HLM – Chapter 50 Bringing the Cattle and Sheep Home

Motak’s wife served them drinks, including a special batch of herbal tea. Motak invited them to try it, and after taking a sip, Old Wang exclaimed in delight, “Wow! This tastes amazing—slightly sweet, slightly sour. I’ve got to give it a thumbs up!”

Pleased by the compliment, Motak chuckled proudly, “The recipe came from one of your fellow countrymen. He was from the Fran Province in the south of your homeland. He came to New Zealand as a working tourist—a great guy, loved tea and spicy food.”

“Fran Province? Where’s that?” Old Wang thought for a moment and asked, “Do you mean Hunan?”

“No, no, definitely Fran! I remember the pronunciation clearly because he taught my kid some Chinese and I learned a few words too,” Motak said seriously.

“OK, then it’s Fran,” Old Wang conceded.

After the pleasantries, Motak began introducing his ranch.

Alfalfa Blossom Ranch was a professional operation, mainly selling calves and lambs. Although the cattle and sheep were free-range, they were also fed with forage and fodder.

He mainly raised Angus beef cattle, which are hardy, muscular, yield high-quality meat, and are well-suited to graze alongside sheep.

For dairy cows, he primarily had Holsteins, with some Friesians. As for the sheep, they were mostly Romneys, a type of wool sheep that’s dual-purpose (meat and wool) and very popular in New Zealand.

“In terms of price, since you’re Chinese—and I like Chinese people because you’re hardworking and diligent, role models for us Maori—I’ll give you a discount: 3-month-old Angus calves are $850 NZD each, and 45-day-old Romney lambs are 100 for $28,000 NZD. What do you think?”

Wang Bo nodded at the offer. He had done his homework online before coming. Currently, a 3-month-old Angus calf costs about $880 NZD, and a 45-day-old Romney lamb is about $300 NZD each.

So, Motak’s prices were quite fair—there was no need for further haggling.

After agreeing on the price, Motak and his wife led the four of them to choose the animals. Old Wang exchanged a glance with Bowen, who nodded confidently and whispered, “Leave it to me.”

The ranch was divided into about ten areas. One area held all-black, robust Angus beef cattle. These hornless cattle were large-bodied but had a docile temperament, calmly grazing on the grass.

Another area had Holstein dairy cows, the classic black-and-white cows Chinese farmers call “piebalds,” usually mother cows with their calves.

There were also Romney sheep pens. These sheep had just been sheared, revealing bare reddish skin. They weren’t bothered by the blazing sun and were strolling around in the pens, sunbathing.

The 45-day-old Romney lambs were still tiny and hadn’t grown much wool yet. Their bodies were a bit grubby and not as cute as the freshly sheared adults.

Toward the back, Wang Bo noticed a group of impressive-looking rams—muscular, rectangular bodies and spiral horns. They stood still like statues.

Curious, Old Wang asked, “What kind of sheep are those?”

Bowen replied, “Those are the famous Merino rams. They can grow up to 100 kilograms. But I’d recommend we go with Romneys—they roam less and are more docile.”

Wang Bo thought it over and shook his head, “Let’s get some of both. We’re doing free-range grazing. There may be no wolves in New Zealand, but having a few rams around gives us some peace of mind.”

“You want aggressive rams?” Bowen asked.

Old Wang nodded. At that, the cowboy chimed in, “Then I’ve got a recommendation—Dodge Rams. Fiercest of them all. They can run so hard they could kill a tiger.”

“Dodge Rams? That fierce?” Old Wang was stunned.

Bowen nodded solemnly. Old Wang looked to Motak, who quickly waved his hands and said, “Dodge Rams are fierce, but I don’t have any here—because they’re trucks! I bet you don’t want to keep hundreds of pickups on your ranch!”

“Commander, I request disciplinary action against him!”

“Ah, ah, the idiot needs a beating! Ah, ah, that moron is beyond saving!” the commander flapped his wings and squawked in outrage.

After touring the ranch, Wang Bo finally decided to purchase:

• 1000 Romney lambs
• 100 Angus beef calves
• 10 Holstein dairy calves

The total came to 400,000 NZD.

There were no restrictions on the gender of the Romney lambs and Angus calves. However, for the Holsteins, he specified 2 males and 8 females—since only the cows produce milk, there’s no use having too many bulls.

Since this was a brand-new ranch, he couldn’t just buy young animals; he also needed adult livestock to guide the young ones. So he bought:

• 20 adult Romney sheep
• 2 adult Angus cattle
• 2 adult Holstein cows

Adult animals are essential for herding and teaching the young.

This bumped up the cost:

• Each adult Romney sheep was $800—ten of them cost $16,000
• An Angus cow went for over $10,000—two meant another $20,000
• Add the adult Holsteins on top of that

All in all, the total came to over 450,000 NZD.

And that wasn’t the end of it—Sunset Town has no direct roads, so Wang Bo had to cover half the transportation cost for livestock delivery, which meant another $10,000 NZD.

From the 500,000 NZD he had just borrowed, most of it was gone in a flash.

With the remaining $40,000, Wang Bo decided to buy adult Merino sheep. Motak gave him a deal—20 pairs (40 sheep) for the price.

He handed the still-warm check to Motak and laughed heartily, “Damn, spending money feels so damn good!”

The cowboy whispered nervously, “Boss, I think you look more like you’re crying than laughing…”

Charlie tugged at him and whispered, “Don’t provoke him anymore—he might’ve gone a little nuts.”

Old Wang had originally planned to buy some alpacas or a couple of horses to ride, but now that was clearly wishful thinking.

Alpacas, known in China as the infamous cao ni ma, are a New Zealand specialty. But Alfalfa Blossom Ranch didn’t have any. Motak said alpacas were dumb and gluttonous—totally useless on his enclosed ranch.

The cowboy stayed behind to manage the animal selection. Wang Bo and the other two drove back to the castle—he needed to return to his lair and comfort his now-broken glass heart. He had spent way too happily today.

The next day, more than ten semi-trailers modified into livestock transport trucks slowly rolled into Sunset Town. The trucks had been transformed into mobile pens. The cattle and sheep inside were huddled together, clearly anxious and restless.

But as they crossed into the ranch’s territory, the animals began to settle down. One by one, they pushed toward the railings, poking their heads out to stare curiously at the grasslands.

Wang Bo rode a motorcycle to guide the convoy, leading them to the northwest hilly area of the ranch. He needed to ensure all the animals were settled within the range of the ranch’s spiritual “heart.”

Once they arrived, Motak jumped down from a truck, looking around in surprise.

“Wang, you’re planning to graze them all in the open like this? Sure, there’s a lot of grass, but this isn’t actual pasture grass—you need to understand that!”