Source: People's Daily client Ningxia Channel
"I started in captivity in 2018 and currently have 1,000 sheep, with an annual income of more than 300,000 yuan." Wang Xuzhi, 43, a farmer in Wanjigou Village, Huamachi Township, Yanchi County, Ningxia, is a veteran.
Wang Xuzhi, a big farmer in the beach. Photo by Li Ling
In the pasture of Wang Xuzhi's family, 35 standardized fattening and production sheep sheds have been built, and more than 200 mu of high-quality pasture grass have been planted. "The beach sheep have changed from a single decentralized breeding to a centralized breeding and market-oriented operation in the park." Wang Xuzhi said that in recent years, we have signed a contract with the Yanchitan Sheep Industry Development Group, the group will train breeding technology and forage quality, and the price of sheep is much higher.
Since the establishment of Ningxia Yanchi Tan sheep industry development group in 2017, through the establishment of a new industrialization joint model of "group + association + enterprise + cooperative + farmer + financial services", adopting the order acquisition and social comprehensive service method, signing an order acquisition agreement with the county's tan sheep farmers for 500,000 pieces, and selling through various online and offline channels, the sales revenue exceeded 400 million yuan.
According to reports, in 2021, the number of beach sheep in Yanchi County has reached more than 3.2 million, the output of mutton is 28,000 tons, 60 ecological pastures have been newly built and reconstructed in 8 townships in the county, the output value of the whole industrial chain of beach sheep has reached 5.26 billion yuan, the regional brand value has reached 7.11 billion yuan, and the characteristic industry dominated by beach sheep has contributed more than 80% to the increase in farmers' income in Yanchi County.
"Some farmers, just started to raise four or five hundred, after years of development, now has reached more than 1,000." Zhou Yongsheng of the Yanchi County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau said.
Salt pond beach sheep. Photo by Li Ling
It is worth mentioning that Tanyang Group has built a slaughtering and processing plant of Tanyang with an annual slaughter volume of 300,000 pieces, supporting the construction of an ecological pasture with a storage capacity of 5,000 pieces, and created an integrated business model of "raising, adding and selling" Tan sheep.
"After each slaughtered beach sheep passes the test, it is excreted in the production workshop for 24 hours, cut into lamb legs, lamb chops and other categories, and enters each finishing line one by one." The person in charge of the Yanchitan Sheep Group said that the refined lamb is vacuum packed, then packed and transported to refrigerated storage, and then sent to all parts of the country through cold chain trucks and courier companies.
Beach lamb skewers. Photo by Li Ling
At present, "Yanchitan Mutton" has entered more than 50 large and medium-sized cities in 28 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government), 49 authorized enterprises with geographical certification trademarks of "Yanchitan Sheep", 18 authorized distributors of enterprises, 226 sales outlets have been opened nationwide, and 262 products have entered 153 chain supermarkets and catering enterprises in major cities.
"With the development of informatization and new logistics models, the market outside the region has been expanding. Research and development of 36 kinds of tan mutton products, the annual production of yanchitan mutton processing products 5200 tons, tan wool processing products 2230 square meters, to achieve annual sales of 1.2 billion yuan. The person in charge of the YanchiTan Sheep Group said.
Zhou Yongsheng of Yanchi County Agriculture and Rural Bureau said that in the next step, Yanchi County will continue to become stronger, bigger and better "Yanchi Beach Sheep" brand.