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"It was indeed a huge cow; it was taller than me when I walked over."

The speaker was an elderly herdsman from the village, at least eighty years old. Because of the harsh conditions he had in his youth and malnutrition, he now has bowlegs and a hunchback, but he is in good spirits and always cheerful.

Shi Wen hadn't spoken much to this old man before, but after he helped the villagers treat their livestock and breed sheep several times, everyone gradually became familiar with him.

Shi Wen looked at the old man and smiled, "That should be it."

Someone nearby laughed, "If it were shorter than you, there would be no need to slaughter it."

The old man, holding a cigarette, laughed and said, "I was just saying this cow is exceptionally big and rare. I've never seen such a fine cow in my entire life."

Upon Shi Wen their words, Shi laughed and said, "Then I'll go in and take a look."

Shi Wen was chatting outside, Fu Meng and the others had already heard his voice.

Upon seeing him enter, Fu Meng beckoned him over. "Shi Wen, you've come at the right time. We're planning to slaughter a young bull today. What do you think of this bull?"

Shi Wen asked, "Where is it? Has it been weighed yet?"

Fu Meng: "I just weighed it, 1,903 jin, just a little short of 2,000 jin, what a pity."

Someone nearby said, "If you feed it for another month or two, it might weigh two thousand catties."

Fu Meng shook his head. "A month ago, it was almost at 2,000 jin, and it's still a little short. The weather's been cold these past few days, and it's lost some weight from being fed so much. I don't think there's much hope if we keep feeding it."

Fu Meng took Shi Wen to see the cattle.

This is a castrated bull calf.

These professional livestock breeders almost always train their stud bulls separately, separating bulls and beef cattle from a young age and never mixing them.

This young bull was also castrated from a young age.

Castration makes it more docile, easier to manage, and also helps it grow fatter.

Shi Wen at the cow in front of him, Shi Wen thought it was indeed well-fed; its coat was in excellent condition, and its body and meat were also very good.

It's the kind of cow that could be used in a promotional video.

Fu Meng noticed Shi Wen's satisfaction and was slightly smug. "How about it? Feeding him all that hay wasn't a waste, was it?"

Shi Wen turned to him and gave him a thumbs up. "You must have executed the breeding plan very well."

Chang Qingqing said, "That's right. If he's thinking about something, he'll get up in the middle of the night, still wearing his clothes, to look up information."

Shi Wen pointed at the ox and said, "That's why we're getting such a generous reward now."

There's nothing wrong with this cow; it's already been quarantined beforehand, so it can go through the slaughter process.

Modernized farming is more civilized. Although they are professional cattle farmers, most of the time, the cattle still have to be sent to professional factories for slaughter.

Over there, the factory will help check the condition of the cattle, verify the legality of the paperwork, and then try to ensure the cattle die painlessly.

The people Fu Meng mentioned who slaughtered the cattle were the factory workers.

After they checked and confirmed there were no problems, they could take the cattle to the factory.

Shi Wen had also inspected the place and said, "Take it away."

Fu Meng: "Then I'll go take a look and come back later. You guys stay home and have some tea; I'll be back in a bit."

The nearest factory is on the outskirts of town; it only takes less than an hour to get there and back.

After all, it's much faster to process things by machine than by hand.

The others wanted to stay at Fu Meng's house for tea, but Shi Wen uncomfortable with the lively scene and simply said, "I'll go with you. We can go see what's going on at the factory over there."

Fu Meng didn't object. "Then you can ride in my car."

They drove directly behind the slaughterhouse trucks.

The slaughterhouse workers quickly moved the cattle away.

Upon arrival at the factory, the slaughterhouse staff checked the paperwork again to confirm that the cow was a healthy, quarantined beef cattle before taking it to the processing area.

Because it's autumn now, it's a peak season for slaughtering, and quite a lot of animals are being brought in for slaughter.

Besides cattle, there were also some horses and camels.

There are no horses specifically raised for meat here; they are all old and weak, and some are injured.

Shi Wen glanced at it but didn't look closely.

He glanced at the cow a few more times.

Most of the cattle here are local brown cattle. As domesticated cattle raised by ordinary people, the condition of these brown cattle is not very good. There are not many well-raised ones. Most of the brown cattle have rather dull coats, and their skeletons and body shapes have some problems.

If Shi Wen were to buy it, he probably wouldn't buy a similar type of cow.

Shi Wen has figured it out: although everyone here is a farmer, there are still quite a few professional farmers.

Most people rely on the experience passed down from their ancestors to raise cattle, rather than specifically learning modern feeding methods.

This is one of the reasons why the profitability of aquaculture has never been very high.

Extensive farming methods are too unprofitable.

Both are brown cattle, and both have been raised for two to three years, but Fu Meng's brown cattle are almost 2,000 jin (1,000 kg), while most of the brown cattle sent over are only a little over 1,000 jin (500 kg), and several are even less than 1,000 jin (500 kg).

Spending the same amount of time and in roughly the same cost, the final output can differ so greatly that the price difference can be several times greater when it reaches the market.

Shi Wen withdrew his gaze from the dark faces of the cattle owners and decided to wait until he had successfully bred the cattle before launching a cattle breed improvement program.

It's not required that every family's beef cattle reach the weight of Fu Meng's cattle, but only half the weight of his cattle is still too exaggerated.

The factory workers quickly brought out the slaughtered cattle.

The cowhide, cow head, and cow entrails have already been cut up and placed in individual boxes.

We only handle the slaughtering here; further processing is the responsibility of the cattle farmers.

After checking and confirming there were no problems, Fu Meng signed the papers and then said to Shi Wen, "Let's go back and see how the beef is."