Vang Mi Danh earns high income from horse breeding

BHG - From a small-scale breeding household, Vang Mi Danh, based in Pac Ngam Village, Lao Va Chai Commune, Yen Minh District, began to focus on expanding the model of raising buffaloes and cows to sell meat since 2008. With experience in raising cattle and veterinary knowledge, he often went to livestock markets within and outside the district to buy skinny buffaloes and cows and hired people to take care of them and fatten them up with rice bran and corn flour. Each purchased cattle, after 3-6 months of fattening, could be sold for a profit of 2-5 million VND per head. At times, his family’s herd of buffaloes and cows reached 20-30 heads.

Vang Mi Danh (right) introduces horse breeding techniques.

In 2018, the price of buffaloes and cows in the province dropped sharply because traders could not export them across the border and could not sell them in domestic markets due to weak competitiveness. While there was increasing demand for buying and selling horses with stable prices in many other provinces and cities, horse breeding did not grow in Ha Giang Province, and even declined for many years, and the supply of horses within the province was almost non-existent. With flexibility in business, Danh decided to sell all his buffaloes and cows to buy six breeding mares and one breeding stallion at a total investment of over 100 million VND.

Danh shared: “Because the herd of horses is more resistant to disease and cold weather than buffaloes and cows, and horse raising is as simple as other livestock, after only 2 years, the fund for buying the breed has been recovered. Currently, my family’s herd has 16 horses, including 10 breeding mares, 4 breeding stallions and 2 foals.”

In the past 3 years, Danh’s herd has bred 6 to 8 more horses each year and Danh sold about 6 horses per year. Since the beginning of the year, the herd has given birth to 2 horses and is expected to give birth to 4 more by the end of the year. His family has sold 6 horses this year. With an average selling price of 24 million VND per 8-month-old breeding horse and 30 million VND per 2-year-old horse, Danh's family has been earning an average of 150 - 200 million VND per year from horse breeding in recent years.

Thanks to his flexibility in keeping up with market trends, along with his knowledge, experience and efficiency in breeding, Vang Mi Danh has always been one of the best farmers in Lao Va Chai Commune in particular and Yen Minh District in general.

LUONG HA