Teacher by day, farmer by night
Raising pigs, in many Chinese minds, is dirty and back-breaking work only done by poorly-educated farmers. One university professor, however, has broken this stereotype by becoming a part-time pig farmer.
Chen Guogan, 48, is an associate professor of mathematics at Yandu TV University in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. Born to a long line of career veterinarians – five generations, to be exact – Chen is no stranger to domestic animals, especially pigs. But when he decided to start a pig farm in 2004, his decision to add such an uncertain element to his stable academic life wasn’t looked too highly upon by his family and friends. Even his wife, Yu Xiaoqu, couldn’t quite understand his motivation.
“When he told me, I was extremely embarrassed,” Yu told the Global Times during a telephone interview. “I thought raising pigs was low-level manual work. In addition, I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to earn back our initial investment.”
Starting with seed money of 200,000 yuan ($30,504) – most of it borrowed – to buy 30 piglets and necessary equipment to start his enterprise, Chen opened his pig farm in Yancheng’s Dagang township in 2004. He mainly specializes in foreign lean meat-type pigs, including British Yorkshire and American Landrace, making sure to vary their feeding choices based on their specific stage of growth.