Chapter 356 - 173: Brushing Past Each Other

Chapter 356: Chapter 173: Brushing Past Each Other

「July 27th.」

Jiang Miao completed his research work in Monan.

After another month of growth, the Immortal Soybeans had completely dyed the entire Tamin Chagan Desert green. The few areas that remained an earthy yellow were the Silver Sand Bay Scenic Area and the Tamin Chagan Scenic Area.

He stood once again on the roof of a shipping container at the north gate of the Tamin Chagan Base, his gaze sweeping over a sea of vibrant green.

The Immortal Soybean seedlings were far more robust than typical short-season varieties. They had already reached a height of 80 to 90 centimeters, which was their limit, as they would now devote the majority of their nutrients to flowering and podding.

Meanwhile, the grazing areas had all been planted with Immortal Bean tubers.

Since the Immortal Bean tubers themselves contained water and a considerable amount of nutrients, the growth of these soybeans was nearly identical to that of the Immortal Soybeans grown from seed.

Time was too tight to prepare beehives and hire apiculture technicians. Therefore, they didn’t wait for the pods to fully mature in the grazing areas, instead harvesting the first batch of forage soybeans while they were still in the initial podding stage.

This was the third day of the forage soybean harvest, and they were covering about 2,500 mu per day.

"Zhiben, what’s the yield for the soybean fodder, in kilograms?"

At this, Liu Zhiben quickly replied, "Based on the harvest over the past three days, the average yield for fresh fodder is about 2,300 kilograms per mu. That includes the hundred-odd kilograms of small pods."

"What about the crude protein content?"

"Including the small pods, the crude protein content is around 27.6%."

Jiang Miao turned to Wu Song. "Da Song, how are the cattle and sheep taking to the soybean vines?"

Wu Song answered promptly, "The fresh soybean fodder is highly palatable, but it needs to be mixed with other hay. The protein content is too high on its own and would put too much strain on the animals’ kidneys."

"When do you plan on sowing the alfalfa, sheepgrass, and smooth brome?" 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"We’ve already started preparations. It’ll probably be in the next few days. We’re planning to use drones for aerial seeding," Liu Zhiben explained.

The root systems of the Immortal Soybeans had already stabilized the sandy topsoil, increasing its water retention capacity several times over.

This meant that after aerially seeding the alfalfa, sheepgrass, and smooth brome, they wouldn’t need to be watered. Of course, watering would be better, but without it, they would have to rely on natural rainfall. If no rain came, the new seeds would just have to struggle until the Immortal Soybeans sprouted again in ten or so days.

Once the Immortal Soybeans sprouted, they would create a large, shady area around their roots. At night, as they collected dew from the air, they couldn’t absorb one hundred percent of it from the undersides of their leaves, so a small portion would drip onto the soil below.

This gave the other pasture grasses a chance to grow, sheltered by the Immortal Soybeans and sustained by a bit of dew and sunlight.

However, since they couldn’t compete with the Immortal Soybeans, these other grasses wouldn’t grow as well. They would certainly be shorter, likely by 10 to 20 centimeters, by the time of each harvest.

The purpose of sowing other grasses in the grazing areas was simply to diversify the fodder and prevent malnutrition or illness in the livestock. There was no expectation that their yield would surpass that of the Immortal Soybeans.

After all, these other grasses were living in the shadow of the soybeans. They could only survive because the Immortal Soybeans grew to a maximum height of just 90 to 100 centimeters.

If the Immortal Soybeans could grow several meters tall, there would be virtually no sunlight left for other plants beneath their vines.

Fortunately, the Immortal Soybeans couldn’t grow too tall. Even if left unharvested, they would only reach a maximum height of about one meter before flowering and podding. Once the beans matured, the plant would naturally wither, its main root system dying and rotting away. However, the tubers would remain, ready to sprout again as soon as temperatures were suitable.

This limited height left enough space for the other grasses to grow.

"Will all that fodder be consumed by our own livestock?"

Wu Song nodded with a sigh. "For now, we have to. The base currently has 5,000 Yellow Cattle, 8,000 hybrid Simmental cattle, and 30,000 Small-tailed Han sheep. Combined, these animals only consume about 250 tons of fresh soybean vines per day."

But the Tamin Chagan Farm can harvest around 5,750 tons of fresh soybean vines daily. Our livestock doesn’t even get through a fraction of that.

Wu Song continued, "We plan to deal with the leftover fresh soybean vines in three ways. First, we’ll sun-dry some of it to make hay. Second, we’ll mix another portion with high-carbohydrate materials like cornmeal, inoculate it with lactobacillus, and ferment it into silage. Finally, we’ll sell a batch of the fresh fodder at a low price to nearby livestock farmers."

They had no choice. The 150,000 mu of pastureland at Tamin Chagan Farm could be harvested until the end of October, a period of three months. And while the stalks in the dedicated soybean fields would simply be crushed and tilled back into the soil, the pasture was a different story.

Harvesting 5,750 tons a day for 90 days would yield around 510,000 tons. They needed to prepare five months’ worth of roughage to get through the winter and the lean spring season, but the base’s current livestock would only consume about 40,000 tons of that.

The remaining 470,000 tons of fresh soybean vines had to be processed as quickly as possible.

Of course, Wu Song was already planning to rapidly expand their livestock operations. He estimated that, under a maximum expansion scenario, they could increase their numbers tenfold.

However, Wu Song and the others weren’t crazy enough to do that. Expanding a herd wasn’t something you could do casually. It was fine to let the animals spend the night outdoors in the summer, but if they did that in winter, they’d be harvesting frozen carcasses the next morning.