Skin-meat dual-use variety, the top grade in fur, Yanchitan mutton is a Chinese geographical indication product, its meat is delicate/tasteless/delicious/fat distribution is uniform
Yanchitan sheep, a special product of Yanchi County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is a product of China's geographical indication (geographical indication certification trademark). Yanchi County's unique natural geographical environment has cultivated the unique quality of Tan sheep, and its meat is delicate, tasteless, delicious and evenly distributed, and it is one of the best meat sheep at home and abroad. The fur color of the fur produced by the two furs is white, the luster is pleasing to the eye, the flower spikes are beautiful, the fur is light, the hair strands are long and solid, the roots are soft, not felt, can be inverted vertically and horizontally, it is the top grade in the fur, one of the "five treasures" of Ningxia, the first of the "three treasures" of the salt pond, and is well-known in the world.
Yanchitan sheep is a breed of both skin and meat. Tan mutton is an important product of Tan mutton and is a fine product of mutton. According to the Inner Mongolia Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishery Biological Experimental Research Center, the total protein content of Yanchitan mutton per 100 grams is 93.2% (air-dried sample), the content of unsaturated fatty acids is high, the mineral elements are rich in types, and the content is moderate, especially the content of trace element selenium is 0.073 mg/kg, which has a strong health care function; Lead, arsenic, and mercury, which are harmful to humans, were not detected; Lyconic acid, which gives mutton a foul smell, was not detected; The carbonyl compound content was 1 mg/100 g, which was the lowest compared to other lambs; The content of orpinine related to the flavor of mutton was the highest compared with that of other mutton. The cholesterol content is the lowest compared to other lambs. The results of modern scientific research show that the nutritional structure of Yanchitan sheep is significantly better than that of other meat products.
Yanchi County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, has a long history of raising sheep, in 1755 A.D. (20 years of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty) out of the "Yinchuan Xiaozhi" has: "Ningxia states, all produce sheepskin, Lingzhou produces long-haired wheat, fox skin is also prolific everywhere", "Sui" has the appearance of harvesting, describing its beautiful and beautiful meaning. In 1780 A.D. (the 45th year of Qianlong), the "Ningxia Mansion Chronicles" recorded: "Zhongwei, Lingzhou, Pingluo, the land is close to the border, and the benefits of animal husbandry are particularly wide", and the "sheepskin of Xiangshan" and "the rice of Xiashuo, the salt of the spirit, and the wolfberry of Ning'an" are listed as one of the four richest products in Ningxia at that time. Tan sheep fur in the late Qing Dynasty has been famous all over the world, "Gansu Xintongzhi" contains: "Qiu, Ningxia is excellent"'.
Yanchi County is located in the eastern part of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Mongolia provinces (regions), Yanchitan Sheep Breeding Ranch Yanchitan Sheep Breeding Ranch, with obvious location advantages. The total land area of the county is 8661.3 square kilometers, of which the grassland area is 8.354 million mu, the usable grassland area is 7.147 million mu, and the per capita land area ranks first among all counties (cities) in Ningxia.
Yanchi County, Ningxia has specific natural conditions suitable for the growth of Tan sheep. The sunshine is long, the heat resources are abundant, the summer is hot, the winter is not too cold, and the temperature difference between day and night is large, which is conducive to the accumulation of forage nutrients. There is little precipitation, windy sand, a dry climate, and evaporation is 8-10 times that of rainfall. The grassland in the territory is mainly desert steppe and dry grassland, the grassland has more protein content, the soil is mainly limestone soil and light limestone soil, the organic matter content is less, salinization is common, there are many carbonates, sulfates, chlorides in the water, and the mineral content such as sulfur, phosphorus and calcium is rich.
Ningxia Yanchi County is the only pastoral county in Ningxia among the 266 pastoral counties in China, and its territory is rich in grassland resources and animal husbandry resources. There are 175 kinds of high-quality forage grasses such as licorice and bitter bean, which are grown in four grassland types: steppe grassland, desert grassland, sandy vegetation grassland, and halophytic vegetation grassland. Its unique natural climatic conditions and natural grassland vegetation cultivation have created such an excellent local sheep breed as "Yanchitan Sheep". In the words of the local people in Yanchi, Yanchi Tan sheep "eats Chinese herbs (licorice, bitter beans, etc.) and drinks ditch spring water", thus forming the unique flavor quality of Tan mutton, which is much loved by consumers.
