Chapter 41

Everyone went outside, and Flame saw Liu Yuxuan, so it trotted over, stretching its big horse head to rub against Liu Yuxuan. It was quite bored outside, unlike in the pasture where it could wander around freely. After being tamed by Liu Yuxuan and with the effects of the space water, Flame was now very smart, though its temper was still as bad as ever.

"Flame, let me introduce you to this pretty sister, Michelle. She's our good friend," Liu Yuxuan said, hugging Flame's head and pointing to Michelle.

Flame lifted its head and took a look, but showed no reaction.

Liu Yuxuan was helpless and had to say again, "How about letting her play with you for a while?"

Flame still showed no reaction, though even if it did, no one would have noticed.

"Alright, I'll take it as you agreeing. How about letting Michelle pet you first?" Liu Yuxuan assumed it agreed and gestured for Michelle to pet it.

Michelle extended her hand and slowly reached out to touch Flame's neck.

At this moment, Liu Yuxuan was very cautious, keeping his eyes on Flame's head. If it showed any signs of turning to bite, he would have to hold it quickly.

Flame's behavior was quite good; it didn't react violently when Michelle petted it, just showing some impatience. Could this guy be biased towards women? Liu Yuxuan thought.

Michelle petted it twice, but before she could savor the experience, Flame kept backing away.

"There's nothing we can do. Flame is already getting impatient. If you keep petting it, it might get angry," Liu Yuxuan said helplessly. "But you are still the first person to touch it besides me."

"Really?" Although she only petted it twice, Michelle was very happy to hear that she was the first person to touch Flame besides Liu Yuxuan.

"Yes, even the cowboys in our ranch are afraid to get close to Flame," Liu Yuxuan explained.

At this point, Allen also told Michelle about Flame's performance yesterday.

Michelle was now quite curious. Having grown up on a ranch, she learned to ride horses at a very young age. She never expected that this Easterner would learn to ride such a fierce horse on his first try and even tame it. Was the East really that magical?

Seeing that Flame was getting impatient, Liu Yuxuan didn't stay any longer. After saying goodbye to the Allen family, he headed to the next ranch.

The next ranch was the Grizzly Ranch, a large one covering over 5,000 acres. It was invested in by a company from New York, and the ranch owner wasn't usually there, leaving it to the cowboys to manage.

Two cowboys from the Grizzly Ranch had drunk the alcohol Liu Yuxuan bought them at the bar yesterday. Looking at their ranch, Liu Yuxuan was quite envious. There were herds of cattle and sheep, a vast expanse.

Back at his ranch, Liu Yuxuan was worried about the pile of cow dung.

At the beginning, the cows were small and produced little waste. Now, with regular consumption of space water and space-water-irrigated grass, they grew quickly. The calves had grown to over 400 pounds, and a new problem arose: too much cow dung.

"Garza, how do we usually handle this cow dung?" Liu Yuxuan, having no idea, asked Garza.

"Small ranches like ours usually give it to the Horton Company, which uses it to generate electricity. Larger ranches have their own ways to handle it," Garza said.

If the ranch were larger, it would be easier to handle. For a small ranch like theirs, it was more difficult. Unless they gave it to the Horton Company for free, they would send a truck to collect it.

"However, we can also ferment it into fertilizer. You're growing organic vegetables, right? The fertilizer you'll need in the future should also be organic. Using fresh cow dung directly isn't very effective," Garza reminded him.

Hearing Garza's suggestion, Liu Yuxuan's eyes lit up. Yes, why hadn't he thought of that?

At home, the chicken manure fertilizer he bought for growing watermelons was quite expensive. If he could turn this cow dung into organic fertilizer, he could use it himself and even sell the excess.

"Garza, thank you so much. I'll give you an extra $100 this month," Liu Yuxuan said happily. "I'm going to the town library to look up some information. You check if there's a suitable place nearby to build a factory."

Since Texas is the second-largest state in the U.S. and the largest in agriculture, the library had a lot of relevant information.

After reviewing the information, Liu Yuxuan understood why other ranchers didn't use cow dung to make fertilizer themselves.

First, if made into ordinary fertilizer, it wasn't as effective as chemical fertilizers and had poor sales.

Second, if made into organic fertilizer, the requirements for the raw material, cow dung, were very strict. Even if the organic fertilizer produced wasn't very effective, it wouldn't sell for a high price.

Most Texas ranchers operated in traditional ways, so they handed the cow dung over to specialized companies for processing.

Liu Yuxuan didn't have such concerns. The cow dung from his ranch was completely qualified, and the cows ate space-water-irrigated grass, so the fertilizer's effectiveness wasn't a worry.

Liu Yuxuan also thought about raising some earthworms. These little creatures were farmers' good friends. Earthworm manure, as fertilizer, was top-notch organic fertilizer. Combined with high-quality cow dung, it would be a perfect combination. The excess earthworms could also be made into feed for the cows, which would be high in protein.

However, there was a problem at hand: the funding issue.

The organic vegetables hadn't grown well yet. Even with the help of space water, it would still take 20 to 30 days before they could be sold. During his time in the U.S., Liu Yuxuan had been spending money without earning any.

Building a factory here was different from in China. The land was easy to buy, but the costs for equipment and labor were high.

Factory construction, workers' salaries, buying equipment, and purchasing a truck to transport the cow dung would cost more than $200,000. Liu Yuxuan currently had less than $30,000 in cash.

After thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with a good solution. "Well, if there's no other way, I'll have to transfer some money from China," Liu Yuxuan thought.

He first bought 15 pounds of earthworms in town. They were expensive, at $26 per pound.

In the U.S., earthworms were protected animals and environmental heroes. Because of the large amount of garbage in the U.S., much of it couldn't be processed. Later, people discovered that one pound of earthworms could process about one pound of garbage in 48 hours.

With the current focus on green food in the U.S., normal-income families ate organic vegetables at least once a week, increasing the demand for organic fertilizer. This indirectly raised the value of earthworms year by year.

Back at the ranch, he spread the earthworms on the pile of cow dung. He told Garza to pile up new cow dung separately. In a few weeks, the current pile would become organic fertilizer.

The earthworms quickly burrowed into the cow dung and started their feast.

"Ugh, the smell of cow dung is really bad. Once the factory is built, we'll have to transport the cow dung there for processing. Otherwise, the whole ranch will be unbearable in the hot summer," Liu Yuxuan thought.

---

End of Page AD

---

End of Page AD