(A) Grassland resources

In 2009, there were 9,842,400 hectares of natural grassland in Altay, Xinjiang, accounting for 83.4% of the total land area, of which 7,239,300 hectares were available, accounting for 14.5% of the available grassland area in Xinjiang. Seasonal grazing grassland is the main component of natural grassland. Seasonal rotational grazing is the traditional management mode of grassland animal husbandry in Altay region. Grassland in the whole region is basically summer pasture, spring and autumn pasture and winter pasture, but only Kanas has a small area of Xia Dong and spring and autumn pasture.

Summer pasture: it is distributed in the middle and high mountains with cool climate, and mainly uses subalpine meadow, alpine meadow and alpine grassland for about 3 months.

Spring and Autumn Pasture: Spring and Autumn Pasture is distributed in the mountainous area of the Zhongshan belt, mainly using temperate meadows and temperate grassland grasslands in mountainous areas, and the utilization time in spring and autumn is about 3 months.

Winter pasture: most of them are distributed in the warm and water-deficient plain desert areas of low-altitude basins, and a few of them are located in the leeward and sunny areas of the low mountain inversion zone, and the utilization time is about 6 months.

The grassland in Kanas small forest region is grazed by turns in Xia Dong and Spring and Autumn. In winter, spring and autumn, the fields are distributed in the Zhongshan meadow belt, which has the conditions for mowing, and can be used in winter, spring and autumn, up to 9 months at the longest. Grassland area and stocking capacity in Altay region in each season (Table 6- 15).

Table 6-15 Seasonal Grassland Area and Stocking Capacity in Altay Region in 2009

Source: Data of Animal Husbandry Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 2009.

There are also great differences in seasonal grassland areas among cities and counties in Altay region. Jimunai County is characterized by the shortage of grassland in summer. The livestock carrying capacity of grassland in spring and autumn is 6.3 times that of grassland in summer, and that of grassland in winter is 10.6 times that of grassland in summer. In summer, the grassland livestock in Jimunai County are scattered in the summer pastures of Altay City, Burqin County and Habahe County, and in winter, the livestock in the above three counties graze in the winter pastures of Sawuer Mountain in Jimunai County.

(2) Animal husbandry resources

In terms of animal husbandry, Altay region is a large-scale agricultural economic zone with grassland animal husbandry as the mainstay, with 7,239,300 hectares of grassland available in four seasons, making it one of the main animal husbandry bases in Xinjiang. There are Kazakh local stallions, white-headed cattle, Xinjiang brown cattle, Simmental cattle, China Holstein cattle, Kazakh horses, Xinjiang (northern Xinjiang) bactrian camels, Altay sheep, Xinjiang (northern Xinjiang type) white cashmere goats, Xinjiang Qinggeli cashmere goats and western Xinjiang fine-wool sheep in Altay, among which Altay fine-wool sheep is the main animal species in the livestock variety structure in this area, and it was on hand in 2008.

In 2005, the highest number of livestock raised in Altay reached 5,282,300, and in 2065, it was 4,334,800 in 438+00, which were 65,438+0.9 times and 65,438+0.6 times of 65,438+0978, respectively, showing a rapid growth trend, but it also weakened the carrying capacity of Altay grassland (grassland in Altay region). In 20 10, the output value of animal husbandry in Altay region was 265,438+97 million yuan.

Fig. 6-2 Changes of the maximum livestock feeding in Altay from 1949 to 20 10.

The period from 1949 to 1965 is the development period of animal husbandry in Altay region, and the maximum number of livestock raised increased from 1949 to 167900. The characteristics of this period are as follows: the maximum number of livestock raised continues to increase, reaching 654.38+0.955 million heads; 196 1 year exceeded 2 million heads (only), reaching 2,205,700 heads (only).

1966 ~ 1986 is the platform development period. During this period, the maximum number of livestock raised has risen and fallen, but it has remained between 2.27 million and 2.47 million. 1982, the highest livestock feeding amount is the highest in this period, with 3,473,200 heads. The average of this period is 2.88 million (only).

1967 ~ 2005, this is the rising period. The maximum number of livestock raised increased from 2.827 million (only) in 1967 to the historical peak of 5.2823 million (only) in 2005. 1993 and 1994 have slightly decreased, but they have been on the rise since then.

From 2006 to now, it is a period of decline. The characteristic of this period is that due to the limitation of the carrying capacity of the original grass and the adjustment of the animal husbandry structure in this area, the maximum feeding capacity of animal husbandry is declining. In 2006, the highest number of livestock raised in Altay was 519.7100000, which was reduced to 4,334,800 in 20 10. It can be predicted that by 2020, the maximum number of livestock will be reduced, and finally it will reach the average value of 1966 ~ 1986 in the development period of the platform, and it is better to maintain it at about 3 million heads.

Second, the characteristics of animal husbandry in Altay region

Altay region is a pure animal husbandry area, with vast grassland area, large usable area, excellent forage quality, large proportion of medium and excellent forage varieties, few poisonous weeds and herbivores, more than 95% of all kinds of edible grasses, and high forage utilization rate.

The grassland in the whole region is in a state of diversity, among which the plain desert grassland is the largest, accounting for 60.65% of the total available area, and the lowest unit productivity is 1.76 hectares/sheep; The minimum area of alpine grassland is 53 hectares; The highest productivity of lowland meadow and plain swamp is 0. 12 hectare/sheep. According to the utilization mode, it can be divided into four types (Table 6- 16). Pastoral area in winter is 3,455,200 hectares, pastoral area in spring and autumn is 2,602,500 hectares, pastoral area in summer is 10 15800 hectares, and pastoral area in spring, winter and autumn is 165900 hectares.

Table 6-16 Grassland Area and Carrying Capacity of Four Seasons in Altay Region in 2008

Source: Altay Animal Husbandry Bureau, 2009.

As can be seen from Table 6- 16, according to the available area, the winter grassland and the spring and autumn grassland are 3.4 times and 2.56 times that of the summer grassland respectively, while the theoretical livestock carrying capacity is only 77.00% and 59.00% of the summer grassland. There are few pastures in winter, spring and autumn, and the livestock carrying capacity is also small. Summer pasture is the advantage and potential of this area, but it can only be used for 80 days a year; Although the pasture is vast in winter, it is short of water, poor in grass quality, harsh in natural conditions and long in winter. Due to overgrazing, overgrazing and grassland degradation, grassland in spring and autumn is in urgent need of improvement.

From the grazing point of view, on the one hand, the grassland in four seasons is very unbalanced. The theoretical carrying capacity of grassland in winter is 77.00% of that in summer, 59.00% in spring and autumn, and only 4.00% in summer in winter and spring, which seriously restricts animal husbandry production. On the other hand, due to the sparse and low grassland in winter, livestock can't eat it every snowy year. "Xia Qiang-autumn fertilizer-winter thinness-spring decline" and "disaster reduction" have become insurmountable barriers to nomadic production.

To sum up, the basic characteristics of animal husbandry in Altay region are grassland grazing, water grass grazing and raising livestock in the sky. Production activities are grazing and seasonal operations, which have strong regularity and dependence on nature. The balance degree of grassland seasons, grassland quality, grass storage and climate quality all directly affect the development of animal husbandry production.

Third, the problems existing in the development and utilization of grassland animal husbandry

(1) The grasslands are seriously degraded and overloaded.

Due to the change of climatic conditions, the influence of human production activities, the increase of livestock carrying capacity per unit area and the lack of scientific grazing management, the ecological balance of grassland has been seriously damaged, and the contradiction between grass and livestock is sharp (Table 6- 17).

According to the special report entitled "Fission Altay Grassland" published by Altay Daily on June 5438+065438+ 10/2, 2009, the theoretical carrying capacity of natural grassland is 9.54 million sheep units. At the end of 2009, the actual stocking capacity in Altay was 6.5438+0.688 million sheep units, with 7.34 million sheep units overloaded, with an average overloading rate of 75%. The usable area of grassland in summer is 6.5438+0.524 million mu, which can carry 4.73 million sheep units. 6.59 million sheep units, with an overload of 6.5438+0.86 million sheep units, with an overload rate of 39.00%. The usable area of grassland in spring and autumn is 39.04 million mu, which can carry 2.49 million sheep. 6 1.7 million sheep units, 3.68 million sheep units, overload rate 1.48%. In winter, the available grassland area is 5 1.83 million mu, which can carry 23 1 10,000 sheep units. At present, there are 4 1.2 million sheep units, which are overloaded 1.8 1.0 million sheep units, and the overload rate is 7 1%. 79.34 million mu of grassland has been degraded to varying degrees, with a degradation rate of 73%. The degradation rates of grassland in summer, spring and autumn and winter were 58%, 89% and 72% respectively, of which 44.3 million mu was seriously degraded, accounting for 40%.

Table 6-17 grassland overload and degradation in Altay region in 2009

Note: Summer pasture, spring and autumn pasture are calculated according to the maximum feeding quantity, and winter pasture is calculated according to the number of stocks at the end of the year.

Source: Altay Animal Husbandry Bureau, 2009.

In 2007, a comprehensive survey of grassland resources was carried out in Altay region. The number of the main nine grassland categories has not decreased, but the biomass, height and the proportion of excellent grasses have obviously decreased, especially in mountain meadows, meadow grasslands, mountain grasslands and grassland deserts, and the degradation is particularly serious (Table 6- 18, Table 6- 19 and Table 6-20). The area of mountain grasslands accounts for about 25% of the total grassland area in the whole region, but the actual carrying capacity of grasslands is as high as 55%.

Table 6- 18 1982 and biomass and height in severely degraded areas in 2007

According to the data of Animal Husbandry Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in 2009,

Table 6- Biomass and Height Comparison of Young Degraded Grassland from 19 1982 to 2007

Source: Data of Animal Husbandry Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 2009.

Table 6-20 1982 and main grassland types in 2007

Source: Data of Animal Husbandry Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 2009.

Forest reduction and grassland degradation. According to incomplete statistics, during the 20 years from 1969 to 1989, the valley forests of the Ulungu River and the Irtysh River decreased by 487,000 mu, and in 2009, they still decreased at the rate of 1 10,000 ~ 20,000 mu per year. At the same time, in order to expand the cultivated land area, farmers and herdsmen cut down the trees around the farmland, and livestock gnawed at branches, barks and saplings, which led to the continuous decline of the natural regeneration ability of the forest and the continuous reduction of the forest area. Affected by climate anomalies, the snow line rises, glaciers intensify melting, the groundwater level continues to drop, secondary forests in the valley die in a large area, the wetland area in the region drops sharply, the function of forest water conservation declines, the precipitation in the whole region decreases obviously, grassland fires and forest fires occur year after year, and biodiversity is seriously damaged.

(b) Highly affected by natural disasters.

In Altay region, there are many natural disasters in animal husbandry production, and animal husbandry production is still extensive, relying on the sky to raise livestock, and the situation of livestock "full in summer, fat in autumn, thin in winter and hungry in spring" has been in a vicious circle. The shortage of forage in winter and spring causes the low resilience of animal husbandry production, especially in the face of natural disasters such as strong winds, snowstorms and droughts, which leads to a passive situation of great disasters and small difficulties and huge losses.

(three) vulnerable to pests and rodents, and very serious.

Altay region has always been one of the most seriously damaged areas by insects and rats. Every year, the area of locusts and rodents exceeds 654.38+033.3 thousand hectares, accounting for more than 654.38+05% of the total grassland area. Among them, the serious occurrence area of locusts exceeded 53,300 hectares. In some areas with dense rat holes, the holes are connected, and the underground surface is excavated, and the grass and shrub plants on the surface die.

(d) Drought and water shortage lead to the decrease of grassland area.

In 2009, there were 6,038,800 hectares of grassland with water shortage and serious water shortage in the whole region, accounting for 565,438 0.20% and 665,438 0.40% of the total land area and grassland area respectively. These water-deficient grasslands are mainly distributed in spring and autumn grassland and winter grassland (the water-deficient area has reached 80.29%), as well as the low mountains and hills on the north and south sides of the Irtysh River, the plain desert and desert winter grassland south of the two rivers, resulting in a large area of grassland that can not be used at all or fully.

(five) human factors, such as stealing medicinal materials, indiscriminate mining and indiscriminate digging of mineral resources, have caused serious damage to grasslands.

1. Man-made illegal exploitation of medicinal materials and minerals has caused serious grassland damage.

For a long time, people have insufficient understanding of grassland ecology and poor awareness of protection. They just set out from the immediate interests, destroyed a lot of grass to grow cash crops, and some grasslands have been abandoned. In addition, infrastructure, water conservancy facilities, residential land, mining development, etc. It also occupies a lot of grassland, making it difficult to recover the grassland damaged by reclamation. In recent years, driven by economic interests, some people began to dig wild plants such as ephedra, Euphorbia, licorice and so on, which seriously damaged the already fragile desert and semi-desert vegetation.

In the middle and late 1990s, due to historical, natural and management reasons, illegal gold mining, mining and indiscriminate digging of Chinese herbal medicines were rampant in Altay mountainous areas and major river basins, and vegetation in many winter and summer grasslands in Altay region was destroyed, and many places were unrecognizable, which was difficult to recover for a while.

Since 200 1 and 1, gold mining in the Irtysh and Ulungu rivers has stopped in Altay region. After the renovation, the deterioration trend of ecological environment in the two river basins has been effectively curbed.

However, due to the repeated prohibition of indiscriminate mining and digging of Chinese herbal medicines in the alpine grassland, rare Chinese herbal medicines such as cabbage, Bupleurum, Gentiana macrophylla, peony, ephedra and licorice, which are unique to Altay, have been destroyed for more than ten years.

In Kanas National Nature Reserve, driven by interests, foreign criminals illegally enter the reserve to steal Cordyceps sinensis every spring and summer. Wherever he went, a large area of grassland vegetation became a bare wasteland of black land overnight. The local forestry department can clean up hundreds of criminals who steal Cordyceps from the reserve every year. However, because there is no relevant legal basis, these lawless elements can only arrest first, then release, and then arrest, which makes the illegal excavation behavior repeatedly prohibited.

In recent years, with the acceleration of mining development and industrialization, the county economy has developed rapidly. However, the development and utilization of high-intensity mineral resources have intensified the contradiction between the sustainable development of regional economy and society and the protection of population, resources and ecological environment. Some mining enterprises are backward in mining technology and equipment, especially some small mining enterprises are backward in mining and selection, and they are eliminated with backward production capacity. In addition, the disorderly exploitation of mineral resources occupies a large area of grassland, which brings certain threats and security risks to the ecological environment of desert grassland.

2. Overloading and grazing

This is the main reason for grassland degradation. Because of overemphasis on the economic function of grassland and simple pursuit of increasing the number of livestock, the carrying capacity of grassland is neglected, and predatory utilization causes serious degradation of grassland. At present, the overload rate of grassland in Altay region is about 12% in summer and 20%-35% in spring and autumn, and the grassland productivity shows a downward trend.

3. Grassland construction lags behind.

For a long time, due to repeated use, neglect of protection, repeated demand and neglect of input, grassland has not been given the conditions to recuperate, and grassland degradation has become more and more serious.

(vi) Management issues

The management mode is outdated, and the animal husbandry production mode, which is mainly based on individual feeding and decentralized management, has long dominated the development of animal husbandry in this area, which is difficult to meet the needs of large-scale and industrialized modern animal husbandry development. At present, the grass-roots animal husbandry management departments still have the phenomena of aging personnel, rigid knowledge and low quality. Some young people who have joined the animal husbandry team have not received systematic training in animal husbandry and veterinary technology, and have neglected their usual study accumulation and business research, so their professional quality needs to be improved urgently.