Efficiency of beef cattle and breeding cattle in Vu Ban

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuong, village 3 Dong Tu, Vu Ban commune (Binh Luc) has been raising beef cattle for nearly 3 years, with a scale of 30 cows. Mr. Thuong chose to buy all 3B (BBB) calves with high weight and meat ratio, applying the method of confining them in barns instead of grazing them in the environment. He exploited all the green food from growing elephant grass on his family's fields, along the banks and cutting wild grass in the area to ferment in specialized large bags. He raised and sold beef cattle after 1 year, weighing 500 kg/cow. With a stable selling price of 80 - 81 thousand VND/kg, a beef cattle sold is worth about 40 million VND. After deducting the cost of breed, feed, vaccines, etc., each beef cattle earns a profit of 12 - 15 million VND, equivalent to 1 - 1.2 million VND/month. It is known that before raising cows, Mr. Thuong had a chicken farm with more than 4,000 chickens and 50 pigs per batch. However, due to unstable prices and many diseases leading to losses, he switched to raising beef cattle. Mr. Thuong shared: Raising beef cattle is more convenient and safer than other livestock. The selling price rarely drops. The raising process has not suffered losses like with previous livestock. I maintain a regular herd of 30 cows, bringing in a stable and high income.

The movement of raising beef and breeding cows in Vu Ban commune is currently developing quite strongly. Many households choose this as the main direction in developing their family economy . Mr. Nguyen Van Thoai, village 3 has a barn raising 20 beef cows. He raises them in a sequential manner to have beef cows for sale every month of the year, earning an average income of more than 20 million VND/month. For households raising 2-3 breeding cows each year, the income reaches over 30 million VND...

Mr. Nguyen Van Quynh's beef and breeding cattle farm, the commune's concentrated breeding area has 80 cows. Of which, Mr. Quynh raises more than 40 breeding cows, the rest are beef cows. This is the first large-scale cattle breeding place in the area. Most of the breeding cows from the breeding herd that he converts to raising for meat are 3B cows. At the farm, Mr. Quynh grows more than 3 hectares of high-yield grass and a part of the corn area to proactively provide all the green food sources for the cows. Each year, Mr. Quynh's farm sells about 30 - 40 beef cows to the market.

According to Mr. Quynh: The efficiency of raising beef and breeding cattle is very high, especially when developing a concentrated herd. The family farm invested a large amount of capital, but after 5 years, it has basically recovered and maintained good profits. In the future, the family will develop to fill the barns of the farm with a scale of more than 100 cows.

Efficiency of beef cattle breeding in Vu Ban — ***Beef cattle of Mr. Nguyen Van Thoai, village 3, Vu Ban commune.*** Photo: Thanh Nam

Currently, the total herd of beef and breeding cows in Vu Ban commune is nearly 660, with over 15 households raising 10 cows or more. Small-scale households in the community mainly raise breeding cows to exploit breeding stock for sale to the market. In recent years, the people have focused on improving the quality and value of the commune's herd. In particular, the sow herd, crossbred to ensure physical condition for artificial insemination to conceive foreign cows. Basically, the calves born in the area are all 3B breed, with a value twice as high as the previous native breed, chosen by beef farmers. 3B beef cows of the people in the commune consumed in the free market, were all sold out because they met quality requirements. At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the supply of beef cows did not meet demand.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Tung, Vice Chairman of Vu Ban Commune People's Committee, said: The movement of raising beef and breeding cattle in the commune has developed quite strongly, effectively replacing other livestock affected by disease and unstable prices. However, most households raising cattle in residential areas still affect the environment. The commune is promoting and finding solutions to raise beef and breeding cattle effectively.

Raising beef cattle and breeding cattle has become the main occupation of many households in Vu Ban commune. The locality has built a concentrated beef cattle and breeding cattle breeding area. From the efficiency of this type of livestock, Vu Ban commune should expand the concentrated breeding area to help improve economic efficiency and also treat the environment in residential areas.

Manh Hung

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