Shenchi county near the city of Xinzhou, Shanxi province has grown from a farming area to a center for sheep raising, benefitting many residents, thanks in part to its mutton, known as “little ginseng” and recognized as a Shenchi specialty by the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2011.

Shenchi has 46,667 hectares of natural pasture and 62,000 hectares of arable land, 26,667 hectares of which are in corn, oats, beans, and millet and which produce fodder like maize straw, which are favorable conditions for raising sheep. It has 44 housing estates, 120 sheep demonstration villages, 600 breeders, and 710,000 head of sheep.

Yuan Chunqing, the head of the Shanxi Party, says that sheep should be regarded as a leading industry and a way out poverty for people in poor areas and there is a growth model to make this Shanxi's top mutton county.

Scientific planning is expected to be the foundation of the sheep industry and, according to a 5-year development plan, the number of sheep will grow to 3,000,000, and there will be 50 sheep breeding farms, 100 breeding zones, 100 demonstration villages, and 10,000 large-scale breeders, bringing in 3 billion yuan ($494.1 million) by 2017, with 10,000 yuan in per capita income.

There are two methods to make the sheep industry larger, one involving the government, with a Lead Group at the county- and town-level, putting more than 40 million yuan into a quarantine and inspection system and local brands. The other is a Sheep Institute, involving large breeders, rural brokers, and technicians to provide an information site and sheep industry services.

There are also three systems to back up the industry in quarantine and inspections, scientific development, and branding and marketing. The quarantine system covers the county, townships, and villages, using epidemic disease tracking and product regulations to guarantee product safety and healthy growth. The scientific cultivation system will employ different types of farming, depending on specific conditions. For the branding and marketing, national certification is necessary, while Shenchi’s mutton profile and competitiveness need to be improved. There are already 136 cooperatives and more than 20,000 workers in the county.

And, there will be seven projects to transform the sheep industry, as follows:

1. Processing and use of fodder, which involves consulting with Chinese Agricultural University specialists and spending 600,000 yuan and acquiring 12.5 tons of seeds.

2. Science and technology services in cooperating with Chinese Agricultural University and Shanxi Agricultural University, with Prof Zhang Jianxin and Prof Ren Youshe as technical advisers.

3. In the area of breeding, there are 30 standard bases and two new ones and sheep are imported from Shandong province, with 1000 sheep given to families in six townships, which benefits villagers and breeders.

4. In the area of safety, there will be an epidemic prevention and quarantine station on the largest farm.

5. There will be demonstration breeding zones with a uniform design to introduce fodder and technological services, with standardizing breeding and production and waste processing.

6. For network information there will be a sheep industry Information center and coordination group.

7. For brands, there will be various promotions, such as seminars, advertising, and characteristic agricultural product introductions.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw