the host, Chen Zheng led the delegates on a tour of the tiered fishponds and mandarin fish seedling base.
After the on-site meeting, several county agricultural bureau chiefs approached Chen Zheng, wanting him to come and provide technical guidance.
Chen Zheng did not agree, but said he could share the training materials and technical manuals from Baiyang Town with them.
He discussed it with Li Quan and decided to use the water quality data accumulated over the past six months.
The case studies on fish disease prevention and control, as well as the records of mandarin fish fry breeding, were compiled into a booklet, mimeographed, and distributed to surrounding towns and villages.
This booklet was later taken by the county aquatic products company and reprinted several times.
It became the first localized freshwater aquaculture technology manual in Qingshui County.
In mid-July, another sum of money appeared in the account.
The 3,000 yuan special fund for the provincial family farming demonstration site has arrived.
With the addition of previous loans and subsidies, the promotion station now has over 8,000 yuan in available funds.
Chen Zheng decided to allocate some funds to improve the office conditions of the promotion station.
He added a brick and tile training room to the backyard of the town government.
It can seat fifty people, and it has a blackboard and lights. The walls are painted white and the floor is paved with blue bricks.
A small warehouse was built next to the training room, specifically for storing fish medicine, feed additives, and rotifer algae seedlings for breeding.
He also installed a public telephone at the promotion station—the suggestion that Liu Jiawang had made several months ago had finally come to fruition.
The day the telephone was installed.
Liu Jiawang made a special phone call to Sister Deng, and the two of them were extremely excited on the phone.
At the end of July, Guo Changlin arrived from the provincial capital.
He didn't come alone this time; he brought a three-person purchasing team.
The head of the group is the largest state-owned vegetable market in the provincial capital.
The purchasing manager of the Jiefang Road vegetable market, surnamed Meng, is in his forties and has a round face.
He speaks with a provincial capital accent, speaks quickly, but his logic is clear.
The other two are purchasing managers from two state-owned hotels in the provincial capital.
Chen Zheng led the purchasing team to look around the fishpond for a whole morning.
Director Meng squatted by the water's edge, watching the silver carp swimming at the bottom, and asked several questions.
What kind of concentrate feed is used? From which fish farm did the fish fry come? Can water quality indicators be tested regularly?
Chen Zheng answered each question one by one, showing them the training course completion certificate and the technical guidance records from the Provincial Fisheries Research Institute.
The water quality test data from the past six months were all laid out on the pond embankment and shown to Director Meng one by one.
After Director Meng finished reading, he stood up, dusted off his hands, and said, "I'll take all of these fish."
The price he offered was nearly 20% higher than the county's purchase price.
Crucian carp is 1.7 yuan per jin, bream is 1.8 yuan per jin, grass carp is 2 yuan per jin, and silver carp is 1.6 yuan per jin.
Most importantly, he signed a long-term supply agreement.
Starting this autumn, all livestock farmers under the Baiyang Town Extension Station will be covered.
All adult fish that meet the quality standards will be purchased by the Jiefang Road vegetable market.
Chen Zheng pointed out the last batch of mandarin fish fry in Pond No. 3 that were about to be separated into different ponds to Director Meng.
The consensus between the two was simple.
What the provincial capital really lacks are the top-quality products raised in Baiyang Lake.
From soft-shelled turtles and eels to mandarin fish used in experiments.
As long as the quality is good, the Jiefang Road vegetable market is willing to set up a fixed purchasing point at Baiyang Lake and directly put up bidding prices.
Halfway through the meal, Chef Qian brought out a plate of freshly cooked eel paste.
The oil in the eel paste was still sizzling, and the aroma of caramelization filled the entire private room.
Director Meng picked up a piece of eel with his chopsticks, chewed it twice, and his eyes lit up. He asked where the eel was from.
Chen Zheng said they were caught in the irrigation ditches of the rice paddies in Baiyang Lake, using eel traps woven by his father, and that they could provide a stable supply every month.
Director Meng put down his chopsticks and said that he wanted as many eels as he could get from now on.
When the banquet ended, Master Qian pulled Chen Zheng aside.
He pulled a neatly folded piece of paper from his apron pocket.
What you take apart is a draft of the new menu for Dongfeng Hotel.
Two new dishes were printed on the piece of paper.
The prices listed for stewed turtle with codonopsis and braised eel in hot oil are three times that of ordinary braised fish.
"Those wild ginseng roots you sent over last year, I had an old Chinese medicine doctor prescribe a recipe to stew with soft-shelled turtle."
People from the provincial capital who tried it all said it was delicious. This dish is now the signature dish of Dongfeng Restaurant.
If you can get more wild ginseng this winter, I'll promote this dish in the provincial capital.
Chen Zheng folded and put away the sample menu, already planning his next trip into the mountains after autumn.
In early August, the water temperature of Baiyang Lake reached its highest point of the year.
All the aerators in the three fish ponds were turned on, and the water splashed up by the impellers shimmered with rainbows in the sunlight.
The third batch of mandarin fish fry in the breeding pond has grown to more than three inches long.
From head to tail, fine scales began to grow on its silvery-white body.
Qin Shulan called to say that we could start screening by specifications.
Although this process is tedious, it is directly related to the subsequent survival rate.
The feeding boat was rowed to the center of the pond, and the wooden buckets full of feed were right at hand.
He grabbed a handful of soybean cake powder mixed with wheat bran and sprinkled it onto the water.
Schools of fish swarmed in from all directions.
The silver carp floated belly-up, the grass carp flicked its tail, and the black back of the black carp drew dark lines on the water's surface.
The fish from the three ponds combined are almost two pounds for the largest and a little over a pound for the smallest.
In two months, the first batch of adult fish will be harvested.
Based on the current market conditions and long-term supply contracts, this year's income will be at least 12,000 yuan.
After deducting loan interest, feed costs, and labor wages, the net profit can exceed eight thousand.
In 1985, this amount was a huge sum of money in rural Qingshui County that could completely turn a family's life around.
Chen Zheng gently broke the last few feed pellets into pieces and threw them into the pond.
He gazed at the ripples spreading across the water, his mind churning with even more distant plans.
Baiyang Lake is just the beginning.
Once the fish are harvested in the fall, the funds will be returned.
He then had his first truly controllable sum of cash.
At that time, his gaze would no longer be fixed solely on the surface of the water.
In early September, the rice paddies along Baiyang Lake began to turn yellow.
The first batch of early rice has been harvested, and the rustling sound of sickles cutting rice stalks echoes throughout Baiyang Town.
The threshing ground was covered with golden rice grains, and the village women, wearing straw hats, were turning the rice grains in the sun.
Barefoot on the scalding hot grains, the soles of my feet turned bright red.
Chen Zheng's family doesn't have many early rice fields, only a little over two mu (approximately 0.33 acres) at the east end of the village, next to the irrigation canal.
They didn't plant any particularly good varieties; it was just the most common early indica rice grown locally.
But this year's harvest is much better than in previous years.
He piled the mud he cleared from the fishpond into the fields as base fertilizer.
The fish excrement and feed residue mixed in the pond mud are very fertile, even more effective than chemical fertilizers.
The rice ears drooped heavily, the grains plump and full. Old Chen cut a handful of rice ears, rubbed them in his hands, and...
The rice grains that had been rubbed out were white and shiny. He squinted at them and said that the rice harvest was more than 20% higher than last year.
Chen Zheng squatted on the edge of the field, watching the golden waves of rice being pushed away by the wind, layer by layer.
He was thinking of straws.
straw.
Fish farming requires feed; soybean cake and wheat bran are concentrated feeds, while grass is roughage.
But when winter comes, the grass withers, and the supply of coarse feed runs out.
When his father used to raise fish, he would rely on soybean cake and wheat bran to get by in the winter, and the cost was frighteningly high.
Last year, he saw a new technology in a briefing from the Provincial Fisheries Research Institute.
Ammonified rice straw feed.
It involves chopping up rice straw, spraying it with urea solution, sealing it, and fermenting it for a few days. The resulting feed is soft and fragrant.
The crude protein content can be increased several times, and it's a food that cattle love to eat, as well as fish.
More importantly, this stuff is cheap; straw is everywhere, and urea can be bought easily at supply and marketing cooperatives.
One pound of urea can process dozens of pounds of rice straw, which is much cheaper than buying soybean cake.
On the day the rice was harvested, Chen Zheng called Zhang Jianguo over.
They gathered all the straw from their own land and piled it on an open space next to the fishpond.
The straw was piled up like a small mountain and dried in the sun for two days. It made a rustling sound when you squeezed it.
Chen Zheng bought two bags of urea from the town's supply and marketing cooperative.
According to the formula written in the briefing, dissolve urea in water and spray it evenly on the straw.
Then they pressed the straw layer by layer into a large, unused water vat.
Cover it with plastic sheeting, tie it tightly with hemp rope, and seal it.
Zhang Jianguo squatted down beside him and asked if the fish would really eat it.
Chen Zheng said the briefing stated that it was for feeding cattle, but he had seen it in the book "Freshwater Fish Aquaculture".
Grass carp are herbivorous and readily accept fermented coarse fiber feed.
If the proportions are right, it can completely replace some of the grass and soybean cake.
The key is cost. A pound of soybean cake costs a little over 10 cents, while a pound of ammonified rice straw costs less than 2 cents.
The money saved on feed costs becomes the extra profit.
A week later, Chen Zheng opened the sealed water tank.