Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 89 - 30: The Start of the Cattle Farming Experiment_1

Chapter 89: Chapter 30: The Start of the Cattle Farming Experiment_1

When Yan Fei returned to Vegetable Garden Island at night, he was immediately infuriated.

Si Hei, the dog with the puppies was fine, pretty much staying in its nest to care for the pups, but San Hei was a different story. It seemed like being previously confined made it eager to take advantage of the newfound freedom to run wildly.

Luckily, it did not run out of the area of Yan Fei’s vegetable garden, otherwise the Compsognathus would likely not be pleased.

Still, this wouldn’t do. Si Hei’s nest was downstream of the Spring Pool, so drinking and relieving itself downstream was fine. But San Hei was different—it stayed near the Spring Pool, and piles of dog excrement had started to litter the edge of the pool.

Yan Fei dragged it over, pointed to the pile of waste, gave it a few swats, and then dragged it over to Si Hei’s nest, chastising it thoroughly.

He wasn’t sure if it understood, but at least his anger scared it stiff.

After tidying up, he arranged plenty of food for the two dogs. They wouldn’t lose out on Vegetable Garden Island. Although their master, Yan Fei, might be intimidating, when it came to food, this place was like a paradise for them—with both raw and cooked meat and plenty of meat soup to keep them full.

He hurriedly finished harvesting the radish leaves. They would lose their value if they grew any larger. If it were not for the Si Family’s Brothers causing trouble, he would already have planted new crops by now.

The next planting would still be radishes—it was simply more convenient.

Other vegetables just required a little maintenance, and they were all growing well. The water spinach would be ready to sell in a few days, and the others had started to flower—it seemed like they would soon bear fruit.

After a flurry of activity, Yan Fei prepared a couple of small bone sections during his meal. When he had the tools, he would grind them into powder to try feeding the cows. After a brief rest, Yan Fei then hurriedly headed for town.

"What? No more?" Almost jumping out of surprise, the vegetable seller in the wet market couldn’t believe his ears when Yan Fei, having just completed the transaction, informed him that there were no more radish leaves. "Why are there no more! Ah, business was just getting good. Can’t you see how all the wild vegetables in the wheat fields have been dug up already? How can there be no more?"

"The water spinach should almost be ready; the others will probably take a few more days. Tomatoes, peppers, beans, and eggplants are all growing nicely, just a bit slow, so it will take some time."

"That’s alright, for water spinach, pick them early—this plant grows faster the more you pick it—just make sure to leave the roots. As long as you have vegetables to sell, it’s fine. You can ask about me, Xiang Changsong, my brother works at the market management office—I definitely won’t rip you off. We can negotiate the price later on." The vegetable seller was overjoyed. He was right—there was indeed a shortage of vegetables at the moment.

"Alright. I didn’t bother looking for other buyers anyway. I just don’t have time during the day and can only do so at this time. By the way, do you know where I can find something to grind bone powder with?" After agreeing, Yan Fei quickly inquired.

"Grind bones? Would a small stone mill used for grinding spices do, or do you need an automatic powder grinder? Both diesel and electric versions are available. What do you need it for?" Xiang Changsong was familiar with the process of collecting vegetables but was rather puzzled about why Yan Fei was asking for this.

"I want to grind some bone powder to feed the cows." Yan Fei didn’t mind telling him—it wasn’t a secret. The only thing he had to make sure was nobody found out what bones he was using.

"Feed cows, bone powder? Then you just need to get a stone mortar—that’s a simple task. Can cows even eat that stuff? I didn’t know about that, but you probably shouldn’t feed too much, right? Just get a stone mortar and pound it—that should be sufficient?"

The stone mortar Xiang Changsong mentioned was the type used to crush garlic—it was about the size of a bowl. Yan Fei understood immediately upon hearing this.

"That won’t do—it’s too small. I have several cows now, and there will be even more in the future. A small mortar just wouldn’t be enough."

"Several cows? You’re quite the cattle farmer! But did you feed them this powder before? If you want to try it first, just get something simple. If you’re sure you need to produce large amounts of that powder, then go for an electric or diesel grinder. You must think this through—the latter is not cheap." Xiang Changsong, seeing Yan Fei as a gold mine who would bring him a profit, was rather sincere in his advice.

"You’re right. I should start with a small stone mill, and we’ll see how it goes." Yan Fei thought it made sense—there was no point in investing heavily if the bone powder didn’t yield any effect.

"Well, see if this thing works for you!" On hearing this, Xiang Changsong went inside.

When Yan Fei followed and took a look, he thought, isn’t this the thing used by the Chinese medicine store to crush medicine?

It was a Crescent Groove, akin to a fish shape. A round wheel was placed on top, with wooden handles on both sides. You could put herbs or seasonings in the groove and use your foot to crush them or push the handle by hand to make the wheel roll back and forth in the groove, gradually grinding the contents into powder.

These were also called rollers, but their shape was different from ordinary ones. They were usually called Crescent Moon rollers or Fish rollers.

"Alright, this should do, I’ll use it for now and buy an automatic one if necessary. How much is it?" Yan Fei liked it at first glance; it was effortless, he could have someone else do the grinding when he wanted to be lazy. After all, it was a Kung Fu task; almost anyone could do it.

"I don’t use this thing much. You can have it for twenty yuan. It might seem small, but it’s made of iron. Even as scrap iron, it would fetch more than this price." Xiang Changsong was quick to finalize. He had already made a lot of money from Yan Fei these past few days, and he didn’t mind parting with this thing he had no use for. His Crescent-shaped Roller was considered a large one amongst its kind. Made entirely of iron, it was undoubtedly not light. Asking for twenty yuan was indeed giving it away at scrap iron price.

After Yan Fei paid twenty yuan and moved it to his vehicle, Xiang Changsong gave him a thumbs-up for his effortless demeanor. "You really are strong. I usually feel too lazy to move it because it’s so heavy. By the way, you have so many cattle. Do you also have flour or oil mills?"

"What?" Yan Fei was puzzled. What did his cattle rearing have to do with flour and oil mills?

"In our village, the family who are professional chicken farmers also run a flour mill not far from the market. The family that runs the oil pressing business in the market raises several pigs on the bran and oil residue. It makes the livestock grow faster. I thought your family was doing the same. If you have another business, you could save a lot on feed costs," Xiang Changsong explained.

"Hmm, I see. I only have a few cattle, no other business! I’ll think about it. I’ll deliver some hollow heart vegetables to you once they’re good. Thanks a lot!" Yan Fei thanked him and left the wet market.

He was still thinking about the last few sentences Xiang Changsong said as he flew in the air.

Yan Fei knew about the oil and flour mills that Xiang Changsong mentioned. They were mostly small workshops with one machine each. Most of the people in the surrounding rural areas choose to process their home-grown grain and oilseeds in these workshops. The workshops charged a small electricity fee, but the residues, like bran from milling flour and residue from oil pressing, were all kept by the workshop.

However, Yan Fei felt that this was too troublesome. He should focus on raising his cattle well for now. He jotted this idea down in his notebook. Once the cattle were raised well, he could consider other things. It wasn’t good to think too much and lose sleep over it.

When he returned, he did nothing but start making bone powder on his own. He broke the bones into small pieces to the point that no one could tell which animal they came from. Then he left Vegetable Garden Island and sat in front of the cattle farm house, basking in the sun and slowly grinding the bone pieces in the Crescent Moon Groove.

The test subject had already been selected - it was the calf he bought out of goodwill. Among the ten cattle, it was growing the slowest. If anything happened, it wouldn’t hurt him too much. He could simply sell it for its meat.

He had spent half a morning grinding until all the crushed bones in the Crescent Groove had turned into fine powder like flour before he stood up.

When the cowshed was built, Yan Fei kept asking for more space and there was plenty left now. He tethered the experimental cow alone on one side and, following the instructions in the book, added some bone powder to its feed.

All he could do now was to wait after feeding the cow for a while to see the results.

Everyone, including Ma Chao, knew that he always studied with a book in his hands. These days, as long as something was written in a book, it was considered authoritative and everyone believed it. They were supportive of his experiment.

After a while, when everything settled down, Pang Fa came over with a message.

Ma Yongming and others had important things to do. The construction team was busy with jobs and worked non-stop. Now, Pang Fa had become the most idle one. He was considering raising fish once it got warmer and was currently looking for a place. He was running around so much he didn’t even have time for catching Yellow Eels.