Generations of herders have grown up and prospered on the grasslands of Hulunbei’er. Life went on more or less unchanged for hundreds and thousands of years. But the life Ha Si knows now is fundamentally different from that of her ancestors. In fact her life is a dream compared to what she lived through only a few years ago.

Ha Si’s family was terribly poor. With a hovel for a home and a few scrawny animals to depend on, there was barely enough to keep body and soul together. But one chance encounter led Ha to the CIDA-sponsored Sustainable Agriculture Development project. And now that she’s better off, Ha is in turn passing on what she has learned to fellow herding families.
 

Ha’s story is like a fairy tale… but a fairy tale with a peculiar agriculural twist. In 2002, Ha Si’s rangeland was included in a rotational grazing trial organized by the SADP. With the cooperation of the IMAR Rangeland Monitoring Institute and other bureaus, herders were taught why rotational grazing is good, and more importantly, how to do it.

Ha Si doesn’t hesitate when she’s asked about this new approach. “I can list the advantages one by one,” she said. “First, I don’t have to worry about losing any animal. It used to take me half the day to round up my herd – I once had to look for two days before I tracked them all!” Ha Si has become a believer in the benefits of fencing the grassland – something that has been hard for Mongolians to do.
 

“Secondly,” she continues, “the fences keep other people’s animals off my grass. That way my improved pastures can suffice for my herd. And third, I only need to hire one shepherd to keep an eye on the flock.” Pensively she adds, “still there are disadvantages. I’ve seen a lot of the grassland between fences become overgrazed – that’s because so many animals track through those corridors.”

Clearly, the advantages outweigh the problems. Other herders have followed in Ha Si’s lead – some are neighbours, some are herders from neighbouring counties. In fact, it was local government leaders who came to take a look at Ha Si’s pastures and brought the message back home. Ha Si beams proudly when she talks about the study tour of some twenty officials from the Hubangsai Autonomous Mongolian county of Xinjiang who came to have a look at her hard work.

Because it is hard work. For the past three years, from June to October, Ha Si has been studiously monitoring the condition of her pastures to check on the rate of vegetation cover. Like a rangeland specialist, Ha Si knows the signs of a healthy grassland and what it takes to restore the health of the range. She’s also building a new shed so she can overwinter her animals a little more comfortably. And she keeps a keen eye out for any technological improvement, asking friends from the Canadian project about new forage varieties.

Ha Si is optimistic. She is working for the day when her beloved Mongolian steppe can grow grass thick and high as in the past. One season at a time.