Effective model of using ginseng by-products in livestock farming
BAC GIANG - Recently, Nguyen Thi Xuan Mung, Deputy Director of Manh An Agricultural Ecosystem Cooperative (Cooperative) in Quang Tien Commune of Tan Yen district (Bac Giang province) has utilized by-products from Danh Mountain ginseng to raise livestock and poultry. This method has achieved high efficiency, helping protect rural environment in building new rural areas.
Mung shared that people mainly use flowers and roots of Danh mountain ginseng while the by-products are almost thrown away, causing waste. Therefore, in 2022, she and some members established the Cooperative and targeted to build a zero-waste circular economic model by utilizing medicinal by-products to produce animal feed for chickens and pigs, helping increase the value of livestock farming.
Chickens are fed with herbal bran. |
Accordingly, in addition to growing Danh mountain ginseng, the Cooperative also purchases Danh mountain ginseng stems and leaves, ginseng residue after extracting into ginseng water, ginseng tea... to boil drinking water for chickens and pigs as well as combines with corn, sweet potatoes, cassava, soybeans, fish power, rice bran, lemongrass, kudzu leaves, perilla, moringa, polyscias fruticosa, gotu kola, scratch grass among others then presses into pelleted animal feed.
During period with abundant raw materials, the Cooperative dries the by-products, then grinds them or cooks them into a paste (which can be preserved for a longer period of time) to gradually use as food and mix into drinking water for livestock.
Since 2022, the Cooperative has piloted to raise more than 2,000 chickens and 100 pigs each year using herbal bran. The results proved that these chickens and pigs do not need to use antibiotics throughout the raising process, have good disease resistance, are healthy with the survival rate of over 90% (for chickens) and 100% for pigs.
They grow and develop well with delicious meat and higher selling price of 20-30%. The products meet food safety standards towards satisfying consumption requirements not only in the domestic market but also for export.
Le Van Ban (member of the cooperative) in Thanh Lap village, Quang Tien commune, shared that in 2023, he raised 2 batches of chickens, about 1,000 chickens per batch and fed the chickens with food and water containing ginseng by-products, so the chickens were healthy. After deducting expenses, he made a profit of 70 million VND per batch.
Pigs raised with herbal bran give delicious meat quality and high selling price. |
Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Toan's household in the same village also raised 2 batches of pigs in 2023, each consisting of 100 pigs from herbal bran. The pigs were rosy and disease-free. After deducting expenses, she pocketed a profit of 200 million VND per batch, with a total profit of 400 million VND per year.
From research and reference to some documents, the Cooperative has built a process of producing feed and drinking water for chickens and pigs in each stage using ginseng by-products. This is an important step, helping improve the efficiency of the livestock raising model.
The livestock farming model using by-products from Danh mountain ginseng has initially shown effectiveness with potential to be replicated in the province because Bac Giang currently has hundreds of hectares of Danh mountain ginseng. This crop is more and more developed, which opens up opportunities for developing livestock farming using herbs, both improving product quality and protecting the environment in rural areas.
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