After inspecting the Aquaculture Room, Li Dong went to check out the other breeding facilities.
For example: The Livestock breeding room.
The Livestock breeding room occupied a larger area than the Aquaculture Room and was equipped with more comprehensive facilities.
After all, the technologies required for aquaculture and livestock breeding were fundamentally different.
The Aquaculture building was designated as Block A007, while Block A003 was entirely dedicated to livestock breeding.
Moreover, Block A003 covered more than twice the land area of A007.
Currently, Block A003 primarily raised three of the six traditional domestic animals: cattle, sheep, and pigs.
Among these, pigs were the most numerous, followed by sheep, with cattle being the least.
Multi-story pig farming significantly conserved land resources by stacking pigstys vertically. On average, over 300 pigs could be raised per acre of land.
This meant a single floor of Block A003 could accommodate more than 900 pigs, approaching a thousand.
With six floors—one more than Block A007—A003 offered substantially more usable space.
Naturally, not all floors were dedicated to meat pigs.
Some levels housed cattle and sheep.
Cattle were further categorized into beef cattle, dairy cattle, and dual-purpose breeds. Beef cattle grew quickly, had large frames, and produced more meat, primarily for consumption. Dairy cattle were raised for milk production.
Dual-purpose cattle could provide both milk and meat.
Similarly, sheep were classified into meat sheep, wool sheep, dairy sheep, and skin sheep. For instance, wool sheep like merinos were primarily raised for wool production and typically not used as meat sources.
However, all cattle and sheep in this building were meat breeds.
Modern technology allowed for optimized design and layout of pigstys, cowsheds, and sheepfolds within multi-story buildings, greatly enhancing biosecurity measures.
The multi-level architecture enabled separation of clean and contaminated areas, along with unidirectional flow of personnel and materials, reducing pathogen transmission risks.
Each floor or zone could be managed and quarantined independently.
In case of disease outbreaks—such as swine fever—isolation and containment could be implemented more efficiently, preventing widespread viral transmission throughout the pigstys and ensuring herd health and production stability.
Moreover, this was a high-tech building capable of intelligent breeding operations.
The installation of automatic precision feeding systems minimized human-livestock contact, preventing potential virus transmission from humans to pigs, cattle, or sheep.
Every floor was equipped with monitoring instruments including temperature sensors, humidity sensors, carbon dioxide meters, and ammonia detectors, collecting real-time data on environmental conditions within the animal housing.
This enabled AI supercomputers to analyze massive data streams through big data analysis models, identifying patterns in environmental changes and potential threats.
The primary purpose was detecting early signs of illness within animal populations.
Through intelligent regulation systems, any detected threats would trigger immediate disinfection protocols, eliminating risks preemptively.
Additionally, all pigstys, cowsheds, and sheepfolds were installed with ventilation, temperature control, deodorization, waste disposal, purification, and disinfection systems.
Remote intelligent farming can be achieved. Once environmental data exceeds limits, notifications will be sent to management personnel for handling.
"How many pigs are we currently raising in total?" Li Dong changed into the specialized work uniform for breeding staff and came to the control center on the first floor of Building A003 to inquire with the workers there.
These workers weren't ordinary personnel either—they were all highly educated, with at least undergraduate degrees.
However, during their university studies, they had majored in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine.
Still, Li Dong offered these workers very high salaries and excellent benefits. Of course, their skills were indeed outstanding; otherwise, they wouldn't have been retained.
This breeding building had only been in operation for a short time, yet they had already made it thrive.
"All of them? Our company has currently purchased a total of 5,000 piglets from the Multiple Birth Breeding Farm and Zhengyuan Breeding Farm, along with 100 breeding pigs and 500 breeding sows."
At the control center on the first floor of Building A003, a worker named Zhang Zhilin explained to Li Dong.
"So, only a portion of them are in this building?" Li Dong looked up at the massive display screen mounted on the left wall.
The large screen was filled with surveillance sub-screens, providing real-time monitoring of the various floors, pigsties, cattle pens, and sheepfolds in the building.
Each sub-screen also displayed real-time data such as temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration.
"Yes, this building only has 2,800 piglets. The breeding pigs and breeding sows are all in Building A004, and some of the smaller piglets are currently in the breeding building A005," Zhang Zhilin said.
"How many cattle and sheep are there?" Li Dong continued asking.
"This breeding building also houses 500 cattle and 800 sheep, all of which are calves and lambs," Zhang Zhilin added.
Why not adult cattle and sheep?
Of course, because they were expensive. An adult cow cost 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, while a calf was only a few thousand yuan.
The same logic applied to lambs—they were much cheaper than adult sheep.
Additionally, these piglets, calves, and lambs were initially used for experimental purposes to verify whether the breeding building was functioning properly and to collect data. If they died, it wouldn't be a significant loss.
As for adult cattle and sheep, they weren't absent entirely.
They just weren't kept in this breeding building.
Some adult breeding bulls, breeding sheep, and breeding pigs were housed in the Breeding Center Building.
Moreover, they weren't a professional livestock company—they lacked too many specialized personnel and didn't have experts or scholars assisting them. It was perfectly feasible to conduct small-scale trials first, collect data, and then proceed with large-scale breeding.
Beyond this, Li Dong had also assigned some personnel to specifically purchase pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, ducks, and other livestock varieties.
After all, the range of livestock breeds was vast.
With such a massive Shelter Base, it was impossible to raise only one type of meat pig, one type of meat cattle, and one type of meat sheep, right?
"How long until these meat pigs are ready for slaughter?" Li Dong asked.
"Approximately six months," Zhang Zhilin, the person in charge, replied.
"That's acceptable."
Li Dong didn't press for further details since he wasn't a professional.
Next, Li Dong went up to the second floor to inspect the piglets in the pigsties. They were all lively, with no signs of sickness.
However, the piglets in the pigsties weren't native black pigs from Great Xia.
Instead, they were introduced breeds of meat pigs, such as Duroc pigs and Large White pigs.
This is because black pigs take a long time to reach market weight and grow slowly, requiring at least ten months before they can be slaughtered. However, black pork is more flavorful, so it's also more expensive.
There's still a market for it.
The Shelter Base also raises black pigs, just not in this building.
In Building A003, the livestock facility, floors 2, 3, and 4 are dedicated to pig farming, while floors 5 and 6 are for cattle and sheep. The control center on the first floor is mostly used for storing or stacking feed.
Then, through the control center's smart program, feeding machines precisely distribute the feed into the troughs of each Pigsty, Cowshed, and Sheepfold.