Mixian Cold Sheep

Mixian Cold Sheep

　　The Mixian Cold Sheep is one of China’s premium domestic sheep breeds. Its wool has long enjoyed a distinguished reputation in the history of the textile industry. According to the *Henan Export Commodities Chronicle*, historically, Henan’s wool was distributed through three main hubs: Zhengzhou, Huaiyang, and Mixian. The wool and pelts produced in these areas were renowned across China and exported abroad. The Mixian Cold Sheep boasts many advantages, including tolerance to coarse feed, ease of management, strong disease resistance, fast growth and development, early maturity, high fertility, and excellent meat performance. The fine wool rate of Mixian Cold Sheep reaches as high as 97.21%, with a clean wool rate of 52.52%. The wool is fine and pure white, ranking first in quality nationwide. During the Republican era, Cold Sheep wool was exported overseas via ports such as Shanghai and Tianjin. In recent years, the government has placed great emphasis on the improvement and promotion of the Mixian Cold Sheep breed. On January 31, 1985, the *People’s Daily* reported in an article titled “Mixian Promotes Improved Sheep Breeds”: “Before the improvement, the county had 23,318 sheep, producing 11,900 kilograms of wool annually, with an average yield of 0.51 kilograms per sheep. By 1983, the county had 58,200 sheep, of which 55,700 were improved Mixian Sheep, accounting for 95.7%. Wool production reached 310,000 kilograms annually, with an average yield of 5.6 kilograms per sheep—nine times higher than before the improvement, reaching an advanced national level.” Wool products were exported to the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United Kingdom.