In the 1960s and 1970s, rural areas were still a large-scale collectivized production system. Agricultural production mainly relies on human and animal power. Each production team has to raise more than a dozen animals, and the animals are divided into large animals and small animals. This refers to the type of animals, not their size. Horses, mules, and donkeys are large animals, and cows are small animals. My father has been the breeder of our production team for more than ten years. There are two breeders, and there were two countrymen from the same team who partnered with my father.
Every winter, I always go to the breeding room with my father to sleep at night. Although there is a strange smell of livestock manure there, there is a hot stove there, and people from the village often come there. Here is gossip. Sometimes, I would take a red potato from home and stuff it into the kang hole. After about two hours, I would take it out and enjoy the hot, fragrant and steaming roasted red potato.
Large and small livestock need to be raised in separate troughs. On the south side are cattle tied up, and on the north side are horses, mules, donkeys and other large livestock. The trough for raising livestock is one piece. Its bottom is made of bricks, and the upper part is made of wooden boards. The middle bottom of the north and south troughs are each covered with bricks for a grass mixing tank.
Livestock feed is divided into forage and concentrate. The fodder is mainly wheat straw, wheat bran, green fodder, such as grass, alfalfa, etc. In the past, the production team had to plant several acres of alfalfa. The fodder must be chopped into knots no longer than one inch long with a guillotine. The ingredients include soybeans and black beans, which are fried in a large iron pan until they are eight ripe and ground into powder. When the big animals are working hard, they also need to feed them peas.
When feeding animals, pour the fodder into the grass mixing tank, sprinkle a few handfuls of fine material, scoop out a few ladles of water, stir evenly with an iron spoon, and then use the iron spoon in turn to manipulate the grass material into the trough in front of each animal. Pour an iron tip into the forage.
The cow’s tongue sticks out very long, and it loves to lick its nose. It eats grass by rolling it into its mouth with its tongue and swallowing it whole. It is a ruminant and is in a semi-digested state after being infiltrated by the stomach. In its free time, it lies down and rests leisurely, pours the food out of its stomach, chews it carefully, and swallows it slowly so that it can be fully digested and absorbed.
There are feelings between cows. You lick my neck, and I will lick your face. Isn't there a saying that "cow licks its neck, and work changes work"? Ox also knows how to reciprocate and cooperate.
The big animals only eat the grass with their lips. It sounds good to them to eat the grass, and the sound of the grass is crisp and powerful, like music with a strong rhythm.
The braying of the hanging donkey is wanton and offensive. People summarize the four major hoots as "the donkey brays for hair saws and shovels, and for grinding iron in piles of sand and gravel." This includes donkeys. The cry. But this is the cruel nature of animals, what can be done?
My father is very affectionate towards these animals and loves them like his children. Feed at regular intervals and carefully. During the night, he would get up and pull on his shoes to feed them several times. He would check on them from time to time. If he found which animal had not finished eating, he would sprinkle some of the concentrate and mix it well so that they could eat it all.
Every year before and after the Qingming Festival, the brigade will hold an animal competition. There are four teams in our team. Our team’s geographical location is right in the center, so our team’s stadium happened to be the evaluation venue. The animals of the four teams were brought in. Red, black, white, flowers, mules and horses neighed, donkeys sang loudly, and cows were quiet and leisurely, licking their necks, scratching their itch, chewing their cud and flicking their tails.
The brigade organizes a jury to review the animals one by one, looking at the animal's fat head and energy score record, and then holds a meeting with the brigade cadres to discuss and evaluate the grade.
For several years, my father and another breeder were both rated as advanced breeders and received awards from the brigade. The prizes are towels, washbasins, etc., but the main thing is the honor. This is also the result of the sincere cooperation between my father and his partner.
On weekdays, the main tasks of the father and the others are to feed the animals on time, provide water to the animals, dry the soil, and pad the animal pens. Every year, the production team has to raise red potato seedlings and dry large amounts of animal manure.
When a cow gives birth to a calf or a horse gives birth to a foal, it is the busiest time for the father and his partner, and it is also the happiest time for them. From when they are unable to stand up after they are born, to when they are alive and kicking, soaked in their father. How much effort they put into it, of course, they also brought a lot of happiness to their father and them. The production team will also give them some rewards.
Not far from the breeding room, about ten meters away, was the brigade’s supply and consumer cooperative, which was like a small shop today. The salesman was a middle-aged man with a severe hunchback from the village. He had difficulty moving and could not do physical work, so the brigade gave him this job. Although he is not from our team, he is very close.
It is open all day long until it closes at 9 p.m.
But one day it was late at night, and the lights of the supply and consumer agency were still on. The father said to his partner that the supply and marketing cooperative never opened past nine o'clock. What happened today? It's past one o'clock and it still hasn't closed. Let's go and see what happened. Could it be that something happened to Old Qiao (the salesperson)?
The two of them came to the supply and consumer cooperative and looked up, my mom, this is Lao Qiao, and a strange young man is rummaging around in a panic looking for something, a thief! The father's partner, who was young and strong, hugged the thief. After all, my father was getting old, and because of his anxiety, he stumbled and called out to the township party. Some village gangsters came one after another. They pulled and pushed the thief temporarily into the breeding room.
As soon as the thief entered the breeding room, he raised his hand and threw a package of things out. There was a series of squealing noises, and the cow just fell into the trough. No need to guess, it must be a small coin. My father quickly swept the entire trough with a broom and stacked it where the cows could not reach it. Lao Qiao aimed at his waist and twisted it. His father asked him to pick his coins from the pile of grass.
The next day, the commune came and took the thief to the commune.
In those years, there were meetings held every two days in rural areas. There were endless meetings of various conferences and small meetings. The breeding room also doubled as the venue.
Although it has been more than 40 years since the collective breeding room was disbanded, and it has been more than 20 years since my father left me, all the memories I have here are still vivid and fresh.