Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

tered. Yak productivity is very low, hence a weak contribution to enhancing the
earnings <strong>and</strong> improving the lives of the masses.
Sibu is a yak farming village in Tibet with a long history of producing the famous
Sibu yak. The situation of rangel<strong>and</strong>s here is better than average. Livestock production
in 2008 could be described as normal, with no extraordinary disasters.
However, the herds’ mortality rate still reached 5.9 %, more that the percentage
put up for sale or consumed. Meanwhile, the yaks’ weight also increased very
slowly. It took ten years for a yak to reach a body weight of approximately
300 kg. The low slaughter rate could be a result of both problematic thinking
on the part of the masses, but also due to the slow growth rate of the yaks, thus
not reaching the minimum requirement for slaughter.
Lean in
winter
Dying in
spring
The seasonal
growth cycle
Fat in
autumn
Figure 1: The seasonal growth cycle of livestock
Growing in
summer
2.1 The “rotation <strong>and</strong> revolution” of traditional livestock production
Rotation <strong>and</strong> revolution were originally terms used to describe planetary motions.
Rotation here refers to the yak’s growth cycle within one year, i.e. the
growth status of four seasons. That is what we normally call “growing in summer,
fat in autumn, lean in winter <strong>and</strong> dying in spring” (Figure 1). The annual
Spring Festival is a weak link in livestock production. In normal grazing patterns,
the growing season for grass covers only five to six months. The livestock
have to cope with the nutrition supply <strong>and</strong> dem<strong>and</strong> by their body for health
<strong>and</strong> survival. However, we do not think that we should be numb to the high
mortality rate because reducing the mortality rate of livestock will bring hope
of life to herders. Only when they think that the herd’s safety is under control,
will they rationally adjust livestock structures <strong>and</strong> increase their slaughtering.
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