2013 China Ag Class

May 12

Greetings from China! Today we started out with a lovely two hour ride up to Yangling to start the day off with a Shanxi Shiyang Co. feed processing base. Along the way we were able to see the way locals work in the wheat and other fields. There are so many green houses along the way, housing a variety of crops. The interstate we are on makes us feel like we are around home. At the mill we learned how they researched their feeds as well as animal diseases along with sales and processing methods of their feeds. The corn, wheat, SBM, and canola meal are stored either in 110 lb bags or in huge piles in a large warehouse, and all the mixed feed are stored in bags and all feeds meet U.S. human food safety standards. There are 105 people at each branch of the mill and they are kept immaculately clean. All the feed leaves the mill in bags, and are loaded by hand onto a wide variety of sizes of trucks. Next up, we visited the Shanxi Kingbull Livestock Development Co Beef Cattle Breeding Center on about 150 mou (approximately 35 acres) The breeding is composed of a traditional yellow breed crossed with a red Angus x Wagu cross. They are slaughtered at 26 months weighing 1,000 lbs with the meat sold for $36 per pound. It is so heavily marbled that there is more fat than red in the meat, and looks like Kobe beef. They are watered 20% beer and 80% water, and fed wheat straw, wheat bran, and soybean meal. They are housed indoors and crossed ventilated. Close by was the Shanxi Shengfeng Dairy Industry Group. Holstein dairy cows were housed in a free stall barn, and the calf growing and heifer development was onsite. They are milked three times a day and produce 55lbs of milk a day. However, the milking machines are brought to the cows instead of the other way around like we do at home. They are fed a 50% cereal and 50% concentrate diet such as peanut shells, peanut hay, a course cut silage, wheat straw and DDG's with a total of 35% moisture. The cattle are smaller framed than the Holsteins at home. Following, we toured the Shanxi Qingchaun Cattle Industry Group Breeding Center. They are a cross breed of traditional yellow cattle and Black Angus, and all AI'd by Angus semen from Beijing. It is 2000 cows in dry lot under roof with full airflow. Birth weights of calves are only 30-40 kg. They are weaned at 4 months of age, and at 6 months only weigh 200 kg for crossbred calves and 150 kg for purebred calves. There are no breeding seasons, and they calve and breed year round. Calves are kept to feed out and for research. The average cow life span is 8-10 years.

Lunch was a buffet served at the Yileyuan Restaurant at the Northwest A & F University. We were able to choose between a variety of delicious Chinese dishes. Dustin was presented a bowl of long noodles for his birthday, which signifies a long life.

Our last tour was to the Shanxi Besun Group, a completely integrated swine operation that was started in 2001. The breeding is a Duroc crossed with a Seger. They slaughter 300-400 pigs a day in their plant with 10,000 overall last year, and sell the meat in their 300+ meat shops across China. They have 25,000 sows with 4,000-5,000 sows on one farm site. No other pigs outside the operation are slaughtered. An average litter size is 11 piglets with 28 pigs per sow per year.

Everyone is still healthy and having a wonderful time. Tonight we have supper on our own, and last but not least, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!