When epidemics and low prices cling to the livestock industry, indigenous livestock breeds are chosen by many Ha Giang farmers because of their good disease resistance and ease of rearing qualities.
Golden cow is a famous native animal of the Ha Giang rocky plateau. This breed is concentrated in four highland districts including Dong Van, Quan Ba, Meo Vac and Yen Minh and have now been certified as geographical indications of the Ha Giang golden cow product.
By the end of 2022, the total herd of golden cows in Ha Giang had more than 92,000 heads, of which Meo Vac district boasted more than 28,000 heads, Dong Van more than 23,600 heads, Yen Minh more than 20,300 heads and Quan Ba nearly 19,800 heads.
Dai Duong General Agricultural Service Cooperative from Meo Vac Town, Meo Vac District has more than 4 years of producing beef products to serve tourists.
Currently, the cooperative regularly maintains 100 indigenous breeding cows and supports its members in building barns and breeding techniques, in order to maintain a stable source of raw materials to produce more than 15 tons of fresh beef per year. From this meat source, the cooperative has invested in machinery and equipment to produce products such as beef jerky, beef trotters, beef sausage and beef with wine sauce.
Mr. Luc Van Duong, Director of Dai Duong General Agricultural Service Cooperative, said that raising the Ha Giang golden cow breed does not require very strict technical processes. The cows just need to feed on grass, supplement and added salts to still gain weight normally. The cows are raised by highland people in natural environmental conditions, so their meat is more delicious and nutritious.
Linked with households raising and trading in golden cows, up to now, beef products of Ocean Cooperative have been certified by Ha Giang Provincial People’s Committee as a 4-star OCOP product, consumed in localities in the province and sold in big chain supermarkets in Hanoi and Hai Phong. As a result, the products are creating stable and regular jobs for local employees.
Along with the golden cow, the Lung Pu black pig is also a rare indigenous breed of Ha Giang. The Lung Pu black pig breed is also concentrated in four districts of the rocky highlands with a total herd of 160,500 heads, and the output of live meat for sale is nearly 7,500 tons.
Because they are native breeds, they have good adaptability to the climatic conditions of the rocky plateau. The breed does not require very high care and has good disease resistance. By following only austere rearing methods such as cooking cornstarch plus leaves of wild vegetables or chopped banana stalks, it just takes about 11 months for a pig to reach a weight of 80kg.
Simple and low-cost breeding process are the outstanding advantages for Lung Pu black pig. This way, they have become an effective choice for farmers in the context that the livestock industry is facing high feed prices.
Mr. Then Van Dung, Director of Tuan Dung Cooperative, Meo Vac district, one of the largest Lung Pu black pig farming units in Ha Giang, said that the Lung Pu black pig breed is well adapted to the climatic and topographical conditions of the locality.
However, in order for local livestock to develop well, people must regularly capture information on breeding techniques, the weather, and disease monitoring for pigs to avoid unnecessary losses.
The cooperative currently maintains more than 100 breeding sows, 300 commercial meat pigs, and annually sells to the market about 1,500 quality breeding pigs.
Mr. Trinh Van Binh, Director of Ha Giang Province’s Sub-Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, said that the development of golden cows, Lung Pu black pigs, black chickens, mint honey, etc., is encouraged by Ha Giang province. This is in association with the implementation of breeding processes in the direction of observing biosecurity standards, regulations and branding for farmed products.
The outstanding advantage of indigenous breeds is that most of the care process is from natural food sources, with little use of industrial food, so the meat is delicious and sold at a high price.
In order to improve the production efficiency of indigenous livestock breeds, Ha Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and local authorities regularly attempt to raise awareness in the prevention and control of diseases in livestock. Restricting inter-district breeding leads to the degradation of these rare native livestock breeds.
Source: Nongnghiep.vn