Inner Mongolia optimizes grassland fence grassland construction and walks out of "drawing land as a prison"

The Inner Mongolia prairie with optimized net fence is pleasing to the eye. (data picture)

Net fence before optimization in Inner Mongolia grassland. Economic Daily reporter Yu Jianshe
On the vast grassland in Inner Mongolia, barbed wire and cement piles can be seen everywhere. The net fence used to be a scientific means to use grassland in an orderly way. With the passage of time, it has also brought the problem of grassland fragmentation. Is the net fence out of date? How to adjust and optimize? It is another year of spring grass green, and the reporter of Economic Daily went into the depths of the grassland to find the answer.
Driving from Damaoqi City, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia to Subuda’s home, you have to take a grassland path. "Come in from the intersection, and the fourth net fence with a door is our home." Subuda told reporters on the phone. Along the way, after a short walk, we have to get off and open the door of the net fence, and the local drivers in the same industry are also very helpless.
This situation is very common in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. In 1984, Inner Mongolia took the lead in implementing the responsibility system of "double contract for grass and livestock", and in 1989, it implemented the "two rights and one system" to implement the responsibility system of grassland ownership, use right and contract management. After 2000, in order to control grassland degradation, the state began to implement key projects of grassland protection and construction, such as enclosure projects. Today, 400 million mu of grassland in Inner Mongolia has been cut into tens of thousands of fences by barbed wire and cement piles, accounting for 40% of the total available area.
Nowadays, China’s grassland has entered a new stage of strengthening protection and restoration, and the production, life and development requirements of herders have changed. Is there a better solution for grassland management?
Net fences everywhere
Subuda’s home is in Gacha, Sumuge Rile Aodu, Bayin Aobao, Damaoqi. He started grazing at the age of 14 and has more than 6,000 mu of grassland at home. "In the past, there was no net fence around the grassland, and one household was connected to another. At most, everyone surrounded a small part of their own grassland for rotational grazing. Later, after the grassland began to be contracted to households, everyone gradually began to build fences and surrounded their own pastures. " Subuda said that the main purpose of building the net fence is to ensure that the livestock of each family stay in each pasture and will not run around. "With the net fence, the labor intensity of our livestock care is obviously reduced. In addition, the net fence can also avoid the loss of cattle and sheep. "
"There is a voice that the net fence will hinder the migration of wild animals and the spread of grass seeds, affecting the diversity of animals and plants, but I think the impact is limited." Manli, deputy director of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Xilinhot City, Xilingol League, said, "For a long time, the net fence has played an effective role in protecting the grassland: one is to prevent some people from digging medicinal materials and sending vegetables to the grassland, and the other is to prevent cars from being crushed on the grassland."
As the largest pastoral area in China, the construction of grassland fences in Inner Mongolia can be roughly divided into three stages: first, before the reform and opening up, in order to make better use of grassland pastures in pastoral areas and develop animal husbandry, pastoral areas represented by Xianghuang Banner and Wushen Banner began to build grass kulun, and local materials were used to build simple fences with wood and stones, which were convenient for weeding and keeping in captivity. Second, in the early days of reform and opening-up, with the gradual implementation of the policy of "double contract for grass and livestock", some herders began to spontaneously build family-based grass cullens for demarcation and weeding in order to protect their own grasslands. Third, after 2000, in order to effectively control grassland degradation, the state has successively implemented key projects of grassland protection and construction, such as the control of sandstorm sources in Beijing and Tianjin and the project of returning grazing to grassland. At present, the total construction area of grassland fences in Inner Mongolia is more than 400 million mu, of which 280 million mu has been built through national projects.
"Overall, the merits are greater than the demerits" is the unanimous view of many industry experts on the net fence. At the beginning of grassland contracting to households, there was no large-scale net fence, but the grassland was bounded and grazing was unbounded, and livestock could move around everywhere. The phenomenon that livestock ate grassland "big pot rice", large farmers "ate small households" and livestock households "ate" no livestock households could be seen everywhere. Through the construction of grassland fence, herdsmen have truly realized effective control over the contracted management right of grassland, fundamentally solved the border dispute of herdsmen’s grassland and promoted the definition of the right to use. This also mobilized the enthusiasm of herders for animal husbandry production, and made more rational use of the grassland in the fence, thus promoting the balanced production of contracted grassland. Each family’s grassland has formed a relatively closed small environment through grassland fences, which has played an isolation role for sporadic punctate animal epidemics in the surrounding herdsmen. In addition, driven by the project of returning grazing to grassland and controlling sand source, the vegetation in the project area has been restored and the ecology has been obviously improved.
However, due to the lack of scientific planning and overall consideration, some grassland fences are too high, too dense and gridded, which not only affects herders’ travel, but also causes injuries to large livestock such as camels, and disabilities to small livestock such as lambs and calves. It also has a certain impact on the normal foraging, drinking, migration and survival of wild animals. In addition, the ubiquitous net fences have also destroyed the natural beauty of the prairie to a certain extent. The fence that has been in disrepair for those years is hung with hay such as Shapong and white garbage blown by strong wind, which is very dazzling in the green field.
In Wu Enqi’s memory, the grassland as a child had no fence and was boundless and green. "When I was a child, we went to the Dongshan Mountain in Beligutai Town to hide and seek. The grass can keep the children tight." The vice-captain of the comprehensive administrative law enforcement team of natural resources in Abaga Banner of Xilin Gol League said that the implementation of "double contract for grass and livestock" could not determine the border without the fence, but the fence separated the grassland and separated people’s hearts. "I used to go to the herdsmen’s house to eat meat, drink wine, and even go to his sheepfold to catch a sheep. The simple herdsmen didn’t blink. Nowadays, even if cattle and sheep eat one more bite of grass from their neighbor’s pasture, they will never let them. In recent years, most of the disputes I have dealt with are pasture disputes. Sometimes, in order to move the fence for two or three meters, even the brothers turned against each other. " Unqi said.
Optimization first does "addition"
Standing in Manglai Gacha Highland, I can’t see the net fence, but the white clouds are like floc and the Mu Ye is boundless, which makes people want to use this new grassland scenery that has restored its original ecology as computer desktop wallpaper. Manglai Gacha is located by the beautiful Krulun River, where the "Manglai Model" was born. Inner Mongolia regards Xinbaerhuyouqi as one of the first two pilot counties for the modernization of pastoral areas, and Xinbaerhuyouqi takes Manglai Gacha as one of the first pilot counties in the whole banner.
"The first thing to optimize the net fence is to do ‘ Addition ’ Integrate the scattered operations of herders and set up cooperatives. " Mijige Dorg, secretary of the Party branch of Kerun Sumumulai Mangcha in Xinbaerhu Right Banner and chairman of Manglai Herdsmen’s Sheep Cooperative, said that with the development of productive forces and the improvement of environmental awareness, herders realized that it was better to restore a net fence of "painting land as a prison" to a contiguous grassland and find a "leader" for decentralized management. The cooperative set out to merge pasture and herd.
In the past two years, 88 of the 115 households in Manglai Gacha have joined the cooperative, integrating 390,000 mu of grassland and more than 5,800 heads of livestock in Gacha, merging into 9 flocks, 1 herd of horses and 1 herd, and adjusting and optimizing the net fence for more than 92,000 meters. There are 51 gacha in Xinbaerhuyouqi, and the "Manglai Model" has been popularized in 11 gacha.
"When a herdsman runs a family, the size of the flock is not large. Each family has to hire a shepherd, buy a set of animal husbandry machinery and drill a deep well, which costs a lot." One of the sheep’s "group leader", Ari Dencang, used to be a poor household with a file. Now he and his wife have more than 1,000 sheep. Last year, their net income reached 110,000 yuan, and they paid off their loans and took off their poverty hats. "The establishment of cooperatives and the opening of net fences have made the grazing grassland bigger. The grass by the river, the grass on the grassland and the grass in the autumn camp are different. What kind of grass do cattle and sheep eat in what season? The four seasons are divided into four seasons, and the pasture is becoming more and more beautiful, the flock is getting bigger and bigger, and the income is getting higher and higher. "
Abaga Banner is one of the first experimental sites for modernization of pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia, and it is also actively optimizing the grassland fence. Since last year, the fence optimization project of not less than 80,000 mu has been implemented in 15 pilot sites. Hunger Gaole Town Phaeton Xili natural grassland has become a typical local grid connection. "According to the requirements of the modernization development of pastoral areas, we have optimized the inter-household net fences of 700 herders with Gacha as a unit, turning small nets into large nets, solving the problems of fragmented and decentralized management of herders and low efficiency, and effectively improving the comprehensive utilization efficiency of grassland." Alatan Baoriqige, mayor of Gaole Town, hunger, introduced that grazing is prohibited all year round when the grassland is mowed, and the mechanism of "unified management, unified management and unified mowing" is established. After enclosure, the overall height, coverage and grass yield of high-quality forage plants such as Leymus chinensis, Stipa Stipa and Artemisia frigida have increased year by year. In 2020, the grass yield will reach about 60 million kilograms, accounting for one-third of the total grass storage in the whole flag. Optimizing the net fence and banning grazing all year round also promoted the development of grassland tourism industry, promoted the organic integration of "three industries", and the radiation led to an average income increase of 17 thousand yuan for the surrounding herdsmen.
On the grassland in Jinmen Gacha, Wugaishumu, Urad Houqi, Bayannaoer City, except for the fence on the side of National Highway 242, the fence on the opposite side and both sides can no longer be seen. "This is part of the pilot project of ecological restoration of degraded grassland by artificial grass planting in Urad Houqi, covering an area of more than 90,000 mu. Since last year, enclosure and grazing prohibition have been implemented. At that time, we followed the principle of building a large net fence to ensure a complete and independent ecosystem. At present, the ecological restoration of this grassland is in good condition, and Caragana korshinskii is already very dense. " Yang Shiping, deputy director of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Urad Houqi, said that the "addition" of building a large net fence here is the pilot project of ecological restoration of artificial grass planting in degraded grassland.
The pilot project of ecological restoration of degraded grassland by artificial grass planting is mainly aimed at grassland degradation and desertification. Meadow grassland, typical grassland and desert grassland are selected as pilot areas to explore and summarize the comprehensive management technology and new management model combining artificial restoration and natural restoration, and put forward a package of solutions for grassland ecological restoration and management in Inner Mongolia and even the whole country in the future. In August 2019, Inner Mongolia approved the implementation plan of the national pilot project of artificial grass planting ecological restoration in degraded grasslands, of which Bayannaoer City has a construction task of 560,000 mu, with a total investment of 100 million yuan and a construction period of 3 years. Focus on ecological restoration and vegetation restoration of pastures that are moderately and severely degraded and desertified due to overgrazing, and integrate innovation and demonstration of key technologies in pilot areas, and carry out monitoring and evaluation of the benefits of ecological restoration projects.
Zhang Bin, chief of grassland supervision and management section of Bayannaoer Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said that the key area of fragmentation control is in eastern Inner Mongolia, which is a typical grassland area and meadow grassland area, and there is a big difference between control and non-control. In Bayannaoer area, most of them are desertification and semi-desertification grasslands, and the key point is to manage livestock well. "The net fence left in the past has been in disrepair for many years, but no one has taken the initiative to deal with it, which involves the cost. Now people’s understanding of the fence has also changed, and they no longer engage in small net fences, but they have to fence in large scale. Especially in recent years, ecological restoration has been implemented, which is basically a large net fence of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of acres. " Zhang Bin said.
Upgrading focuses on empowerment.
In Gacha, Alateng Hang Gai, Beligutai Town, Abaga Banner, it is worth mentioning that herder Buzigude optimized the net fence. Twenty years ago, when the pasture came to the household, Ji Rentai, a model worker of Xilin Gol League, gathered his eldest son Tegus, his second son Deliger and his youngest son Buzigude together to hold a family meeting and plan the family ranch: separate the livestock, but not the ranch — — Only large net fences are used to enclose the grasslands of the three families for accurate rotational grazing.
The three brothers integrated their own 19,458 mu of grassland with the leased 5,000 mu of grassland, and established the family ranch "Shangdu Baolige" in Abaga Banner. Instead of fencing by family, they only divided the areas according to their functions, and outlined the summer camp, autumn camp and winter camp with net fences, and grazing in rotation all seasons. Brezhgood introduced that in order to reduce the trampling of livestock hooves, the three brothers also took the initiative to adjust the herd structure, reducing sheep and increasing cattle. "A cow is converted into five sheep units, and the income from raising 100 cows is worth raising 500 sheep. There are only 400 hooves for 100 cows, and the big hooves do little damage to the grassland. There are 2,000 hooves in 500 sheep, and small hooves have great damage to grassland. "
Five years ago, there were 1,000 sheep and 50 cows in Buzigude, and the income in that year was 200,000 yuan. Now, the number of cattle in Buzigude has increased to 100, and the number of sheep has been reduced to 200, with an annual income of 600,000 yuan.
Like the family ranch, the joint operation has also optimized and upgraded the net fence. Maodeng Ranch, 36 kilometers away from Xilinhot, is a state-owned farm, with an available grassland area of 740,000 mu and a total of 44,000 livestock. It is the largest fully enclosed grassland ecological protection zone in China, and employees have a strong desire to protect the ecology and increase their income. Xilinhot City has put the standardization of net fence construction and the implementation of the precision pilot of grass and livestock balance in Maodeng Ranch.
The second branch of Maodeng Ranch plans to integrate nine herdsman pastures, led by herdsman Xiao Junsheng, and plans to implement a balance of 17,000 mu of grass and livestock. Mary specially went to his home to deploy the pilot work. "In the past, we talked about heroes by the number of livestock, and animal husbandry was ‘ Animal husbandry ’ . Now press ‘ Livestock ’ Evaluation turn to press ‘ Grass ’ Evaluation, animal husbandry turn ‘ Grass and animal husbandry ’ , to grass livestock. The optimization of the net fence has also been upgraded from the past fixed fence to the mobile electronic fence. " According to Mary, the fixed fence costs 30 yuan for every 1m extension, while the movable fence costs only 10 yuan, so one person can move. With the movable fence, herders can enclose, delimit and rotate grazing at any time according to the situation of grassland, and the grassland will definitely improve. Real-time monitoring of grassland can raise more livestock, breaking through the theoretical carrying capacity approved in the past five years.
In Xilin Gol League, the degree of organization of animal husbandry is constantly improving. From family farms to joint management, and then to animal husbandry cooperatives, the net fence has been continuously upgraded and optimized, and herders are increasingly looking down on it. In Aolun Prague Gacha, Beligutai Town, Abaga Banner, the Hugegejile Cooperative was established. The stock ratio was determined by the number of cattle and sheep, and the grassland of the members who joined the cooperative was uniformly leased, and the production and operation were booming. Now the scale effect is beginning to show, the bargaining power of selling cattle and sheep and buying forage grass has increased, the expenditure of hiring shepherds has decreased, and the scale of loan credit has expanded, with dividends of more than 1.5 million yuan.
"Aolun Prague is ‘ Multiple springs ’ Meaning of. In recent years, I feel that if we want to make the herdsmen’s wealth spring flow fully, we can’t do without concerted efforts. Cooperative economy is the general trend, ‘ Tertiary industry ’ Integration is the precise direction. " Narisu, secretary of the party branch of Gacha, Aolun Prague, recalled that one of the starting points of their work as 17 neighboring herders was to adjust the small network of one household and build a unified large network of cooperatives. However, due to the inconsistent level of understanding and the difficulty in determining the shareholding ratio, the number of members who joined the community did not meet expectations, and the grassland could not achieve centralized contiguous. "Now we have launched ‘ I have a cow in the pastoral area ’ Activities, the realization of the national consumer traceability generation. The registered Oasis Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. engages in product distribution for the local leading enterprise Erdun Meat Industry. Members are engaged in short-term fattening in the factory, and the income is not bad. Now the herdsmen’s eyes bound by the net fence have already expanded to the online, to the workshop and to the county. " Sue said that day.
The grassland area of Xilin Gol League is 192,000 square kilometers, of which the usable grassland area is 180,000 square kilometers. Recently, the local authorities have put forward the measures and ideas to optimize the net fence in the next step: First, adjust the industrial structure and give full play to the positive role of the net fence. Develop moderate scale management through the circulation of grassland contractual management rights, and develop family pastures and professional breeding cooperatives on the basis of grass-fixed livestock and grass-livestock balance to promote the transformation of production and management methods, thus improving the grassland ecological environment. Second, moderately integrate fences and implement rotational grazing. Through the construction of fenced forage base, the grassland is divided into several grazing areas to promote the growth and breeding of grassland vegetation in the way of rotation of use and maintenance. At the same time, we will continue to strengthen the construction of grassland fences and sheds, and promote the grassland animal husbandry to shift from natural grazing to house feeding and semi-house feeding. The third is to scientifically arrange wildlife habitats. In the important distribution areas of wild animals, biological corridors between biodiversity reserves and nature reserves, broken wildlife habitats and original places, round-trip roads and activity channels for wild animals are opened.








































