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🕑 Added 2025-04-11 08:08:04 +0000 UTCWind in the Smoke
Chapter 180 - The Care
For Dante and Kayce, the most important task in managing the ranch at this stage was to take good care of the pastures, which was precisely the most critical part. Since they had committed to the ranchers' association, they couldn’t afford to disappoint them, as that would greatly affect their father's candidacy for mayor of Montana.
It was now spring, and with the addition of top-quality supplements, the rapid growth of the grass could be clearly felt.
From sowing to germination, Dante could clearly sense the rapid growth of the alfalfa.
Some of the grass had grown up to thirty centimeters and had begun to branch out. Some even reached half a meter in height, and when grazed, they developed inflorescences and new sprouts.
This didn’t surprise Dante. Alfalfa can grow up to a meter tall.
Now the grass in the pasture was growing normally, with no mutations or anything unusual.
Taking a leaf, Dante carefully observed it—it was less than a centimeter wide.
The edges were slightly serrated, the tip rounded, and the central vein slightly raised. Most importantly, the thick leaves could be squeezed gently to extract a bit of moisture.
"It looks really good. Most of the crop has thick leaves like this."
Dante smiled happily. Everything was going well. He didn’t have to wait until mid-April. He could sell the first harvest of grass in early April.
But even though he was eager and could sell it now, he wouldn’t. After all, the alfalfa was still growing, and it would be a waste to harvest it at this point.
Kayce returned, looking somewhat excited. “Dante, we did it. The alfalfa is growing really well. We’re seeing more and more purple shoots. They’ll be mature soon.”
Dante smiled and nodded, then asked seriously, “Based on your expectations, do you think we’ll reach the desired yield?”
Kayce frowned and thought for a moment, then said, “I can’t guarantee that, since I’ve never harvested alfalfa before.”
“Then I’ll call Charles or Tony to come over. They’ve harvested alfalfa for their own ranches, so they should have a good idea of how much we can get from our planting.” Dante recalled the ranchers who had been helping him, seeking more advice in a business he knew very little about.
Kayce thought for a moment about what Dante had said. He analyzed and replied, “I think if we’re talking about fresh grass, reaching a yield of 4,000 kilograms per section shouldn't be a problem. That’s already a very high yield. But we did remove some of the denser plants earlier, so the planting density isn’t particularly extreme.”
The pasture yield was obviously high, but it was still hard to say if it could exceed the upper limit of 4,000 kilograms.
Thinking of something, Dante asked, “If we keep this trend going, what do you think my breeding density should be?”
Kayce replied immediately, “I looked it up and found that a cow needs to eat about 6,000 kilograms of forage over the course of a year. And we can’t feed them just grass—we also need concentrated feed, soybeans...”
Dante thought it over carefully and said, “Now that I think about it, if I want to increase our family’s cattle, it actually seems quite doable.”
At the end of last year, Dante had mentioned that he wanted to raise twice as many cattle as they currently managed under optimal conditions. Everyone had thought he was joking and that the breeding density was too high.
But now things were different. Even ignoring the fact that grass doesn’t grow in winter, if Dante wanted to invest in cattle, it wouldn’t be seen as a fantasy. It might even be quite easy.
The most important thing was that the alfalfa on the ranch was growing very well. It wasn’t just that the grass in one spot was thriving—the entire ranch had high-quality forage. Such a high-yield crop naturally made high-density breeding possible.
Charles and Tony arrived shortly after. Father and son rode their horses to the ranch and couldn’t help but feel bitter.
They had managed their ranch diligently and were considered experienced. But even so, the development of their ranch was merely stable and only guaranteed a daily living for their family.
But looking at Dante now, clearly an outsider with no ranching experience, he had grown the highest-quality forage, which definitely meant success.
From how he had done it, it was obvious Dante had invested in the highest-quality materials.
Upon arriving at Dante’s residence, young Tony immediately said with a hint of bitterness, “You asked us to come here just to ask a few things, not to show off, right?”
Dante laughed proudly and said, “I’m just asking for advice—but if you insist on taking it as showing off, I can’t say otherwise.”
“Yes, you have the right to show off.” All this wasn’t just good for the Duttons, but for the entire Montana ranchers’ association.
Dante stopped joking and spoke seriously: “Kayce and I are calculating the forage yield that will be ready by April. I believe producing 5,000 kilograms per section shouldn’t be a problem. What do you think?”
Charles thought for a moment and said, “We saw your crop fields on the way here… Based on my experience, the yield per ‘mu’ is definitely over 4,500 kilograms. Maybe around 5,500 kilograms, which would be a relatively accurate estimate.”
Dante quickly asked, “Then we’ll be able to give all the registered ranchers something to improve the conditions of their ranches.”
Charles looked at Dante and fell silent. He knew very well everything Dante was doing for Montana, its people, and its future. In a short time, he had replaced all the companies interested in developing futuristic infrastructure and had become the main investor in public projects.
Undoubtedly, whatever Dante was doing behind the scenes wasn’t of concern to anyone. They knew everything was improving under Dante’s leadership, and that was all that mattered.
History had taught them that it only took one good Dutton to keep things running smoothly.
