What small details should be emphasized in the development of grass-fed livestock husbandry?

In the course of its development, grass-fed livestock husbandry requires not only scientific planning and design and reasonable coordinated arrangements from a certain height, but also attention to various details. In the author's view, to find a reasonable balance point between stable and healthy market supply and the protection of the ecological environment, one should have the awareness of “both big and small.” The so-called “big” refers to the large-scale, enterprise-based development of grass-fed livestock husbandry; while the so-called “small” refers to the individual, go-it-alone development of farming households and herders. The two can be independent of each other, and can also cooperate with each other and develop in a coordinated way.

Now we know that large-scale breeding and enterprise-based development in grass-fed livestock husbandry have many benefits, such as unified feed mixing, disease prevention, improvement, milking, etc., which not only ensure the supply safety of dairy products and meat products and the stability of the market, but also help reduce the production and operating costs of enterprises and improve their own market competitiveness. Moreover, another benefit of large-scale breeding and enterprise development is that it is more conducive to management and environmental protection.

From this perspective, the government should provide guarantees and guidance in terms of policy, funding, credit, and other aspects, vigorously promote large-scale breeding and enterprise-based development in grass-fed livestock husbandry, and actively build modern agriculture and animal husbandry. But at the same time, we should also see that in places lacking certain conditions and not suitable for large-scale breeding and grazing, the development of grass-fed livestock husbandry must mainly start from the “small” end, that is, relying on the efforts of individual farming households and herders, and on the basis of fully considering local natural conditions, adopting a development path suited to local conditions.

Moreover, this individualized development of farming households and herders does not reject cooperation with the outside world. For example, at Ruifeng Ranch in Yuzhong County, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, enterprises and farmers have established a sound mechanism for linking interests and driven surrounding farmers to increase their incomes and become better off. Their specific approach is that the cooperative gives ewes to breeders free of charge, and then buys back the lambs at market prices, so that not only does the enterprise itself develop, but it also enriches surrounding farmers. This mechanism closely links enterprises and farming households, supports each other, and achieves win-win cooperation, innovating the modern agricultural business model and promoting the common development of farmers and enterprises.

At the same time, we should also see that whether it is the large-scale development or the individualized development of grass-fed livestock husbandry, neither can do without the support of modern science and technology. Taking the Three Gorges Reservoir Area in Chongqing as an example, “Research on Key Technologies for Sustainable Development of Grass-fed Livestock Husbandry in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area and Industrialization Demonstration” was one of the first major projects in the agricultural field launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology under the National Science and Technology Support Program during the “12th Five-Year Plan.” Over more than three years, through the unremitting efforts of researchers, the project carried out relatively systematic research and development integration across the entire industry chain, including hybrid improvement and germplasm innovation of beef cattle, goats, and meat rabbits in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, safe production, processing and utilization, forage-livestock matching, efficient feeding, and resource utilization of manure, forming a complete set of innovative results suitable for the sustainable development of grass-fed livestock husbandry in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, achieving good economic, ecological, and social benefits, and successfully completing the contract tasks and various technical and economic indicators. It also laid a good foundation for the development of local grass-fed livestock husbandry and injected boundless vitality into it, fully making people aware of the positive role of science and technology in leading industrial development.