Quzhou firm benefits from eco breeding

The grass used to feed the sheep is planted between the sheep pens at Miao Rong's farm. [Photo by Lyu Han for chinadaily.com.cn]

Jiuhua Eco Breeding Co Ltd, a sheep-raising farm in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, has benefited a lot from ecological breeding, according to Miao Rong, general manager of the company.

Using local grass as sheep feed and making good use of waste materials are the essence of Miao's ecological breeding.

The ecological breeding has earned Miao's farm the honor of "Zhejiang beautiful farm" and "leading agriculture company in Quzhou" over the past five years.

Miao established 13 sheep pens on her livestock farm, all of which divert rain and sewage water and have a separating space between sheep pens and the ground.

The animals' urine is used for irrigating farmlands after being put through a biogas digester and fermented; their droppings are sold to fruit and vegetables growers due to their being a highly efficient organic fertilizer.

The livestock farm brought in more than 300,000 yuan ($43,481) in 2107 just by selling sheep droppings, which was enough to cover farmworkers' wages, said the general manager.

The sheep Miao raises are Huyang, a kind of sheep raised in Zhejiang province who consume large quantities of grass. Whether the mutton tastes good or not depends on how much grass the sheep have access to.

Miao was told that a sheep-raising farm in Hangzhou used Chinese medicine residue to feed their animals. The farm had a reputation for producing sheep with a nice taste and were able to sell their stock for 2 yuan higher than Miao.

In response, she immediately began cooperating with a Chinese medicine factory to purchase its medicine residue after consulting a local sheep-raising expert.

In addition to a more delicious taste, the sheep feeding on Chinese medicine residue boast a high nutritional value.

A total of 1,500 sheep have been sold this year and there are still new orders pouring in, said Miao.