Yunling cattle bring hope to farmers after 30 years of breeding

In 1984, a plane took off in Melbourne, Australia and landed at Kunming Airport hours later. The passengers, some Australian Murray grey cattle, were “specially invited” by China’s agricultural authorities.

In 2015, at a cattle farm in Kunming’s Xiaoshao Township, Huang Bizhi, director of the Yunnan Provincial Academy of Grassland and Animal Science, pointed to a well-built bull and told our reporters, “This is a breeding bull from the ‘Yunling cattle’ and it has one-quarter ancestry of the Murray grey cattle.”

To develop a new variety, the genomic structure must be stabilised. The breeding process involves continuous separations and screenings. When cross-bred, two varieties will produce three cross-breeding sets, and three varieties will produce nine cross-breeding sets. As the cross-breeding performances increase geometrically, the screenings and separations amount to a daunting project. Simply put, it takes five generations, or about 15 years, to stabilise the fine traits of a cattle variety. It will take another five years to cross-breed at least 1,500 cattle in different areas for comprehensive tests.

In the past 31 years, more than 1,000 researchers and 28 research institutes participated in the breeding of  “Yunling cattle”.

On December 8^th, 2014, the former Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) officially issued the new variety certificate for Yunling cattle. In 2016, MOA identified Yunling cattle as the main southern beef cattle variety to be promoted during the “13^th Five-Year Plan”. It indicated that Yunling cattle had shifted from the stage of scientific experimentation to the stage of commercialisation.

“Yunling cattle now haveample provenances.We have established one state-level core breeding station and six multiplication stations.These facilities can breed more than 850 head of cattle on a yearly basis. Currently, the province has a 7,583 head of purebred Yunling cattle in stock,” said the head of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Agriculture.

In the province’s Ximeng County, Yunling cattle are referred to as poverty alleviation cows. Local farmers have participated in the promotion of this livestock variety in three ways. Namely, these are planting forage grass, raising the cattle and working at cattle farms. Today, for the breeding of Yunling cattle, the county has established a new industrial chain integrating government guidance, enterprise investment, farmer participation and market operations.

Yunling cattle bring hope to farmers after 30 years of breeding

In 1984, a plane took off in Melbourne, Australia and landed at Kunming Airport hours later. The passengers, some Australian Murray grey cattle, were specially invited by Chinas agricultural authorities. In 2015, at a cattle farm in Kunmings Xiaoshao Township, Huang Bizhi, director of the Yunnan Provincial Academy of Grassland and Animal Science, pointed to a well-built bull and told our reporters, This is a breeding bull from the Yunling cattle and it has one-quarter ancestry of the Murray grey cattle. To develop a new variety, the genomic structure must be stabilised. The breeding process involves continuous separations and screenings. When cross-bred, two varieties will produce three cross-breeding sets, and three varieties will produce nine cross-breeding sets. As the cross-breeding performances increase geometrically, the screenings and separations amount to a daunting project. Simply put, it takes five generations, or about 15 years, to stabilise the fine traits of a cattle variety. It will take another five years to cross-breed at least 1,500 cattle in different areas for comprehensive tests. In the past 31 years, more than 1,000 researchers and 28 research institutes participated in the breeding of Yunling cattle. On December 8th, 2014, the former Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) officially issued the new variety certificate for Yunling cattle. In 2016, MOA identified Yunling cattle as the main southern beef cattle variety to be promoted during the 13th Five-Year Plan. It indicated that Yunling cattle had shifted from the stage of scientific experimentation to the stage of commercialisation. Yunling cattle now haveample provenances.We have established one state-level core breeding station and six multiplication stations.These facilities can breed more than 850 head of cattle on a yearly basis. Currently, the province has a 7,583 head of purebred Yunling cattle in stock, said the head of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Agriculture. In the provinces Ximeng County, Yunling cattle are referred to as poverty alleviation cows. Local farmers have participated in the promotion of this livestock variety in three ways. Namely, these are planting forage grass, raising the cattle and working at cattle farms. Today, for the breeding of Yunling cattle, the county has established a new industrial chain integrating government guidance, enterprise investment, farmer participation and market operations.