Beef Production in China

Beef Breeds—Most beef cattle in China belong to one of the breeds commonly referred to as "yellow cattle." (See history of beef in China.) Yellow cattle in China today are generally divided into three major groups, including northern, central plains, and southern. All yellow cattle breeds exhibit body conformation traits typical of draught animals. Northern yellow cattle breeds tend to be of medium size and build; the central plains breeds are usually larger and heavier; and the southern breeds are typically small-bodied and lighter. Most yellow cattle are not well-suited to beef or dairy farming. Five breeds (Qinchuan, Nanyang, Luxi, Jinnan, and Yanbian), however, are considered appropriate for beef production (Longworth 2001:50).

Steer in pen, Henan Province Photo by S. Willis

Breeding—Through cross-breeding programs with imported breeding stock, China has developed several new strains of cattle, including four breeds now officially recognized as "improved" breeds. These include three dual-purpose breeds—Shanhe, Xinjiang Brown, and Caoyuan Red, and one dairy breed, the Chinese Fresian. The Chinese Black and White, now known as Chinese Fresian, was developed over many decades through cross-breeding between yellow cattle and imported Holstein-Fresian or Fresian cattle and is now the main dairy cow in China (see photos at Oklahoma State University 2002). The dual-purpose breeds include Shanhe, developed from crossing native yellow cattle with Simmentals in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Brown, bred in Northern Xinjiang from crosses with Brown Swiss (see photos at Oklahoma State University 2002), and Caoyuan Red (Inner Mongolia and western Jilin). The new dual–purpose breeds are raised in relatively small numbers but are well-adapted to their home areas and very productive (Longworth 2001:50-54). (For additional information on the improved breeds, see Qiu n.d.)

The most popular foreign breeds imported for crossbreeding have been Simmental, Shorthorn, Hereford, Limousin, and Charolais. Overall the most popular exotic breed is Simmental, considered a dual-purpose cattle breed in China where it is appreciated for its ability to perform under poorer quality feeding conditions (Longworth 2001:55).

In the early 1990s, the Chinese government developed a network of dairy and beef cattle centers. Most of the bulls kept for semen collection at these centers are foreign breeds. Artificial insemination (AI) is more widely used in dairy cattle but is also becoming more widespread in the breeding of beef cattle. Although Chinese regulations ban the use of village bulls for natural mating within 10km of a breeding center, natural mating is still the most common method, and only a small percentage of cattle in China are bred through AI (Longworth 2001:60).

Beef Production in China Today—Meat production in China has grown rapidly during the last twenty years, from 14 million tons in 1983 to over four times that amount in 1999. Beef was the fastest growing segment of that increase. From 321,000 tons in 1983, beef production in China expanded to exceed 5 million tons by 1999 (Tuan et. al 2001:39). As a percentage of total meat production, beef rose from 2.5 percent in 1985 to over 8.5 percent in 1999. (Note: although the figures for beef production in China include meat from all bovine species, the increase in beef production has been almost exclusively in beef from cattle (Longworth 2001:18)).

Economic Reform and Beef —This "beef revolution," as Australian researcher John Longworth terms it, is a dramatic example of the transformation of agriculture arising from the economic reforms initiated in the early 1980s.

After 1949, farming was gradually collectivized. Draught animals and other livestock were held in group ownership by the communes, and farmers worked for the commune. When the Chinese government initiated reforms in the early 1980s to modernize China, agriculture underwent major changes. To stimulate production, the Chinese government gradually dismantled the commune system and implemented the Household Production Responsibility System (HPRS), under which farming households were allocated individual family plots and given ownership of livestock and other items. Under the new system, farming households benefited directly from their labor and investment. For most commodities, farmers were required to sell a quota of their output to the government at official procurement rates, but they were allowed to sell any surplus at local, agricultural "free" markets. Quota systems and government procurement rates were gradually liberalized. By 1985, the marketing and pricing of livestock and livestock products, with the exception of pork, were completely liberalized. As a result of these changes, many farm households diversified their farming activities to include livestock raising.

Fiscal reforms also gave local governments greater control over local revenues and provided strong incentives to develop local industry, including the beef industry. These reforms, as well as other policies that stimulated the growth of new enterprises, led to rapid development of the beef industry. In many cases, the incentives to generate local economic activity resulted in more local processing facilities than needed. (Longworth 2001:28-29).

Livestock Ownership—Restrictions on the slaughtering of livestock were also liberalized. Prior to 1980, only culled draught animals were harvested for beef. Under the new system, farmers not only took ownership of draught animals but also exercised some decision-making over the disposition of those animals, although local government officials still exerted a strong influence over those decisions (Longworth 2001:27).

Calf in livestock pen, Henan Province Photo by. S. Willis

Beef Industry Policies—The government also implemented specific programs to strengthen the beef industry. In addition to cattle breeding centers, in 1992 the national government endorsed a program initially known as "Straw for Beef." The goal of the "Straw for Ruminants" program, as it is now called, is to convert China's extensive surplus of crop residue to cattle feed by ammoniating the residue (straw), usually in treatment pits. Under this program, the government provides farmers with technical training and initial funding for straw treatment pits, urea, etc. Ammoniated straw is seen as an inexpensive source of cattle feed, a means of saving grain, and also a way to prevent pollution, as the straw is no longer burned or used as pulp in small, highly polluting paper mills. Although some experts have questioned whether ammoniated straw can provide enough nutrition for cattle, the Straw for Ruminants program is widespread (Longworth 2001: 30-32).

China’s beef production has also been expanded through internationally funded programs. The World Bank Smallholder Cattle Development Project plans to invest US$93.5 million, plus matching funds from the Chinese government, into the cattle and beef industry in four Central Plains provinces (Henan, Hebei, Anhui, and Shanxi). This project aims to diversify and increase income for about 140,000 farmers in some of the poorest areas of China by enabling farm households to raise two to three cattle each to supplement earnings from crops. The project plans to establish new cattle markets, feedlots, and processing enterprises that will also absorb some excess rural labor. (World Bank 2003b). An Asian Development Bank (ADB) project approved in 2000 aims to alleviate poverty in western Henan, a densely populated and mountainous area, partly through the development of the livestock industry there (Asian Development Bank 2000).

Types of Producers—Government programs designed to enhance smallholder cattle production are consistent with the distribution of types of cattle-producing units in China. Unlike in most other countries with large-scale beef industries, most cattle in China are raised by unspecialized cow-calf households. These smallholders derive most of their income from crops and other activities and may also raise other livestock for sale or personal consumption. These families typically sell one or two calves each year to local, low-grade abbatoirs for slaughter. Some unspecialized households also buy a few feeders for short-term fattening with grain before slaughter. Only a very small percentage of cattle are "finished" by commercial feedlots.

Livestock in confinement pen, Henan Province Photo by S. Willis

Most of the cattle raised by unspecialized households are local breeds. Commercial feedlots, as well as the larger specialized households, are more likely to raise crossbred cattle. Hence, premium beef tends to be produced by commercial feedlots and larger, specialized households. Most beef produced in China, however, comes from draught breed animals raised primarily on low-quality feed. The vast majority of beef marketed in China, therefore, is relatively low-grade.

Households that specialize in raising cattle, either as cow-calf operations or as specialized fattening units, raise a relatively small percentage of the beef produced in China. Only in the pastoral areas of northwest and southwest China are as many as half of the cattle raised by specialized households. In these pastoral regions, many cattle are still raised by Kazakhs, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other ethnic groups with historical traditions of herding livestock. Much of the grassland traditionally used as pasture in these areas has been degraded in recent years by overgrazing, conversion to cropland, and migration from elsewhere in China. These factors have contributed to a slower rate of increase in cattle production in these areas.

Central Plains Beef Belt —There has been a remarkable shift in beef production in China from the traditional cattle-raising grasslands of China's western pastoral areas in Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Tibet to the agricultural regions in the central plains. In 1980, the western pastoral region accounted for 44 percent of beef production and 25 percent of beef animals. By 1999, the western pastoral region was home to only 16 percent of China's bovine herd and produced only 12 percent of the nation's beef. Increases in that region have been outstripped by dramatic increases in production in the central plains and the northeast, to the extent that 70 percent of China's beef production now takes place in these regions. Cattle production is now so concentrated in five provinces of the central plains that some call this area the Central Plains Beef Belt (Longworth 2001:20-21, 50-51).

One of the reasons for the dramatic increase in the Central Plains Beef Belt and in the northeast is that these areas are home to the native breeds of yellow cattle most suitable for beef production (see above section on breeds), such as the Qinchuan yellow cattle traditionally bred in Shaanx. (Longworth 2001:50). An additional factor is that cattle in these areas are primarily raised in pens, so that quality of grazing lands is not a barrier.

Leather—As in the United States, hides and other byproducts of cattle slaughtering are an important source of income for cattle producers and processors. Leather processing has become a major industry in China. Because many of the hides generated by China's slaughtering industry are of poor quality, a large percentage of hides processed in China are imported. In 1998, China exported US$9.7 billion dollars in leather products; 26 million of the 36 million hides processed in China that year were imported, primarily from the United States.