Herdsmen in northwest China's pastoral regions are driving their livestock onto farmland for a five-month winter grazing season, where the animals feed on crop residue and leave behind organic fertilizer.
The pioneering model is boosting sustainability in the Qilian Mountains, easing pressure on overgrazed grasslands and renewing farmland soils in return.
Home to vast alpine meadows, the Qilian Mountains stretch nearly 1,000 kilometers along the northeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where western Gansu meets northeastern Qinghai. At the foot of the range, late October marks the start of the annual winter grazing season, when livestock are driven in large trucks onto rented farmland.
In Sunan Yugur Autonomous County in Zhangye, Gansu, herdsmen are loading their livestock onto trucks for a journey of over 100 kilometers to crop-stubble fields in the Hexi Corridor, beginning a roughly five-month winter grazing stay.
At herdsman An's pasture, where over 200 sheep have already been relocated to farmland, more than 110 young yaks lined up to board disinfected double-decker trucks. Local authorities provided protective kits with disinfection gear and supplies as the animals prepared for a two-hour journey to Gaotai County.
Each autumn, roughly 1,000 Sunan households move their livestock to agricultural fields in the neighboring counties of Gaotai, Linze, and Minle. This allows mountain grasslands to rest for five months so they can recover more robustly in the spring. While herdsmen rent the fields for 330 to 400 dollars per hectare, the livestock maintain their weight by feeding on crop stalks and fallen corn. This practice clears out leftover crop residue and leaves behind organic fertilizer.
Participating households now make up a quarter of Sunan's total, with some 300,000 animals set to return to the greening Qilian Mountains next spring. The model strikes a balance between ecological protection and herdsmen's livelihoods, and reduced grazing pressure has steadily improved grassland vegetation coverage.
Northwest China herds migrate to farmland for winter grazing, easing strain on pastures
