"大家好!Hello everyone!我是木马爸爸 :)"
Dear friends, today I am going to talk about the cow's house, of course, not just the barn, but the unforgettable experience and the feeling of surprise that I had during the few days I visited a "real" cow ranch...... It's really amazing!
### 1. That day, I didn't know what I was going to see
You know, I love the outdoors. My love and interest in Chinese villages sometimes surpasses even those of the big cities.
Chinese villages have an endless attraction for me and are a great opportunity to discover a lot of interesting things.
Luckily, this time, I had the opportunity to visit a Chinese dairy farm in Hebei.
Imagine what a German would experience in a dairy farm in China?!? especially a German from the countryside with many farms near his hometown?
Actually, I don't know.
I guess it might look like one I've seen around Nanjing, a little messy, a little old-fashioned, but is it just a little bigger than the one in Nanjing?
Wow, I don't really know what kind of scene I'm going to see that day
On the way to the cow ranch, I saw large expanses of farmland. I immediately realized:
Compared to what I saw in Germany, in China, everything is magnified.
In Germany, I am used to seeing large wheat fields, and in China, what I see through the window of a high-speed train is like another dimension, so much bigger!!
And it's not as chaotic as I imagined, it's not chaotic at all, it looks very neat and organized......
I looked out the window excitedly, and after witnessing all this, I concluded and said to Trojan Ma-kun, "Now I know where the food we eat comes from." Of course, for so many food-loving Chinese, food must come from such a place. ”
I guess she might be a little baffled and don't know what I'm talking about
After some formalities, we were finally able to enter the inside of the ranch.
I saw a house with a lot of cows, I've never seen that many ......
After 10 minutes, we put on our protective suits (they are really strict about epidemic prevention and hygiene) and then we saw the milking process.
Surprisingly, in this milking parlor, the cows walk one by one in a moving circle, where they are carefully cleaned and then milked by machines, and the milked milk, which goes directly into the sealed pipes, is further processed in the factory.
I mean, I was amazed to see all of this, and the degree of industrialization of this dairy farm made me think about it a lot.
What awaits us next is the highlight of the trip – the calf's house...... It's interesting to look at these rows of little houses with cows.
Each cow has a bucket with food and water in front of it.
Each cow has a number plate on its ear, which is used to identify them.
We enjoyed the interactive cow feeding program and had a lot of fun. Obviously, Trojan Horse and I have one thing in common: we both love cows.
In my childhood, I used to spend the whole day watching cows by the window, and so did the childhood of the little wooden horse. When I was in Germany, we had a friend's family with a farm, and my friend would take care of the little wooden horses and take him to see the cows, just like when I was a kid.
I was very impressed by the little houses of these little cows......
The staff also explained to us the whole process of milk production. They later explained to me that they also gave this to the children who came to visit......
Of course, part of it is for brand marketing, but I think it's actually good to educate children about where food comes from and how milk is produced.
By the way, did you know that cows need holidays too? I don't know.
Yes, here, too, there are a few weeks of vacation for each cow......
Honestly, this is a must because it is a very organized process and like going to work, they also need to relax and recover from the heavy daily work of milk production.
They look like they're having fun in their vacation home?
I can also tell you that I see almost everything, the grounds, the equipment, and it has to be cleaned many times a day.
I certainly understand the necessity:
Bacteria and impurities would be a serious accident if they contaminated the milk, so they really take cleanliness and hygiene very seriously.
There are about 10,000 cows living in this dairy farm, and they need to eat a lot of food, which is carefully proportioned and nutritious.
As a result, there is also a large amount of food reserves in the pasture, which is well prepared to optimize the ratio and supply of these feeds.
Every process in the farm runs smoothly. But as I walked through the ranch, it felt like there weren't many people working...... Probably the result of modernization and industrialization...... It still feels a little weird to walk there.
And I was wondering, is it because the whole ranch, with all the machinery, the warehouse, the site, is it too big, or is it because it's modern enough? Maybe both
That day, I felt like a documentary reporter, walking around with my camera, giving cows, trucks, feed storage warehouses...... Taking pictures, I enjoyed the process
And one more interesting thing:
Later, the receptionist told me that the people at the ranch were a little nervous when they knew that a German would come to visit......
I guess they also have some completely different imagination of German pastures, just as I imagine Chinese ranches
### 2. The visit that was an eye-opening one for me to think about my childhood
As I said, in the beginning, I had a very different vision of Chinese ranching. It's a bit difficult to imagine from my past experience in my hometown of Germany.
First of all, it is certain that the dairy farms I see in Germany may not have such a high level of industrialization. Large dairy farms in Germany may also have optimised their production processes, but on a very different level.
Scale is key. Around the pasture, I felt that there was a lot of emphasis on agriculture here.
In fact, everything I saw was on a large scale, such as rice paddies, fruit groves, including this cow ranch and so on.
In the past, in my hometown, I was also used to seeing farmland, but it was smaller and more untouched.
Also, many Germans believe that they have a stronger and closer connection to the source of the food, which I think may also be inaccurate.
Most of us Germans also buy milk directly in the supermarket, just like everyone else.
Maybe we buy organic milk to feel better, but we don't go directly to a nearby farm to buy milk.
I'm not even sure if I can buy it now.
When I was a kid, my mom would go to a nearby farm to buy fresh milk. Sometimes, I would go with her and get fresh, hot milk.
Drinking raw, unprocessed milk, can you imagine?
My grandmother used to tell me that in their day, there would be a milk truck passing by the door, and the milk would be sold in bottles, which was amazing.
Of course, people today simply can't imagine that way. That would be unhygienic, inconvenient, and unrealistic.
So, in general, I didn't expect to see such a large ranch and I didn't expect it to be so highly industrialized, but I understand the tremendous pressure that comes with industrialization, which is the inevitable process of supplying large quantities of food.
It doesn't matter if it's good or bad. Everyone has to decide how they want to buy food.
I chose to order online...... So, that's my decision.
### 3. Which one is better, primitive or industrial?
After visiting this dairy farm, I thought about it a lot.
As a German, I can't help but wonder if this level of industrialization and modernization would be a good thing for animals, and whether we can still maintain our primitive and natural state in the midst of rapid economic development?
On the other hand, there is also an indisputable fact that the population of the planet is large and people need food
All in all, it was a very memorable and amazing experience for me. I was surprised because what I saw was completely different from what I had originally imagined.
Through this visit, I learned a little bit about China's strong food supply system, after all, it takes a lot of scale and a lot of strength to meet the diverse food needs of such a large population.