By November, Zhijiang City has converted 8.83 k㎡ lands vacant in winter into 24.43 k㎡ grass area. Those fields filled with “rice straw roots in autumn and winter” in the past have been covered with “fragrant rice in spring and summer”, “luxuriant grass in autumn and winter”, and an evergreen landscape is emerging in the countryside. Behind all of these is the thriving of animal husbandry thrives in Zhijiang City. By seizing the opportunity to build itself as the husbandry model city in Hubei Province, Zhijiang City has recently achieved significant development on the beef cattle industry for its accelerating the process of beef cattle breed improvement, propelling grassing and animal husbandry on vacant lands, following the development path of flagship products, breeding bases and cooperation with farmers. The total output value of beef cattle in Zhijiang this year will reach￥0.512 billion and the sales of beef cattle accounts for 1/3 that of Yichang City.

　　At the beginning of this year, a series of supporting policies have been promulgated to promote herbivorous animal husbandry industrial clusters’ constant development of the leading breeding specialized cooperatives like Xingwang Beef Cattle and Xianfa Beef Cattle, and to lead the large-scale leading enterprises of beef cattle production and processing to join in the demonstration areas according to the Zhijiang City’s principles of integrated planning, attraction for foreign investments, land circulation, contiguous exploitation, integrated projects, and high-standard construction. Hubei Fenglian Jiawo Agriculture Development Co, Ltd. has invested ￥200 million, introduced over 300 high quality beef cattle in the first phase of 2000-beef-cattle breeding base project, transferred 0.253 k㎡lands in Qixingtai Town and employed the local villagers to plant exclusive grass as well. Yichang Tianyuan Canned Food Co., Ltd. will recycle the abandoned materials like surplus corncobs in the processing of canned food to raise the cattle and gradually establish the meat product processing in the 2000-beef -cattle breeding base project.

　　When the leading enterprises gradually go into operation, the farmers also form a cooperation model with variety introduction, breeding, technology service and marketing combined as one via joining in the cooperatives, and cooperation with rearing bases. At present, many standardized model beef cattle breeding farms have been set up in Zhijiang City, for instance 5 farms at provincial level, 8 at Yichang municipal level, 20 at county level. Farmers nearby are attracted to cattle breeding, forming 3 cattle breeding towns like Xiannv Town and 10 cattle breeding villages such as Qingshi Village and Hengdian Village.

　　The Department of Husbandry Veterinary Services in Zhijiang also actively takes part in this development as a family member of those famers and offer technical training and services for farmers and proprietors in the forms of concentrated training, spreading science and technology to the countryside, technology contract responsibility and expert consultation on the site. The husbandry technology promotion has numbered 18 and 15,000 people have received training. It has employed experts in Hubei province and Yichang City to carry out 3 thematic technical trainings of 1,500 people on animal epidemic prevention and herbivorous animal husbandry, and offer sound technical support for the farmers. It has also improved and upgraded 15 standardized spot for beef cattle breed improvement, promoted 12,600 frozen semens, 5940 cows inseminated with frozen semens, and produced 5520 improved hybrid calves inseminated with frozen semens, bringing￥8,280,000 income for the farmers.

　　The beef cattle industry has got the full support of Zhijiang municipality, who vigorously propels its development with projects applied from the superior department, for instance, “Beef Cattle Breed Improvement Promoted throughout the County”, Pilot Household Pasture etc., encourages the development of emerging animal husbandry breeding forms, carries out livestock breeding standards ranging from “Ministry of Agriculture, Hubei Province, Yichang Municipal level to Zhijiang county-level ”, and establishes the quality safety traceability system for animal by-products in standardized model production base in Yichang. All of these provide a substantial support for the continuous, sound and steady progression of the beef cattle industry in Zhijiang.( Correspondents Fang Mingmo & Li Lin)