Shenmu Meat Sheep

Shenmu Meat Sheep

　　Shenmu Meat Sheep is a specialty of Shenmu County in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. Shenmu is a traditional region combining agriculture and animal husbandry, with 265,000 head of meat sheep, generating an industry output value of 793 million yuan.

　　Since the 1990s, Shenmu County has introduced Small-tailed Han Sheep, and after 2000, successively introduced high-quality foreign meat sheep breeds such as Suffolk, Dorset, Texel, and German Mutton Merino. Crossbreeding trials were conducted between these breeds and local Mongolian sheep as well as Northern Shaanxi fine-wool sheep, using two-way and three-way cross combinations to identify hybrid types suitable for the local ecological conditions and fat lamb production. The southern group adopted two-way (Han-Mongolian) and three-way (Suffolk-Han-Mongolian) cross combinations, while the northern group used two-way (Han-Fine wool) and three-way (Texel-Han-Fine wool) patterns. This led to the development of a large hybrid sheep population. By the end of 2012, the county had 256,000 head of sheep, including 150,000 meat and hybrid sheep, accounting for 58.6% of the total sheep population, providing rich genetic resources for the development of the meat sheep industry.

　　The development of Shenmu’s meat sheep industry follows the concepts of “environmentally friendly” and “resource-saving,” integrating superior agricultural resources to form a comprehensive agricultural development project. With the construction of a modern meat sheep industry as the core, it has gradually established a production model characterized by regionalized layout, specialized production, integrated operation, socialized services, and corporate management, along with an industrialized development pattern driven by market demand, led by key enterprises, supported by production bases, and connected to farmers.