Fresh approaches to winter pasturing see strong returns in China

Caring for livestock during the cold season in Northwest China has been modernized in recent years, with Beidou positioning, mobile support vehicles and real-time weather updates making the trek to winter pastures easier for herdsmen and animals.The sight of hundreds of thousands of yaks, cattle, sheep and camels migrating through high country has become one of the most colorful images marking the coming of winter.However, in Sunan Yugur autonomous county in Zhangye, Gansu province, a rare sight could be seen this year. About 200,000 livestock were still grazing in the area on farmland rented by the herders as the winter closed in. The yaks and sheep were eating stalks left from the last corn harvest.The move to keep them in the vicinity is being adopted across the county with the aim of boosting farm incomes while reducing environmental stress.Gao Yongdong, 53, raises 200 yaks and about 20 sheep at Kangle town near the Qilian Mountains.He paid 37,000 yuan ($5,102) to farmer Gan ...