Herders’ opinions about desirable stocking rates and overstocking in the rangelands of northern China

Abstract

Abstract. Herders' desirable stocking rates and their opinions of overstocking were studied using survey and multiregression methods in the meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe regions of northern China. It was found that individual herders had their own perception of their particular 'desirable stocking rate', which referred to the number of livestock that the herders thought they could keep or maintain on an area of rangeland over a specified period of time. These perceptions were not in line with the 'balancing animals and grass' policy of the Chinese government, and herders used them as a guide to adjust stock-breeding practices. Most herders admitted that they bred more livestock now than 10 years ago, but insisted that there was no overstocking and many even thought that their rangelands could still carry more livestock. They also held the view that they took into account the carrying capacity of rangelands when making decisions about livestock-breeding practices. Individual herders thought that the reasonable stocking rate range should be 0.75-1.50 sheep units ha -1 (meadow steppe), 0.60-1.50 sheep units ha -1 (typical steppe), and 0.50-0.75 sheep units ha -1 (desert steppe), respectively. The herders from the desert steppe regions were most concerned about the overstocking of rangelands, and the concern of herders was in the order desert steppe > typical steppe > meadow steppe. The herders with more formal education and those who worked in a village council and had smaller areas of rangelands, were more concerned about the overstocking of rangelands. It is argued that such herders should be given more access to policy and market information, including extensive grazing and modern stall-feeding technologies, and encouraged to reduce their desirable stocking rates, leading to more sustainable rangeland management in northern China.

Factors affecting herder adoption of winter lambing practices in the desert steppe region of Inner Mongolia, China

“…Similarly with the findings of Sulemana and James (2014), the result showed Han herders acted more orientated towards product, markets and profits. This is probably because their ancestors emigrated from sourcescarce agriculture lands, whereas Mongolian herders behaved more like conservationists, because they have lived in grassland regions for generations and had higher awareness of grassland protection (Yin 2013;Hou et al 2014).…”

Telecoupled Sustainable Livelihoods in an Era of Rural–Urban Dynamics: The Case of China

“…However, the households that receive remittances may engage in investment activities that have negative impacts on the environment. For example, in grazing areas, cash may be "stored" in animals as wealth [112] and the herd sizes could increase above the levels that can be supported by the local environment [113][114][115].…”

Asymmetric response of different functional insect groups to low‐grazing pressure in Eurasian steppe in Ningxia

“…One of the most prevalent disturbances in steppe is livestock grazing, which can change plant community composition, soil compactness, and nutrient cycling (Andres et al, 2016;Elwell, Griswold, & Elle, 2016). In the past, overstocking was very common in China due to the increasing demand for production (Hou et al, 2014).…”