In an effort to boost development and increase income of local farmers, the Shandongs Yangxin county authority has constantly been striving to transform beef cattle into a pillar industry by trying to integrate the beef cattle industry and rural vitalisation
Laying special focus on 'internet + beef cattle' technology, Yangxin has been able to introduce digital development in the cattle industry by using ear tags, smart collars and an intelligent centralised feeding system to aid automated identification of individual cattle and feed cattle precisely at different stages of growth.
Moreover, by collaboarting with various universities and institutes such as China Agricultural University and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yangxin has also been able to launch a beef cattle research center, an agriculture internet of things center, an experimental station and an industrial technology research institute.
Meanwhile, the county has put equal emphasis on recycling and utilisation of livestock excrement, building a series of ecological cycling projects with each one able to annually convert livestock excrement into organic fertiliser, biogas fluid fertiliser and natural gas.
Yangxin has taken the lead in scaling up its beef cattle industry. The county now has 136 beef cattle farms and 76 slaughtering enterprises, with an annual output of 280,000 cattle and slaughtering capability of 1.2 mn cattle. Furthermore, Yangxin has also developed cultural creative products including a cattle-hair brush, cattle bone china, and cattle bone carvings.
To improve the supply of cattle, the county also has started importing quality cattle. In July 2022, it unveiled a cattle industrial park featuring functions of customs clearance, intelligent cold-chain logistics, data collection, standard production and comprehensive inspection. After coming into operation, the park aims to greatly improve customs clearance efficiency, help companies save annual costs and boost employment.
