Fengdu: Ecological cattle farming transforms from a pollution source into “golden bars.”
Tens of thousands of tons of cow dung have been piling up along both banks of the main stream and tributaries of the Yangtze River, not only emitting a terrible stench but also polluting the water quality—this has been a major challenge facing the Three Gorges Reservoir area for a long time.
However, thanks to the ecological cattle-raising initiative in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, this challenge no longer exists.
Recently, Zhang Lincong, a large-scale cattle farmer from Feixian Cave Village, BaoLuan Town, Fengdu County, Chongqing Municipality, has gained fame for his eco-friendly cattle-raising practices. At his farm, all cow manure and urine are now fully utilized as resources, and there is no longer any direct discharge of cow waste into rivers and streams.
Fengdu County, where Zhang Lincong is located, is situated in the heart of the Three Gorges Reservoir area along the Yangtze River. It is China’s largest county in terms of the entire beef cattle industry chain, and currently, the county’s total beef cattle inventory has reached 210,000 head.
Livestock farmer Zhang Lincong uses the settled cow urine from his own biogas digester to fertilize fields by returning it to the soil.
It is estimated that a single cow produces 25 to 30 kilograms of manure per day. He Chuandong, deputy director of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau of Fengdu County, said that based on the county’s livestock inventory of 210,000 head, the annual volume of cattle manure is enormous. However, at one point, due to insufficient supporting facilities and inadequate disposal conditions, the concentrated manure generated could not be effectively treated, leading to environmental pollution.
Zhang Lincong recalls that in the past, cattle farmers lacked knowledge of waste management techniques and had weak environmental awareness. They simply swept up cow manure and dumped it directly into fields, leaving the surrounding area perpetually foul-smelling and swarming with mosquitoes, flies, and other insects. Moreover, large-scale farms generating tons of cow manure every day posed a direct threat to the ecological safety of the Yangtze River. Residents of Houchiba Village in Gaojia Town recall that a small river in their village—once flowing directly into the Yangtze—was severely affected after a large-scale farm was built nearby.
In response, Fengdu County has proactively adjusted its approach by focusing on harmless treatment of beef cattle manure, resource utilization, and the development of a complete industrial chain. As a result, the beef cattle industry has not only become a wealth-creating sector for local residents but also an environmentally friendly industry.
Farmers are cleaning up cow dung.
In 2014, Fengdu County hired a team of experts from Renmin University of China to further assess the county’s environmental carrying capacity for beef cattle. New zoning regulations were established, designating prohibited zones, restricted zones, and suitable zones for livestock and poultry breeding. As a result, the target breeding population was reduced from 550,000 head to 400,000 head.
In addition, a team of experts from Fengdu County and the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has collaborated to establish a domestically leading automated organic fertilizer production line next to a beef cattle breeding base, transforming smelly cow manure into highly valuable organic fertilizer.
When organic fertilizer was mentioned, Wu Dongping, the deputy general manager of Hengdu Agriculture, nodded frequently. At one point, Hengdu’s cattle herd in Fengdu County exceeded 50,000 head, generating daily manure emissions exceeding 1,200 tons. Wu Dongping said that although the company had initially built a wastewater treatment plant as part of its facilities, it had failed to implement separate stormwater and sewage systems, leading to relatively severe manure pollution at one time.
To date, Hengdu’s five farms and one slaughtering and processing plant have collectively invested over 80 million yuan in pollution-control measures, completing industrial-scale upgrades that include “separation of rainwater and sewage, separation of dry and wet waste, anaerobic digestion for biogas production, wastewater treatment, biological oxidation, return of treated effluent to farmland, and organic fertilizer production.”
Today, in Fengdu County, three enterprises at the Houchiba breeding farm alone are employing three different treatment processes—zero-emission irrigation fermentation, zero-emission dried cow manure fermentation, and trough-type cow manure fermentation—to handle livestock manure from the farm. As a result, the practice of directly discharging farm waste has been completely eliminated.
In addition, Fengdu County is actively exploring new approaches to resource utilization, such as using manure to raise earthworms and convert it into fuel for power generation. The rate of cow manure treatment and resource utilization has reached 95%, achieving a “win-win” outcome that simultaneously promotes industrial development and protects the ecological environment.
Zhang Lincong’s farm currently has 200 cattle. By simply selling cow manure to earthworm farmers, he can earn an extra ten thousand yuan or so each year. If sold to organic fertilizer plants, the price is even higher. As for cow urine, it’s fed into a biogas digester; after sedimentation, the treated cow urine is distributed through an irrigation network to fertilize the fields, thereby improving soil quality and enhancing soil enzyme activity.
At the scene, the reporter saw that about 100 meters from Zhang Lincang’s cowshed, cow urine discharged from the return-to-field pipeline was being used to irrigate his 8-mu plot of land, where lush corn plants were growing vigorously and looking promising.
“Our family’s cow dung is now completely sold out—there’s not a single pile left. We even use the cow urine to irrigate our fields, leaving absolutely no waste at all. The manure and wastewater have truly turned into gold bars,” said Zhang Lincong.
