Village becomes wealthy thanks to raising white horses.

Pham Village, Duong Thanh Commune, Phu Binh District, Thai Nguyen Province, is famous among white horse enthusiasts not only for its experienced and skilled breeders but also because this profession has helped many households in the village become millionaires.

A village full of villas

For the people of Pham village, white horses are not simply commodities to be bought and sold; they are also intertwined with the culture and memories of this midland region from decades ago, when the country was still facing difficulties.

The villas are built in a grand style in Pham village.

From horses used for carrying goods, pulling carts, and plowing fields, Pham village has now become one of the largest white horse breeding centers in northern Vietnam.

In Pham village now, everywhere you look you see white horses, large and small farms, and bustling streams of vehicles carrying traders and merchants. Interspersed among them are spacious villas springing up like mushrooms. This is the result of the white horse breeding model that has brought prosperity to the people.

Speaking to a reporter in her spacious family home, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh (60 years old, from Pham village) said that since ancient times, the people of Pham village have known how to trade and sell horses. For more than 10 years now, the use of horses for agricultural production has ceased, so the villagers have switched to raising horses for meat and bones to make medicinal extracts.

"Nowadays, people in Pham village regularly use horse meat in feasts and weddings. In addition, restaurants inside and outside Thai Nguyen province also have a great demand for horse meat," Ms. Thanh said.

Ms. Thanh added that during the recent Tet holiday, a business in Pham village slaughtered nearly 100 horses to serve the people. The main products were fresh horse meat, horse sausage, horse bone extract, etc.

"Even now, this family still slaughters one or two pigs a day to serve the local people and supply restaurants. In Pham Village, villas are springing up like mushrooms; on average, out of 100 houses, about 80 are villas," Ms. Thanh said.

Making billions of dollars isn't difficult.

While entering the Pham 2 hamlet, the reporter met Mr. Tran Van Thu (62 years old, from Pham village) on his way to a household to buy horses for breeding. Mr. Thu shared that he had been exposed to horses since childhood. Besides raising horses for meat, he also trains horses for riding.

"My health has deteriorated, so I only raise one or two horses to make a small profit. Before Tet, my family sold one white horse, and now we're looking for another breed to raise and sell to households for meat to make horse bone extract," Mr. Thu said.

Mr. Thu further shared about the revenue from raising horses: "Raising horses also brings in quite a lot of money . For example, I raise one horse, and after deducting expenses, I earn nearly 2 million dong per month. If a family raises many horses, earning several billion dong a year is normal."

When asked about large-scale livestock farming households in the area, Mr. Thu mentioned the family of Mr. Duong Xuan Truong as a prime example.

Caring for horses is like caring for newborn babies.

Through Mr. Thu's introduction, the reporter met with Mr. Duong Xuan Truong, Deputy Director of the White Horse Breeding Cooperative in Pham Village.

To raise a healthy white horse, the people of Pham village have to take meticulous care of it.

Mr. Truong said that at one point his family raised up to 60 white horses, and currently they maintain 30-40. Having been involved in horse breeding for many years, Mr. Truong has a thorough understanding of how to identify and select the best and healthiest white horses.

According to him, when choosing breeding stock, horses should be at least 4 months old and weigh around 120 kg. This will ensure the best growth and development of the horse. Raising white horses is relatively easy. However, horses are prone to coughing when moved to a new location or when there is a sudden change in their living environment. Therefore, vaccination against infections is necessary to prevent the horses from getting sick.

The main food source for white horses is grass. On average, an adult white horse will eat about 30kg of fresh grass per day. In addition, he also supplements their diet with some starchy foods such as corn bran and rice to ensure the horses receive sufficient nutrition for their growth.

He sells white horse breeding stock for 270,000 - 300,000 VND/kg live weight, while horse meat costs 300,000 VND/kg. As for white horse bone extract, the cooperative currently sells it for 1.2 million VND/100g, and white horse lungs soaked in honey sell for 1 million VND/liter…

Mr. Truong further shared that, in addition to the meat sold on the market, each horse weighing about 200kg can be processed into about 4-5kg of horse bone extract, equivalent to 40-50 million VND. White horses with red eyes are even more valuable.

According to Mr. Truong, compared to some other types of livestock such as buffalo and cows, raising white horses brings much higher economic efficiency.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Duong Thanh commune, Pham village currently has about 400 households. Among them, households engaged in raising and processing products from white horses have very high incomes, with some households earning billions of VND per year, such as the families of Mr. Duong Xuan Truong, Mr. Dao Van Cuong, and Mr. Duong Van Trung…

It is known that, in order to preserve the genetic resources of white horses and develop this unique animal species, in recent years, Pham village has received technical training in breeding and preserving white horse genetic resources from Thai Nguyen province, Phu Binh district, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, and Ba Van Horse Farm - a facility for preserving rare horse genetic resources (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development). They have also invested in and supported the construction of stables, roads, and irrigation canals to grow grass for raising horses.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/lang-ty-phu-nho-nuoi-ngua-bach-19225022722223248.htm