Chapter 020. Natural Forage

Before the heavy snowfall, the manpower and wealth of the tribe on the grassland is best reflected by the cow dung, firewood, and hay that supplies cattle and sheep through the winter. During the four-month long winter, if the tribe's storage of cow dung and firewood cannot guarantee heating, the tribe's people will freeze to death, and if some forages are not adequately prepared, cattle and sheep will starve to death. Regardless of the loss of the tribe's people or the cattle and sheep, it will deal a blow to the tribe.

This year's snow werewolf tribe's demand for cow dung and firewood is not as urgent as in previous years, but forage needs to be stored as much as possible. During Xiao Yun makes the pottery period, the people responsible for grazing have moved back lots of hays which are baled and stacked in piles on the clearing outside the tribe.

Standing at the front entrance of the mud-brick house and looking to the left, the flat land on the northwest side of the tribe, the endless haystacks like mushrooms, are the fruits of the tribe's hard harvesting and drying since the autumn and then dragging them back to the tribe.

　　 But... whether these forages are enough to allow the tribe's cattle and sheep to overwinter, Xiao Yun really has little confidence.

He hasn't had a chance to go to the pasture to see the cattle and sheep grazing by the tribe. After so many days of side-by-side inquiries, it's enough for him to understand the wealth of the tribe's biggest part-in the orc emperor's borrowing warriors from the grassland ten years ago, the tribe was ruthless lost a group of elite warriors including the original owner's mother. After that, the tribe went downhill. The pastures it originally owned were eroded by other big tribes, and had to move to the west many times. In the process of migration, they continued to move to the west, and constantly lost cattle and sheep as well. Half a year ago, when the tribe moved to the southwestern border of this grassland, there were only 32 tribesmen (including the original owner), and more than 400 cows with curved horns, and more than 1,800 long-haired sheep left.

A total of more than 2,000 cattle and sheep seemed to be a good fortune, but... such a small number of livestock on the grassland is really poor enough to be underwear. You know, the exiled cat clan youth Qingyan, he used to stay in has more than 300 people. The number of cattle and sheep owned by the tribe is more than 40,000...

If Xiao Yun did not come here and the snow werewolf tribe could not get mud brick houses and heatable bed, then in order to fight the long winter, they would eat at least a quarter of the livestock no matter how carefully they planed this winter. The days of next year, the tribe can be described as impoverished.

In short, cattle and sheep are the main wealth of the tribe. If Xiao Yun wants the tribe to live a good life, he must take care of these livestock..., then the first thing to do is to plan for the winter forage.

"I remember that the daily forage consumed by large livestock is about 3% of its own weight. The weight of an adult curlhorn is about 500 kg, and the weight of an adult long wool sheep is about 200 kg, so... at least prepare ten of thousands of catties of fodder can't hold it per da!" Xiao Yun casually counted it, and felt the situation are so difficult, "I can't afford this, are these fodder really enough? The livestock will have to be hungry and thin in the spring!"

"That's right, next year's spring is going to be an excuse to go to the tauren tribe to get pasture seeds. If they have alfalfa, we don't need such a large pasture... Hey, it's too early to say. Think about hwo to pass the winter first!"

"The beanies are not enough to eat, so they definitely can't be used to feed cattle and sheep, so is there any other way to get other things as feed?"

Xiao Yun put his hands on his chest and tilted his head to think hard. Modern society has a well-developed breeding industry. It stands to reason that there should be countless natural plants that can serve as feed... But Xiao Yun doesn't understand! He is not a graduate of agricultural college, and his life in the country is limited to the winter and summer vacations in elementary school. He has never been interested in these things before. At most, he has watched some novels and outdoor live broadcast of survival videos.

　　 "By the way, it's so hard for the livestock to be kept for the winter, so what about the wild animals? When it snows, those deer, roe deer and rabbits on the grassland, what do they eat?"

"When the snow on the grassland falls, it can be half a person tall, and the grass is underneath. Wild animals are either picking up the snow and gnawing on the roots of the grass? Hmm...it seems like the tribe will try to go out to graze when the snow is not too big, but The big head still has to rely on fodder—ah!"

　　 Xiao Yun scratched his scalp hard, and now he regretted it a little bit. He had long known why he hadn't gone to the National University of Agriculture and Biology, and it made him completely blind now.

The grassland now is not as green as the one that Xiao Yun saw when he first wore it. As the weather turns cooler, most of the plants also turn yellow and change color according to the solar terms. The few trees in the tribe that were specially left to build tents now have leaves. Most of it was yellow, and the fallen leaves fell on the top of the tent and on the ground. If you don't have to live in this ghost place, Xiao Yun would have a small and refreshing exclamation when he saw such a scene: It's kind of wild.

"...Wait, wait, the leaves change color?" Xiao Yun suddenly brows, remembering something, "The color changing leaves... When I went to pick up pine branches two days ago, I saw a large red-brown forest. It looks pretty, that seems to be... an oak tree?"

　　 "Ah! Oak tree!" Xiao Yun let out a scream.

　　 Not far away, a few of the large rivers of grass, which were filling the dug foundation with mud and stones, were shocked and looked over in surprise.

　　 "Isn't an oak tree, an oak tree? Doesn't an oak tree have acorns! Fuck, I just watched the natural feed there, but didn't find it at all?!" Xiao Yun looked grim.

Acorns, also called chestnut cocoons, acorns, have a hard shell, brown-red, inner kernels such as peanuts, and higher starch content than beans. They were used as spare foods in special periods, but they are difficult to digest and taste poor (astringent). Big), and was quickly eliminated and reduced to industrial processing raw materials and fodder... When Xiao Yun was in elementary school, acorns had been abandoned by Chinese farmers during the winter and summer vacations in the countryside, so he did not have a deep impression of this stuff. But he has watched a documentary in which a country specializes in raising pigs from acorns, and the pigs raised are sold at high prices... He remembered this.

　　 Acorns are used as fodder for cattle and sheep. There must be no fodder corn and fodder soybeans so that... acorns in the concentrate fed to pigs can only account for 30% to 40% of corn. But still the same sentence, when there is no guarantee, whether it is good or not. Xiao Yun didn't stand here as a supervisor anymore. He asked Qingcao and Oxhorn take care about irrigating the foundation, and asked Dahe and Qingyan to run to the edge of the forest again.

　　 "What are we going to do, don't you build a house first?" Dahe ran back and forth, and she still had to ask.

"Building the foundaction doesn't need so many people there. While we have time, let's see if the acorns dropped from the oak forest are enough to supplement the tribe's cattle and sheep feed. If possible, we will organize more people and move them all to come back." Xiao Yun said.

　　 "Acorn?" Dahe hadn't heard of this.

"The fruit of the oak tree just matures in this season. When it matures, it will naturally fall on the ground and can be picked up directly." Xiao Yun gestured to her. "It's probably such a big oval fruit, hard shell, brownish red... Qingyan, have you seen it before?"

Qingyan thought for a while, and said, "Is it a kind of tree which leaves will turn red in autumn?"

"Correct."

"I've eaten that fruit. It's unpalatable and very dry. It's uncomfortable to eat too much. Doesn't it matter if you feed it to cattle and sheep?" Qingyan wondered.

"It cannot be eaten directly. It must be hulled and crushed after harvesting, and then soaked with water. At least it must be soaked and rinsed two or three times to reduce the bitterness and astringency, and then used to feed livestock. And it must not be fed too much, accounting for 30% to 40% is enough." Xiao Yun said.

　　 Dahe was in charge of grazing before working as a manpower for Xiao Yun. After she understood Xiao Yun's words, she was surprised: "Couldn't it save a lot of fodder?"

　　 "That's right, when the forage is not enough in winter when there is heavy snow, the cattle and sheep will be hungry. If there are acorns, the forage in the tribe will not be consumed as much." Xiao Yun nodded.

　　 "But... can there be so many acorns?" Dahe hesitated.

　　 "That's why I have to take a look." Xiao Yun said, "The oak forest I saw is quite large. If the output is high, the cattle and sheep in the tribe will not be afraid of going hungry this winter."

After jogging all the way, the three of them rushed to the edge of the forest two hours later. This time Xiao Yun was too tired, but he was very excited for the tribe's winter plan. He leaned on his waist and drilled into the forest, but Dahe pulled him stop going in.

　　 "Ayun, you want to go in?" Dahe warned.

"The oak forest is right there." Xiao Yun raised his hand and pointed, "I've ran here, can't I just go in and have a look? Besides, isn't there Qingyan there? Even if he is exiled, he is a cat clan fighters, nothing can happen."

　　 Qing Yan closed his mouth tightly and did not speak. The Panther Warrior was no more than a snow werewolf in the form of a wolf, but the cub Ayun wanted to use him as an excuse, and he would not be so stupid that he didn't know how to cooperate.

　　 "But..."

"It's nothing, anyway, we don't go deep into the jungle. We just see if we can find more animal feed. If there is any danger at most, I will become a wolf and run away. It's okay." Xiao Yun patted Dahe's arm and pull her hands down.

　　 Dahe hesitated a little, and Ayun was right. If the snow werewolf wanted to escape, not many people could keep it. She hesitated and put her hand down.

　　 Xiao Yun immediately raised his head and stepped into the woods with one foot-especially he finally came in. It is wise not to bring grass and horns!

Even in the outermost part of the forest, the newly born trees are only a hundred years old, and the feeling after entering the forest is very different from outside-the feeling of stepping on the thick deciduous humus layer on the ground and carelessness Entering the dry swamp is almost the same. Although it is late autumn, the snakes, insects, rats and ants in the forest are still active. The small creatures that sprang out after stepping on the humus layer are densely packed... Fortunately, all three of them are wearing animal skins on their feet. Rattan sandals, otherwise it would be disgusting to walk in barefoot, no wonder the snow werewolves don't like to drill into the woods.

With brambles and weeds taller than them, and vine branches that obscure the view, walking in the original forest does not make people feel romantic, but it is difficult to walk. Fortunately, there are animal activities in the forest, and wild animals step on it. The path of the beasts that come out can be more or less for people, but some trees that have been knocked down by large beasts will block the way from time to time, and the overly lush vegetation will always make people unable to step on the ground. If you are not careful, you will not take a few steps. You have to fall asleep.

Fortunately, the oak forest is not too far away. After ten minutes of hard walking, the three of them walked into the ocean of acorns-this is not an exaggeration, it really has to be described as the ocean, densely covered oak trees with falling leaves and a thick layer was spread on the ground with mature fallen acorns, and the ground turned brownish red.

　　 "...Well, now what we have to consider is the transportation issue." Xiao Yun turned to look at Dahe, "The animal skins in our tribe are all made into leather bags, can we put these acorns back in?"

　　 Dahe held her chin and shook her head dully: "It should be...cannot."

Xiao Yun raised his hand and squeezed his brows. He could have expected the magnificent acorn sea in front of him. After all, the oak forests seen from outside the forest are all so big: "Okay, then we need ask Fleece and others work overtime and weave more vine mat. We can use the mat to drag the forage ..only us three people are not enough, we need to ask the whole tribe's people participate the work."