Before the Spring Festival, the snow on the Loess Plateau where Huan County, Qingyang City, Gansu Province was located was not melted, and it was vast and cold.

After receiving the interview call, Shen Jiao appeared in front of the reporter in a cold wind. Not long ago, at the industrial exhibition held in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, the 3.8 tons of Huanxian mutton she sold were sold were sold out in a short time.

The salesman is packing sheep products at the booth. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

The Industrial Exhibition is the annual New Year’s Festival in Hong Kong. "Hong Kong people like to eat French baked lamb chops for the New Year's Eve dinner, so frozen small cut lamb chops sold very quickly." Shen Jiao said that Huanxian mutton from the Loess Plateau has become a hot-selling product because of its delicious meat and complete export qualifications.

Shen Jiao is an employee of Jinlong (Hong Kong) Investment Co., Ltd. Her company promoted Huanxian mutton in Hong Kong for the first time in 2023, and sold more than HK$1.1 million that year, and increased to more than HK$2.2 million in 2024.

This time she visited Huan County to inspect the entire industrial chain from variety research and development, breeding to cold chain processing and contact orders, which was an important task before the Spring Festival.

Walking along the way, Shen Jiao brought the reporter to his partner Huanxian Zhongsheng Sheep Industry Development Co., Ltd. The company's three shipping warehouses at the production line terminal are relaying alternately.

The company's deputy general manager Liu Jinyu said that the company adopts two online and offline sales methods, with its turnover to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area exceeding RMB 15 million in 2024.

"Huanxian mutton was cut into shreds and stir-fryed without any smell, it tastes good." A Hong Kong citizen left a message online on the Hong Kong online shopping platform.

On January 8, staff packed mutton in Zhongsheng Sheep Industry Processing Workshop in Huanxian County. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lang Bingbing

Huan County is located in a crisscrossing agricultural and pastoral area at an altitude of 1,200 to 1,700 meters. The sheep produced is light in smell and has a delicate and juicy taste. The local area has promoted the development of the entire industrial chain of meat sheep breeding by extending the chain and aggregating clusters, allowing farmers to connect to the ever-changing large market.

Yang Wenbin is a major breeder in Huan County. The reporters walked into his demonstration farm and saw tens of thousands of fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered in 16 breeding greenhouses, a scene of "joyfulness". The farmers' professional cooperative he established acquired 21,000 sheep fattening and stable supply and processing and sales enterprises. Part of the sheep sold locally to the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao New Year's goods market came from this cooperative.

On January 9, at Yang Wenbin's meat sheep breeding cooperative, farmers were holding new breeds of lambs. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lang Bingbing

The cooperative member Qin Ming’s family has more than 30 sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Under the guidance of the cooperative, he abandoned the old method of "a sheep is to drive, and a flock of sheep is to put it away" and began to pay attention to "one nest, one meal". The nest is a special steel shed that has been iteratively upgraded. The temperature is maintained between 5 and 25 degrees Celsius. The separation of sheep and manure makes the sheep less sick and healthier. The meal is a "nutritious meal" made of different forages, and is also equipped with a cattle and sheep water dispenser. The sheep can drink clean drinking water by touching the switch with the nose.

Huanxian sheep industry has the confidence to "live in the loess land and look at Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao", which is due to strengthening the quality control of the breeding end while continuously increasing the added value of products. At present, from segmentation processing to cold chain processing, all links are gradually in line with the international market.

This is a new breed of lamb photographed in Maojing Town, Huan County, Qingyang City on January 9. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lang Bingbing

In the processing workshop of Zhongsheng Sheep Industry in Huanxian County, workers processed the lambs into French small cut, eight-rib method row, inch row, half row, sheep scorpion, lamb skewers and other refined products on the assembly line, and then entered the freezing workshop through a conveyor belt.

Liu Jinyu picked up a bag of matte dishes and carefully observed the saturation of the meat. While introducing that consumers in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have high requirements for freshness. The factory has specially introduced internationally leading cold chain supporting equipment to quickly lock the mutton and keep the umami flavor from being lost after thawing. At present, Huanxian Zhongsheng Yangye has obtained more than 20 domestic and foreign certification qualifications.

On January 8, at the Zhongsheng Sheep Industry Processing Workshop in Huanxian County, staff transferred the mutton and prepared to ship it. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lang Bingbing

The New Year atmosphere in the village is already strong, and the sound of firecrackers set off by children from time to time are heard. Qin Ming sliced ​​the lambs on the sheep trough to watch the lamb chewing the forage, and said happily: "This year it will be sold to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and next year it may be sold to Europe and the United States, so that foreigners can also taste the sheep from our northwest." (Reporters Jiang Weichao, Liang Jun)