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This process is somewhat similar to making bags of convenience food.

In fact, silage is indeed a convenient food.

These packaged corn crumbs will be piled up in silage pits, waiting to be taken out bag by bag during the barren winter.

It contains lactic acid bacteria, which ferments it into a feed similar to sauerkraut. It has a fermented aroma and a hint of sweetness from the corn kernels themselves, making it very popular with cattle and sheep.

However, when people feed it to cattle and sheep, it must be eaten with hay, otherwise the cattle and sheep will have excessive stomach acid and indigestion if they eat too much.

More than twenty people were working on Shi Wen's ranch: some were driving, some were spreading mushrooms, some were packing, some were carrying things... Shiwen didn't need Shi Wen direct them; they Shi Wen.

When they got tired, everyone would spread out a plastic sheet next to the hay bales, put out milk tea pots and various snacks, and sit down together to drink milk tea, eat snacks, and rest.

Deep yellow hay bales dotted the withered earth.

Above that, the sky is a deep blue.

A gust of wind, hot from the sun, blew by, ruffling everyone's hair and the hems of their clothes.

Shi Wen leaned against the bundle of straw behind him, lazily squinting his eyes, making the most of his time to rest.

Chang Qingqing, who came to help with the work, patted the bundle of grass. "Shi Wen, when did you cut this grass?"

"Just a few days ago," Shi Wen said, "The cattle and sheep at home couldn't finish eating all that grass, so I cut some extra to store for winter. Unfortunately, I cut it a bit late, and the grass is quite old now."

Chang Qingqing: "I knew it! I thought you only cut the grass on your ranch once."

Shi Wen, "Originally, we only planned to cut the grass once, but then we realized that there was so much grass that it would just wither and die anyway, and it would affect the growth of the pasture next year, so we simply cut it twice."

The group started talking about pasture grass.

Old Man Ma, who often helped Shi Wen's family herd sheep, said, "I don't know how your pasture grows so well. The sheep eat it and each one is fatter and stronger than the last."

Another old man asked with a smile, "Shi Wen, how did your sheep grow so big? I see other people's sheep gain twenty or thirty pounds a year, but yours can grow to forty or fifty pounds."

I really didn't know Shi Wen, but his sheep grow faster than other people's, and they grow mostly muscle, not fat.

He didn't introduce any special feeding techniques during the feeding process, and the feed was similar to that of ordinary households.

Perhaps it's because he has Qilin Bloodline that the sheep he raises are of better quality.

Shi Wen laughed and said, "I don't know how the grass and sheep grow either, they just grow like this."

"There's really no secret?"

"There's no secret to it. Old Man Ma always comes over to help me herd the sheep, he knows everything," Shi Wen said. "I feed them a mixture of fresh grass, coarse grains, and refined grains, just like everyone else."

"Sigh, if only our sheep could grow as fast as yours."

The conversation then turned to the price of sheep.

The price of live sheep this year is relatively average. The price of ordinary castrated sheep has been around 20 yuan recently, while the price of premium castrated sheep is different.

Perhaps because of the good rainfall today, the forage is growing well, and the sheep are less likely to get sick, there are more sheep available in the market.

As they were chatting, someone joined in from behind. "Prices aren't great this year, so let's raise them for a few more months and sell them next year."

"Wow, how can we afford to raise a sheep that eats so much grass over the whole winter?"

After the speaker finished answering, he turned around and realized it was Zhang Deyuan.

Everyone shifted their positions, making room for Zhang Deyuan in the middle. "Old Zhang, what brings you here? Here to collect Shi Wen's sheep?"

Zhang Deyuan shrugged. "I'd like to buy them, Shi Wen they're raising their sheep until the New Year before selling them, so they're not selling them now."

Shi Wen Wenxiao said, "I have plenty of fodder. Sheep prices are only high around the Lunar New Year, so I'll definitely keep raising them until then."

The price of castrated mutton is currently 21 jin (approximately 10.5 kg), but it may rise to 25 or 26, or even 27 or 28, by the Chinese New Year.

Of course, cattle and sheep diseases are more prevalent in autumn and winter. There is no green grass outside, so farmers can only use stored hay or buy it directly from outside, which is also costly.

When is the most profitable time for farmers to sell their sheep? They have to decide for themselves.

After resting for a while, everyone got up and got back to work.

The harvester chugped on, and the truck restarted.

Upon Shi Wen that Zhang Deyuan needed to speak with him, Shi Wen asked Chang Qingqing to look after things here before leading him to another area to chat, "Brother Zhang, what can I do for you?"

Zhang Deyuan: "Can't I contact you if there's nothing wrong?"

"Sure, but you've been so busy lately, you probably won't come looking for me right now," Shi Wen. "Just tell me quickly, then I'll go back to work."

Zhang Deyuan smiled and said, "I really do have something to ask you. I've recently bought a lot of sheep, and I want to sort them to ensure quality. We need to differentiate between premium, first-class, and second-class sheep; we can't just sell them all together."

Shi Wen nodded. "That makes sense."

Zhang Deyuan continued, "I've been buying sheep for so many years, so my eye is pretty good, but I'm still not sure if you're going to ask me to break it down this much. If you have some free time, could you come help me for a few days? I'll pay you 500 a day."

Shi Wen Wenxiao said, "It's really not easy. After dealing with you so many times, it's finally your turn to treat me."

Zhang Deyuan: "I'm serious, I'm completely convinced of your sheep-herding skills. I doubt there's anyone in the entire pastoral area who's better at it than you."

"You've praised me so much I feel embarrassed to refuse." Shi Wen didn't mind helping out. "When do we start selecting sheep? I'll arrange things on the ranch."

Zhang Deyuan asked, "How are things going in the next couple of days? I need to sell the sheep I have as soon as possible and get the money back quickly, otherwise I'll really be short of cash."

Upon Shi Wen this, Shi Wen simply said, "Then let's start tomorrow. There are a lot of people working for me today, so I'll take this opportunity to hire them for two more days."

The two quickly made an agreement. Zhang Deyuan had nothing else to do that day, so after the agreement was made, he rolled up his sleeves and went to help him carry the silage rolls.

The silage rolls were carried to the silage pit, piled up, and then covered with plastic sheeting and soil.