This year, besides the seven major changes in Wang An's household, there was another relatively important matter that had to be mentioned.
Because Wang An's sika deer farming, although it hadn't yet reached a large scale, had already begun to generate significant profits.
And these significant profits came from deer antlers and deer blood!
In June and August, Comrade Wang Dazhu harvested antlers from the head of the large buck and the three sub-adult bucks.
In June, during the first harvest of antlers, Wang Dazhu sawed off a full 2 jin and 2 liang of antlers from the large buck's head and collected over half a jin of antler blood.
As for the three sub-adult bucks, each yielded slightly over 1 jin and 1 liang of antlers and over 2 liang of antler blood.
In August, during the second harvest, he sawed off 2 jin and 1 liang of antlers and nearly half a jin of antler blood from the large buck.
Because the three sub-adult bucks were still growing, their antlers were slightly larger; each yielded over 1 jin and 2 liang of antlers, along with over 2 liang of antler blood.
The reason antlers are currently measured in "jin" rather than "grams" is that in this era, the medicinal herb procurement stations and supply and marketing cooperatives weighed and paid for antlers by the jin on a scale, rather than by the gram on a balance.
As for the price, sika deer antlers were higher, ranging between 80 and 150 yuan per jin, while red deer antlers were relatively cheaper, ranging between 50 and 100 yuan per jin.
However, red deer antlers were individually larger and heavier, so when comparing a single antler of each species, red deer antlers actually sold for more money.
This was very similar to the difference between black bear gall and brown bear gall.
The reason for the wide price gap among antlers of the same species was that antlers are categorized into two-tine, three-tine, and freak-horn antlers. Generally, the larger and heavier the antler, the higher the unit price; the smaller and lighter, the lower the price.
This was very similar to the pricing standard for ginseng: provided the appearance is perfect, the greater the weight, the higher the unit price.
For example, for a Grade 4 leaf wild ginseng aged between 50 and 80 years, the normal weight is usually less than 100 grams.
The Grade 4 leaves dug up by Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li had a maximum weight of 95 grams, with most weighing only seventy or eighty grams, and quite a few weighing only fifty or sixty grams.
According to the current procurement prices of the supply and marketing cooperatives and medicinal herb stations, Grade 4 leaves are 20 yuan per gram, meaning those over 50 grams cost at least 1,000 yuan per root.
But if one happened to exceed 100 grams, the price could directly rival that of Grade 5 leaves, meaning it could be sold at the Grade 5 price of 30 yuan per gram.
Even a Grade 4 wild ginseng weighing 99 grams would be 20 yuan per gram, but once it reached 100 grams, it jumped directly to 30 yuan per gram.
This price difference was truly stark.
While the price difference for antlers in this era wasn't as extreme as that of ginseng, it was close.
Two-tine antlers have only two branches, three-tine antlers have three, and freak-horns are those with abnormal shapes.
The most valuable are the two-tine antlers, followed by the three-tine, and finally the freak-horns. The best two-tine antlers could reach 150 yuan per jin, while the worst freak-horns were only 80 yuan per jin.
The antlers of Wang An's large sika buck were three-tine. Based on the weight distinction of over 8 liang per antler, the procurement price should be around 130 yuan per jin.
As for the sub-adult sika bucks, the first antlers they grew were basically all two-tine. Based on a weight standard of 6 liang per antler
The first harvest of two-tine antlers weighing less than 6 liang should be 100 yuan per jin, and the second harvest weighing over 6 liang should be 120 yuan per jin.
Relatively speaking, the grading standards for antlers are quite complex, divided into four levels, and the exact price is determined by appearance, look, weight, and various other factors.
Therefore, Wang An only knew the approximate prices; ultimately, the procurement staff had the final say, so it didn't matter how much he knew.
Regardless, the large sika buck produced a total of 4 jin and 3 liang of three-tine antlers this year. Selling them to the supply and marketing cooperative would yield approximately 560-plus yuan.
The three half-grown sika deer produced 3 jin and 3 liang of two-tine antlers in the first harvest at 100 yuan per jin, and 3 jin and 6 liang of two-tine antlers in the second harvest at 120 yuan per jin.
Selling these to the cooperative would be 330 yuan plus 432 yuan, totaling approximately 762 yuan.
Divided among the deer, that averaged 254 yuan per head.
One adult buck and three sub-adult bucks generated 1,322 yuan in income from antlers alone within a single year; the importance of this was obvious.
Furthermore, Wang An's family had three half-grown bucks nearly two years old and five male fawns less than half a year old.
Those three nearly two-year-old bucks would likely grow antlers next year, or the year after at the latest, meaning these three deer would add another source of income for Wang An's family.
However, Wang An would not sell the antlers to the supply and marketing cooperative. His first choice was to dry them and sell them over in Anguo, primarily because the price difference was more than double.
In fact, all of the above was the reason why Wang An insisted on raising sika deer.
One must realize that besides harvesting antlers and antler blood from the bucks every year, all the deer would have their blood drawn three to four times a year.
Calculating an average of one and a half jin of fresh deer blood per deer per draw, 31 deer could yield approximately 45 jin of fresh blood, which, when dried into deer blood powder, would be around 7 and a half jin.
Currently, the procurement price for deer blood powder at the supply and marketing cooperatives or medicinal herb stations is 30 yuan per jin. Seven and a half jin would be 225 yuan. Drawing blood four times a year would be 900 yuan, averaging nearly 30 yuan per deer.
A total of 900-plus yuan a year from deer blood was indeed a significant income.
Adding in the antlers, which increased year by year, in two years' time—even if the number of sika deer in Wang An's house didn't increase—he could easily earn five or six thousand yuan a year just from these 31 deer.
One must remember that five or six thousand yuan in the 1980s was equivalent to hundreds of thousands in later generations.
Of course, it was absolutely impossible for the number of sika deer not to increase.
And even if a deer died, there were still hides, meat, bones, tails, and tendons to sell. If it was a buck, a single deer penis could sell for over a hundred or two hundred yuan.
Indeed, at this time, depending on length and weight, a deer penis went for 170 to 180, peaking at around 200 yuan. Private transactions might be more expensive, but they definitely wouldn't exceed 300 yuan.
In short, raising deer was exactly as Feng Chengmin said—it was a business of "one investment, ten thousand profits"!
Naturally, this further strengthened Wang An's determination to capture sika deer from the mountains for breeding whenever he had the chance.
Mainly because if he started farming them now, he could continue doing so indefinitely. Once hunting bans and ecological protections were implemented, even obtaining a sika deer breeding permit would be incredibly difficult.
(End of Chapter)