一、Brief of Pasture

Guyuan Pasture locates in plateau area of Northern Hebei Province. And it belongs to the typical farming-pastoral ecotone in North China.The pasture covers 26,700 HA, which includes 12,000 Ha cultivating area, 9,333 Ha meadow.It subordinates to Bureau of reclamation in Hebei Province. Planting is its basic industry. The forage planting area has reached 80,066 mu, accounting for 95% of the total sown area up to now. Dairy is its main industry. With 8,088 cows in stock and 320 tons of fresh milk handling capacity per day, it is the largest dairy processing plant in Bashang area of North China.

二、As a mark of developing advanced productive force for rural area with advanced basic device
1．Necessity 

In recent years, the peasant households have been suffering from "drought demons" for years. The biggest drought since 100 years resulted in the loss of crop and reduction of 50% forage yield. There wasn’t any rainfall by the end of Aug. 2001. Grassland withered and withered, resulting in very low grass intake of dairy cows, serious setbacks in animal husbandry production, and unsustainable agricultural production.

Since the 1970s, with the increase of population and the intensification of land reclamation, soil-quality sloping land and gentle land have been reclaimed as farmland. Only wet and low-lying areas still retain grassland vegetation. In addition, due to overgrazing and inadequate grassland construction in recent years, the coverage of vegetation is less than 50%. Grassland degradation and desertification are aggravating. The quality and survival of livestock are greatly affected. Dairy industry is threatened and attacked fatally.At the end of 2001, a complete ban on grazing was implemented. According to the Tenth Five-Year Plan, cows are increasing at an annual rate of 44%. In this way, improving the yield and quality of forage per unit area, solving the problems of forage and feed for dairy cows and ensuring the sustainable development of dairy industry will become an overriding task in future work.

At the same time, our farm is located in the windward area of "Beijing-Tianjin", which is the main pass for sandstorms entering Beijing and the source of water for the two major cities of "Beijing-Tianjin". It shoulders the important task of improving the ecological environment around Beijing and harnessing the hazards of wind and sand. The comprehensive measures of grass planting, sand control, water saving irrigation and fencing livestock raising are in line with the national policy of "one return, two return" and "sand prevention and control", which are necessary for environmental management.
2．Improving conditions of agricultural production

Our leading group should recognize the severe forms in time and plan and operate as soon as possible. Since 1999, with the construction of Eco-agricultural development projects, investment has been increased to rationally develop and utilize water resources. In 2002, nearly 2 million yuan was invested to purchase 25 sets of coiled sprinkler irrigation machines, all of which were purchased from H.T. BAUER Company, and the irrigated area was controlled at 7,500 mu. These equipments are characterized by high efficiency and water saving (irrigation uniformity 80-90%, water effective utilization rate up to 85%, water saving 60-70%), increasing yield, saving arable land, labor, improving efficiency and adaptability, which are conducive to soil and water conservation. They have become the benchmark for the development of facility agriculture and the promotion of water-saving irrigation in Bashang area.
3．Remarkable benefit 

The site is located in the Bashang Plateau. In the nineteen years of drought, the yield of dry farmland will be reduced in case of disasters. If there are disasters, it will lose money. Even if there is no drought in one year, the yield is still not optimistic. Take forage cultivation in dry farmland as an example. In normal years, 20 kg of grass seeds per mu and 60 kg of hay per mu are produced, which is calculated as 12 yuan/kg of grass seeds and 0.3 yuan/kg of hay. The output value of hay per mu is 258 yuan, the cost is deducted from 150 yuan/mu, and the profit per mu is 108 yuan. In 2002, our farm undertook the task of ecological development of 3,000 Mu sprinkler irrigation grassland on Bashang, supporting 10 sets of Huataibauer disc sprinkler irrigation machine to realize water-saving irrigation. The project is expected to yield 40 kg of grass seeds per mu, 100 kg of hay per mu and 510 yuan per mu. The cost was 350 yuan per mu in that year, 150 yuan per mu in the following year, and there was no profit in that year. According to the 10-year depreciation period of the disc sprinkler irrigation machine, there were two growth cycles (one growth cycle was five years). The average income per mu was 218 yuan, and the 10-year profit of 3,000 Mu sprinkler irrigation pasture was 6.54 million yuan.

Taking silage maize as an example. In dry farmland, silage maize yields 2,500 kilograms per mu, with an output value of 250 yuan per mu, a cost of 150 yuan per mu and a profit of 100 yuan. The yield can be increased by 2 - 3 times by using the disc sprinkler irrigation machine for water saving irrigation. It can produce 6,500 kilograms of green body, yield 650 yuan per mu and profit 300 yuan per mu. The economic benefit is remarkable.

The construction of irrigated land can return twice the cultivated land to forests and grasses, which provides the arable land area guarantee for the implementation of the project and lays an advanced facility foundation for the control of ecological environment. Through the joint efforts of the cadres and the masses, the charming scenery of "the sky is green, the wilderness is vast, the wind blows grass but the cattle and sheep are inferior" in the early stage of the construction of the farm has been reproduced in our farm, which effectively promotes the virtuous circle of the environment in the region and its surrounding areas, and will play a very important role in improving and protecting the ecological environment in Beijing and Tianjin areas.

三、Plan

Our pasture plans to develop high and stable yield 80,000 acre crops by 2005, fulfilling 40,000 acre crops in 2003. Equipping with hose reel sprinkler irrigation, we mainly plant silage maize,forage sorghum, alfalfa, traditional Chinese medicine, etc.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Hebei province Guyuan Pasture 

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Sep. 2002