Most were unwilling to say by how much. But a senior prefecture-level official implied that cutting herds in half would be a good start. The problem is, animal husbandry is the mainstay of the regional economy, and many of Xilingol s people, already living on the margin, have no other means of livelihood. In recent years, local officials have urged herders to slaughter 40 percent of their animals each year to reduce stocks. But the actual slaughter rate has been about half that.
Herders are reluctant to reduce their herds, since herd size is their primary indicator of status.
In fact, the local official poverty line is calculated not in terms of cash income but by the number of livestock per family member. The recent winter storm disaster killed off hundreds of thousands of animals within the Prefecture, pushing many thousands of families below that line. Even so, officials estimate the livestock population at slaughter time this year will be down only about 17 percent compared with last year. The natural response of herders impoverished by the storm disaster will be to restore the size of their herds. Their individual motives thus run counter to the collective need to reduce the total livestock population to a sustainable level.