Fresh approaches to winter pasturing see strong returns

A police officer who helped a herder find a lost newborn lamb in the Bortala Mongolian autonomous prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, pets the animal. Caring for livestock during the cold season in Northwest China has been modernized in recent years, with Beidou positioning, mobile support vehicles and real-time weather updates making the trek to winter pastures easier for herdsmen and animals. In 2000, a handful of herdsmen in Sunan county voluntarily adopted the new model, and the practice of not moving livestock in winter has been increasing ever since. Zhu Wenxin, head of the forage grass department of Zhangye's animal husbandry and veterinary bureau, said in the past there had been an overgrazing problem due to the limited grass production in winter pastures. "More importantly, after the yaks and sheep consume the stalks, they leave manure in the fields, which becomes organic fertilizer when the fields are plowed in the spring," he said.