Magazine digest -- Modern goose breeder runs a high-tech farm

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Magazine digest -- Modern goose breeder runs a high-tech farm
2010/07/21 21:17:32

Wu Hsiang-pin, a goose breeder in southern Taiwan's Yunlin County, is a so-called "high-tech farmer" who has applied technologies and modern management concepts to the conventional agricultural sector.

The 44-year-old Wu took over his father's animal farm upon graduating from National Chiayi University's Biomechatronic Engineering Department.

"Gotta change with the times or be left behind, " Wu said of his efforts to transform the family goose-breeding farm by introducing an environmental control and monitoring system to keep the birds clean and cool.

With the computerized monitoring system, Wu said he was able to check the temperature of the facilities using his cell phone.

Wu uses a water-based cooling system that blows air through a grid that water runs down, keeping the room's temperature at 26 degrees Celsius, which is good for the egg-laying cycle of geese. Each goose at Wu's Fang Yuan Animal Farm lays an average 80 eggs a year, almost double the egg production in other goose-breeding farms, according to Wu.

While Fang Yuan Animal Farm supplies mainly to the wholesale market, Wu has been keen in developing his Grass Geese brand and promoting his product on the web.

"While breeders in the past relied on experience, modern ones look at numbers and statistics, " Wu said, detailing his careful documentation of weather conditions, feeding schedules and available light that allow him to understand what is affecting production.

Using technology makes Wu stands out among his peers, but he also promoted the high-tech system to other farms when he was head of Taiwan's Goose Association, an effort that won him a Council of Agriculture award for outstanding farmers in 2005. (CommonWealth 451)(translated by Kay Liu) enditem/bc

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