In the height of summer in July, across Chaoyang Town in Huade County, Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 54,000 mu of seed corn fields are waving with green waves.

A few kilometers away, inside standardized cattle sheds, beef cattle lower their heads to feed, occasionally swishing their tails.

Visitors to this area might sense a certain vitality in these industries.

However, just a few years ago, the situation was far from this.

Consolidating Resources for Collective Strength

Chaoyang Town is located 7.5 kilometers from the county seat of Huade, with 20 administrative villages and 61 natural villages scattered across its 620 square kilometers, encompassing 256,700 mu of arable land.

Historically, farming households operated independently, resulting in small-scale, fragmented livestock breeding with mixed breeds, and crop cultivation heavily reliant on favorable weather.

The solution to break this impasse was to abandon the go-it-alone approach and develop collectively.

"In the past, sheep and cattle raising was a small-scale, household-by-household affair with very weak risk resistance," said Zhang Qiang, the town mayor of Chaoyang.

The town implemented a four-step methodology focusing on consolidation, improvement, trusteeship, and linkage, pooling resources together, upgrading breeds, supporting households in difficulty, and connecting sales channels.

"Now, the three core breeding zones—Zhangmuwusu, Saibuleng, and Weidong—have been established. Unified feed procurement is nearly 20% cheaper than individual purchases by scattered farmers, professional teams provide on-site epidemic prevention, and technical guidance is available on demand," said Zhang Qiang.

The three major bases have an annual output of over 30,000 fattened sheep, and the beef cattle inventory has exceeded 12,000 head.

Addressing the issue of local sheep breed degradation and slow weight gain, the town secured transition fund subsidies and introduced 5,700 high-quality, prolific Suffolk ewes, distributing them to farmers for breeding through a "Ewe Bank" project.

"In the past, raising one sheep and earning 200 yuan a year was considered good. Now, with improved breeds, sheep can be marketed after just six months of rearing, earning at least 400 yuan per head, driving income growth for over 570 farming households," said villager Zhang Yusuo.

"This base integrates resources from eight surrounding villages, with a total investment of 27 million yuan. We've built 12 standardized sheds of 1,500 square meters each, capable of housing over 3,000 beef cattle simultaneously," said Bi Liang, head of the Weidong Village cattle breeding base.

The base features a 4,400-square-meter hay storage shed, a 130-square-meter quick-freeze cold storage, and large-scale equipment like mixers, crushers, and feeders. It is projected to market 3,000 head of cattle annually, with sales reaching 42 million yuan.

Zhang Qingkui, who works at the base, used to raise 10 sheep by himself, constantly feeling overwhelmed and encountering frequent problems.

"Now, managing 300 cattle is easy for me. Feed is delivered uniformly, epidemic prevention is managed by professionals, and marketing is handled for us. My annual wages are also 20,000 yuan more than what I earned from farming before," he said.

Trusteeship and Managed Care for Vulnerable Households

What touches local villagers most is the "trusteeship and managed care" model designed for households lacking labor, capital, or technical skills.

Over a hundred households facing difficulties have their foundation ewes collectively entrusted to communal breeding parks or leading enterprises. They don't need to feed the animals themselves or worry about epidemic prevention, receiving a guaranteed base dividend plus a share of the profits at year-end.

"Last year, a 'Five Guarantees' household entrusted five sheep and received an 1,800 yuan dividend at year-end. They clutched the money, repeatedly asking if it was really for them, saying they had lived most of their life never expecting to get money for letting others raise their sheep," said Zhang Qiang.

"The goal is to ensure no household is left behind on the path of industrial development," he added.

Breeders also have a "double insurance" system: cooperative enterprises purchase market-ready livestock at a protective price, and agricultural insurance hedges against market price fluctuations and major disease risks.

"We no longer have to live in constant fear, at the mercy of market conditions like before," said Zhang Yusuo.

Integrating Crop Cultivation and Livestock Breeding

While livestock breeding is thriving, crop cultivation has not been neglected.

Chaoyang Town has a tradition of vegetable growing, but in the past, crops like Chinese cabbage and sugar beet were grown, which required high water consumption and had low added value.

Faced with ecological red lines, the town adjusted its planting structure, turning to drought-resistant organic forage crops like seed corn and millet as new options.

By 2025, the town's seed corn planting area reached 54,000 mu, with 36,000 mu being contiguous plots of over 300 mu each.

"Establishing dryland forage bases has prevented arable land from lying fallow and has also filled the forage gap for the breeding bases," said Yang Qingfeng, Party Secretary of Chaoyang Town.

"A virtuous cycle of 'using agriculture to support animal husbandry and using animal husbandry to promote production' has been set in motion," he added.

Villager Li Liyi, whose trouser legs were still stained with mud from inspecting the corn growth in the fields, gave a thumbs-up when discussing the benefits of collective planting.

"Unified seeds, unified fertilization, unified technical guidance. In the past, corn yield per mu was at most 800 jin. Now, we steadily harvest 1,400 jin, and the purchase price is also over 0.1 yuan higher than the market price," he said.

Furthermore, the town has established a dehydrated vegetable factory, a pickled vegetable processing plant, and a large vegetable trading market in the core planting area.

Fresh vegetables go directly from the fields to the workshops, turning into pickled cabbage and pre-made dishes sold nationwide, avoiding peak market periods and multiplying in value several times over.

"In the past, every household was busy with their own work, toiling all year for little gain. Now, working together as one, the land is managed, the cattle are raised, and sales channels are not a worry. We are not only increasing our income but also have peace of mind," said villager Zhou Deshan.