Mobile sheep farming helps herders escape poverty and become prosperous

On January 22, Jirenbayaer was adding grass for the flock of sheep.

"Four years ago, I was still completely impoverished, worrying all day about how to get my son a wife." This 54-year-old herder, who lives in Bayan Hushu Sumu, West Ujimqin Banner (West Ujimqin), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said that three or four years ago his family was still a typical poor household, but in just these few short years, the family's annual income increased 4-fold. Not only did they move into a newly renovated house, his son also married a beautiful wife, and the year before last they had a lovely grandson.

What rapidly changed Jirenbayaer's life was a flock of sheep that "moves" among poor herding households on the grassland. Since 2013, West Ujimqin Banner has allocated 10 million yuan each year to implement the "mobile livestock herd" poverty alleviation project, providing each poor household with few livestock and the ability to manage them with basic ewes worth 40,000 yuan, and signing a breeding development agreement. After 4 years, the government takes back the basic ewes, but the lambs bred during this period belong to the poor household. The recovered basic ewes continue to "move" to other poor households, helping them escape poverty and become prosperous.