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They were secretly giving themselves an extra meal.

As expected of living beings, they naturally seek advantage and avoid harm.

Qing Mengzhu couldn't be the only one surprised. He sat under the bamboo and sent a message to Ming Chunxi: [I found the herd of calves. You'd never guess what they're doing.]

A few seconds later, Ming Chunxi replied: [Are they eating hazel grouse eggs?]

Qing Mengzhu: [Huh? Your imagination runs wilder than mine?!]

Ming Chunxi: [I read that cows, being herbivores, occasionally eat meat and eggs, so isn't that right? Then what are they doing?]

Qing Mengzhu: [They're eating bamboo leaves!]

Ming Chunxi also somewhat surprised: [Cows can eat bamboo leaves? Aren't bamboo leaves said to be hard to digest?]

Qing Mengzhu: [Right? I was surprised too. But thinking about it later, cows have several stomachs, so it's not surprising that they can eat bamboo leaves. Besides, the bamboo leaves they eat are tender and juicy, so they should be easier to digest than older bamboo leaves.]

Ming Chunxi: [That makes sense, just like how they eat mulberry leaves.]

Qing Mengzhu: [Mulberry leaves contain a lot of nutrients. I've looked it up, and some farmers use mulberry leaves to feed cattle, while bamboo leaves are really rare.]

Ming Chunxi: [Our bamboo is unique, and so are our cattle.]

Qing Mengzhu: [That's true, they've gone ahead. I'll keep observing them, and we'll talk again when I get back tonight.]

Qing Mengzhu chatted with Ming Chunxi for a few words, then put her phone in her pocket and went to chase after the cow.

They've been raising cattle for quite some time and often interact with the herd; the cattle aren't afraid of them.

After a brief start, the cattle quickly set their sights on new bamboo stalks, bending them with their weight before some cattle went to graze on the leaves.

After observing for a while, Qing Mengzhu discovered that the bamboo that could be bent by the weight of an ox was mostly young bamboo, while older bamboo was harder and less flexible, making it less likely to be bent.

On the contrary, these new bamboo shoots are easy for the oxen to crush.

The bamboo leaves that grow from tender bamboo are also more tender and easier to digest, which should better meet the feeding needs of these picky cattle.

They often need to harvest bamboo, so they cut down the old bamboo to make room for new bamboo to grow.

This is why the proportion of new bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest is relatively large, allowing the cattle to continuously graze on the bamboo leaves.

While following behind the cows, Qing Mengzhu also noticed that their cows didn't just eat bamboo leaves all the time. When they had almost finished eating, they would nibble on the wild grass on the ground, and they would even specifically choose the tender wild grass to eat.

Tender bamboo leaves already resemble wild grass, and when the two are mixed together and digested, they become even more indistinguishable.

They rarely observe cow dung, and even if they occasionally see bamboo leaves in it, they assume that the cows are eating grass under the bamboo and accidentally ate the fallen bamboo leaves. They never even considered the possibility that the cows would specifically eat bamboo leaves.

No wonder the cows ate so many bamboo leaves and they didn't notice.

Qing Mengzhu observed while shaking her head with a sigh.

In the evening, when Ming Chunxi returned, Qing Mengzhu told him about it. At the end, she said, "I think the bamboo forests on our two mountains are indeed too few to support five cows. Let's buy twenty-five more. I'm a little curious about how cows raised on bamboo leaves will behave."

Ming Chunxi had no objections whatsoever. "Still buy from the original farm?"

Qing Mengzhu: "That's right! This time we'll buy larger cattle, all six months old, and try to buy cattle from the same batch as our own."

Ming Chunxi: "Should we buy a bull? Or just a heifer?"

Qing Mengzhu thought for a moment and said, "Let's buy another bull calf. We'll have two bull calf calves in total, so we can have a choice when the time comes."

It's worthwhile to buy a bull, raise it to adulthood, and keep it for breeding; otherwise, it won't be easy to find a reliable breeding bull later.

Qing Mengzhu's company is already quite well-known in the area, and they went to an old breeding farm. They said they wanted to buy 25 good six-month-old cows. The person in charge of the breeding farm was very enthusiastic and directly picked out the good cows so that they could choose the best of the best.

Having raised cattle for so long, they had gained some knowledge about them, and when it came time to choose, Qing Mengzhu picked out the calf she wanted.

After bringing the newly purchased cattle home, Qing Mengzhu temporarily isolated them in the backyard.

Qing Mengzhu fed them water chestnut leaves, which they ate happily without any disgust, unlike the five picky calves on the mountain.

He was certain that the water bamboo leaves were indeed fine; the cattle on the mountain weren't eating them simply because they had found better fodder and were no longer interested in the water bamboo leaves.

Qing Mengzhu shook her head. Small animals are also very clever; their instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm is completely natural.

When Zhao Hexi heard that they had raised cattle again, he came over to see them and said to Qing Mengzhu, "No matter how much I advised you before, you wouldn't raise more cattle. Why did you suddenly think of buying calves now?"

Qing Mengzhu mentioned that the cows were eating bamboo leaves. "We were worried before that with both hazel grouse and cows being raised on the mountain, it wouldn't be able to accommodate so many animals, but now it seems we worried for nothing."

Zhao Hexi's eyes widened. "What does it look like when a cow bends a bamboo stalk with its body? Do you have a picture? Let me see."

Qing Mengzhu actually took a picture and immediately took out her phone to show him the photo.

After looking at it, Zhao Hexi said, "It looks like a baby elephant."

Qing Mengzhu didn't quite understand. "What?"

Zhao Hexi gestured. "Little elephant, you know Asian elephants, right? They eat leaves from trees, and sometimes when they can't reach them, they'll step on the trunk with their bodies to bend it down so they can eat the leaves on the branches."

Qing Mengzhu understood. "Looking at it this way, it does indeed look somewhat similar."

Zhao Hexi: "Bamboo leaves are so good, should we pick some for other uses? I've seen people use them to make bamboo leaf tea."

Qing Mengzhu thought for a moment and said, "Forget about bamboo leaf tea. Bamboo leaves don't have much flavor to begin with, and making bamboo leaf tea would be a waste. When I have time, I'll take some people up the mountain to pick some bamboo leaves, make them into silage, ferment them, and then feed them to the cattle."

Fermented silage is easier to digest and more convenient for cattle to eat.

With so many new cows bought for the family, Qing Mengzhu was a little worried that they wouldn't adapt to the environment. For several days in a row, he drove the cows up and down the mountain and personally herded them.

The cattle in their family all came from the same farm, were the same age, and belonged to the same batch.

After a few days of getting acquainted, the original five cows of Qing Mengzhu's family accepted the twenty-five cows that came later, with the bull from the original five cows becoming the lead cow.

The bull had been at Qing Mengzhu's house for a longer time and had eaten a lot of good food. It was much bigger than the bull that came later and had a significant advantage in fighting. It did a very good job as the lead bull.

After the cattle were put into a herd, Qing Mengzhu made a special observation and found that the cattle got along quite well. The cattle that came later gradually learned to bend the bamboo with their bodies and eat the tender bamboo leaves on the branches.

Their bamboo can be processed into high-precision materials; its hardness and toughness are unparalleled. Even when bulls press down on the bamboo, it doesn't cause any damage.

The cattle seem to be able to distinguish between young bamboo shoots and old bamboo shoots.

There aren't many tender leaves on the old bamboo, which doesn't suit the cattle's diet, so they rarely graze on the old bamboo.

Young bamboo has more tender leaves and is more resilient. Even if it is crushed by a cow, it will recover quickly once it is released.

Thus, a delicate balance was achieved between the cattle herd and the bamboo forest.

Looking at this scene, Qing Mengzhu couldn't help but marvel at the wonders of nature.

To Qing Mengzhu, although cows eat bamboo leaves, they do not eat bamboo shoots.

It's possible that because bamboo shoots have thick outer shells, cows' blunt, thick teeth can't crack them open—cows don't have incisors or canines in their upper jaw; they only have dental pads, unlike humans.

After observing for several days, Qing Mengzhu discovered that the bamboo shoots might not be that they didn't want to eat them, but rather that they lacked the proper teeth and had to give up this delicacy.

Ming Chunxi had mentioned before that cattle might eat hazelnuts and hazelnut eggs, Qing Mengzhu had also made a special observation when she was herding cattle.