Volume 1: Farming Chapter 20 Natural Feed
Before the heavy snow falls, the most representative of the tribe's human wealth on the grassland is the cow dung, firewood, and hay stored outside the tribe to provide cattle and sheep for wintering. During the long winter of four months, if the tribe does not store enough cow dung and firewood to ensure heating, the tribe members will freeze to death, and if the hay is not prepared sufficiently, the cattle and sheep will starve to death. Whether it is the loss of tribe members or cattle and sheep, it will be a blow to the tribe.
This year, the Snow Wolf Tribe's demand for cow dung and firewood is not as urgent as in previous years, but fodder still needs to be stored as much as possible. During Xiao Yun's pottery making period, the tribesmen in charge of grazing have brought back piles and bundles of hay, which are piled up in the open space outside the tribe. Standing at the main entrance of the mud brick house and looking left, the flat land northwest of the tribe is full of haystacks that are as dense as mushrooms. These are the fruits of the tribesmen's hard work since the beginning of autumn, harvesting, drying, and dragging back to the tribe.
However... Xiao Yun was not sure whether these fodders were enough for the tribe's cattle and sheep to survive the winter.
He had not had the chance to go to the pasture to see the tribe's cattle and sheep grazing. After so many days of indirect inquiries, he had already understood the tribe's greatest wealth - in the incident of the Orc Emperor borrowing troops from the grassland ten years ago, the tribe suffered heavy losses of elite warriors, including the original owner's mother. Since then, the tribe has gone downhill, and the grasslands it originally owned were encroached upon by other large tribes. It had no choice but to migrate westward many times, and in the process of migration it continued to lose cattle and sheep. Half a year ago, when the tribe migrated to the southwestern border of this grassland, there were only 32 tribesmen (including the original owner), more than 400 curly-horned cattle and more than 1,800 long-wool sheep left in the tribe.
A total of more than 2,000 cattle and sheep seemed like a good fortune, but... on the grassland, such a small number of livestock was really as poor as underwear. You know, the exiled cat youth Qingyan, the cat tribe with more than 300 people he originally stayed in had more than 40,000 cattle and sheep...
If Xiao Yun had not traveled through time and the Snow Wolf Tribe had not been able to obtain mud brick houses and kangs, then in order to survive the long winter, they would have to eat at least a quarter of their livestock this winter no matter how frugal they were. As a result, next year's life could be described as extremely poor.
In short, cattle and sheep are the bulk of the tribe's wealth. If Xiao Yun wants the tribe to live a good life, he must serve these masters well... ahem, so the first thing to do is to prepare for winter fodder.
"I remember that large livestock consume about 3% of their body weight in fodder per day. An adult crested ox weighs about 500 kilograms, and an adult long-wool sheep weighs about 200 kilograms. So... on average, they consume at least tens of thousands of kilograms of fodder per day - damn!" Xiao Yun did a quick calculation and his forehead was filled with black lines. "How can I afford to feed them? Is this fodder really enough? They will all be starving by spring?!"
"Damn it, I have to find an excuse to go to the Tauren tribe next spring to see if I can get some grass seeds. If I can get alfalfa, I won't need such a large pasture... Oh, it's too early to talk about that, let's think about wintering first!"
"There aren't enough beans for people to eat, and we certainly can't use them to feed cattle and sheep. So is there any other way to get something else to serve as feed?"
Xiao Yun crossed his arms and tilted his head in thought. In modern society, the breeding industry is well developed, and there should be countless natural plants that can be used as feed... But Xiao Yun doesn't understand! He didn't graduate from an agricultural college, and his life in the countryside was limited to the winter and summer vacations in elementary school. He had never been interested in these things before. At most, he read some time-travel novels and watched some outdoor survival videos and outdoor live broadcasts.
"Livestock have such a hard time surviving the winter, so what about wild animals? What do the deer, roe deer, rabbits, etc. on the grassland eat when it snows?"
"When the snow on the grasslands falls, it can be half a person's height, and the grass is pressed down. The wild animals either dig through the snow and eat the grass roots? Hmm... It seems that when the snow is not too heavy, the tribesmen will try to go out to graze, but most of the animals still have to rely on grass for fodder - Tsk!"
Xiao Yun scratched his head hard. He felt a little regretful now. If he had known that he would travel through time, why didn't he apply to the Agricultural University or study biology or something like that? Now he is completely at a loss.
The grassland now is no longer as green as Xiao Yun saw when he first came here. As the weather turns cooler, most of the plants are turning yellow in accordance with the solar terms. The leaves of the few trees that the tribe left behind to set up tents have mostly turned yellow, and the fallen leaves are on the top of the tent and on the ground. If Xiao Yun didn't have to live in this hellhole, he would have said a fresh exclamation when seeing such a scenery: It's quite wild.
"...Hey, wait, the leaves are changing color?" Xiao Yun's eyebrows suddenly jumped, and he remembered something, "The leaves are changing color... Speaking of which, when I went to pick up pine branches a few days ago, I saw a large area of reddish-brown trees. It was quite beautiful. That one seemed to be... an oak tree?"
"Ah! Oak tree!" Xiao Yun suddenly let out a scream.
Not far away, Qingcao Dahe, who was pouring mud and rocks into the excavated foundation, was frightened and looked over in surprise.
"Isn't an oak tree the same as an oak tree? Don't oak trees have acorns? Damn it, I saw the natural feed right there and didn't even notice it?!" Xiao Yun's face was grim.
Acorns, also called chestnut cocoons and acorns, have a hard shell on the outside, are brown-red, and have a kernel like a peanut kernel on the inside. They have a higher starch content than beans and were used as backup food during special periods. However, because they are difficult to digest and have a bad taste (strong astringency), they were quickly eliminated and became raw materials and feed for industrial processing... When Xiao Yun was in elementary school and spent his winter and summer vacations in the countryside, acorns had already been abandoned by Chinese farmers, so he didn't have a deep impression of this thing, but he saw a documentary in which a certain country used acorns to raise pigs, and the pigs raised were sold at high prices... He remembered this.
Acorns are definitely not as effective as corn and soybean feed for cattle and sheep... Acorns can only account for 30% to 40% of corn in the concentrate for pigs. But again, when there is no guarantee of availability, why bother to be picky? Xiao Yun stopped standing here as a supervisor and asked Qingcao and Niujiao to watch over the foundation. He called Dahe and Qingyan to run to the edge of the forest again.
"What are we going to do? Aren't we going to build a house first?" Although Daha followed, she still had to ask.
"We don't need so many people to pour the foundation. Let's take advantage of the free time now to see if the acorns dropped from the oak forest are enough to supplement the cattle and sheep feed of the tribe. If possible, we can organize more people and bring them back." Xiao Yun said.
"Acorn?" Dahe had never heard of this.
"The fruits of the oak trees ripen in this season. When they are ripe, they naturally fall to the ground and can be picked up directly." Xiao Yun gestured to her, "It is an oval fruit about this big, with a hard shell and a reddish brown color... Qingyan, have you seen this before?"
Qingyan thought for a moment and said, "Is it a tree knot whose leaves turn red in autumn?"
"right."
"I've eaten that fruit before. It's very unpalatable and dry. If I eat too much, I'll feel uncomfortable in my stomach. Is it okay to feed it to cattle and sheep?" Qingyan wondered.
"It cannot be eaten directly. After harvesting, it must be shelled, crushed, and then soaked in water. It must be soaked and rinsed at least two or three times to reduce the bitter taste. After that, it can be used to feed livestock. And you can't feed too much. Thirty to forty percent is enough." Xiao Yun said.
Da He was in charge of herding before he became a coolie for Xiao Yun. He was surprised when he understood what Xiao Yun said: "Wouldn't that save a lot of fodder?"
"That's right. When it snows heavily in winter, there is not enough fodder and the cattle and sheep will starve. If we have acorns, the tribe will not have to consume so much fodder." Xiao Yun nodded.
"But... can there be so many acorns?" Dahe hesitated.
"That's why we have to go and take a look." Xiao Yun said, "The oak forest I saw is quite large. If the yield is high, the cattle and sheep in the tribe will not have to worry about starving this winter."
After jogging for two hours, the three of them arrived at the edge of the forest. Xiao Yun was also very tired this time, but he was still very excited for the tribe's wintering plan. He held his waist and went into the woods - then Dahe pulled him back.
"Ayun, do you want to go in?" Daha asked vigilantly.
"The oak forest is right over there." Xiao Yun raised his hand and pointed. "I've already come here, why don't I go in and take a look? Besides, isn't Qingyan still here? Even if he was exiled, he's still a cat warrior, so nothing will happen to him."
Qingyan kept his mouth shut and said nothing. The Black Panther Warrior was no match for the Snow Werewolf in wolf form, but if the cub Ayun wanted to use him as an excuse, he would not be so stupid as not to cooperate .
"But……"
"It's okay. We're not going deep into the jungle anyway. We're just seeing if we can find more animal feed. If there's any danger, at most I'll turn into a wolf and run away. It's okay." Xiao Yun patted Daha's arm and pulled her hand down.
Daha was a little hesitant. Ayun was right. If the snow werewolf wanted to escape, not many people could stop him. He hesitated and put his hand down.
Xiao Yun immediately raised his head and chest and stepped into the woods - damn, he finally got in, and it was a wise decision not to bring any grass or horns!
Even at the outermost edge of the forest, the newly grown trees are probably only a hundred years old, and the feeling after entering the forest is very different from being outside - the feeling of stepping on the thick layer of fallen leaves and humus on the ground is almost the same as accidentally stepping into a dry swamp. Although it is late autumn, the snakes, insects, rats and ants in the forest are still active, and the small creatures that jump out after stepping on the humus layer are densely packed... Fortunately, the three of them were wearing rattan sandals padded with animal skins, otherwise it would be disgusting to walk in barefoot. No wonder the snow werewolves don't like to go into the woods.
With weeds taller than humans and vines that block the view, walking in the pristine forest does not give people a sense of romance at all. Instead, it makes every step difficult. Fortunately, there are animals active in the forest, and the trails trampled by wild animals can provide a foothold for people to walk on. However, some trees knocked down by large wild animals will block the way from time to time, and the overly lush plants make it difficult for people to step on solid ground. If you are not careful, you will fall down after walking a few steps.
Fortunately, the oak forest was not too far away, and after walking for about ten minutes, the three of them walked into a sea of acorns - this is not an exaggeration at all, it really should be described as an ocean, the dense fallen leaves of the oak trees and the mature fallen acorns formed a thick layer on the surface, and the ground turned brown-red.
"...Well, now we have to consider the transportation problem." Xiao Yun turned to look at the river, "All the animal skins in our tribe are made into leather bags. Can we put all these acorns back?"
Da He held his chin and shook his head dully: "Probably... not possible."
Xiao Yun raised his hand and frowned. He could have expected such a spectacular sea of acorns. After all, the oak forest seen from outside the forest was this big. "Okay, let Yangmao and the others work overtime to weave more large rattan straw mats for dragging fodder, and then slowly drag them back... If we drag them alone, we will probably be exhausted to death. The whole tribe must go into battle."
