Without much investment or care, the pigeon raising model of the family of veteran Le Van Dan (born in 1963), in Cam Vu 1 village, Cam Thuy commune, Cam Lo district, has still achieved high efficiency. This model not only brings a good income to the family but also opens up more production directions for local people.
Mr. Le Van Dan checks the baby pigeons - Photo: TP
According to the introduction of the Chairman of the Association of War Veterans of Cam Thuy Commune, Tran Le Hien, Mr. Dan is a heroic war veteran in wartime and diligent and creative in peacetime. His pigeon raising model not only helps develop the family economy, but is also an address for many people to visit and learn, especially war veterans who want to escape poverty and become rich on their own homeland.
In 1987, after 3 years of fighting to protect the Fatherland in the Vi Xuyen battlefield (former Ha Tuyen province, now Ha Giang), Mr. Dan started his career almost empty-handed. The only thing he had at that time was his youth and determination to start a business and get rich on the land his father left him. So from growing rice, growing potatoes to raising chickens and pigs, he did not hesitate to do any job.
Recalling those years, Mr. Dan shared: “Having been attached to the fields all my life, although we were not poor, my family’s life was not well-off. I struggled with the question of what else to do to develop the family economy. In 2017, by chance, my wife and I learned about the pigeon farming model through a friend, so we tried it out and have been attached to this animal ever since.”
At first, with little capital and no experience, to avoid failure, Mr. Dan built a small cage and bought 10 pairs of pigeons to raise.
Talking to reporters, the veteran said that compared to French pigeons, the pigeon breed he raises is smaller in size but has better reproductive ability and is less susceptible to diseases. The step of selecting breeds largely determines the success of the model, so he does not buy breeds en masse but instead goes to places to buy healthy ones for breeding. During the trial breeding process, Mr. Dan found that pigeons are easy to raise, grow quickly, and have simple food, mainly rice and corn flour, and do not require too much care while market demand is high.
From the experience learned and accumulated, the couple decided to expand the scale. “The advantage of domestic pigeons is that they do not need a large barn area, the reproductive age lasts from 4-5 years so the ability to recover capital is fast. Although there are few diseases, my wife and I also design and build clean, dry barns. Every day, in addition to feeding 3 times at fixed times, I clean the barn, give the birds vitamins, digestive enzymes, liver detoxifiers... to increase resistance", Mr. Dan shared.
Currently, his family has a total of 3 pigeon farms. From the initial 10 breeding pairs, he now has nearly 400 pairs of pigeons. Notably, all of the above pigeons were bred by him and his wife. On average, each pair of pigeons reproduces once a month and a half, and can be sold for meat after 20 days. He does not use industrial feed in breeding, so the quality of pigeon meat is delicious and popular with consumers. The selling price of pigeons is about 100,000 VND/pair.
With 7 years of experience in raising pigeons, he can be completely proactive in raising and caring techniques, but he still constantly learns and acquires experience to always be successful. Not only effectively developing the pigeon raising model, Mr. Dan also raises 4 breeding cows, 2 sows, grows 1 acre of rice, dozens of green-skinned grapefruit and guava trees of all kinds... On average, each year, the total income of the economic model brings his family over 250 million VND, of which the income from pigeons alone is over 150 million VND.
Although busy with work, Mr. Dan still actively helps and shares production experiences with members and local people; is enthusiastic in activities implemented by the Veterans Association at all levels and localities.
Truc Phuong
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