Woolly thinking? Farmers rearing lambs on TCM

Doctors in China have long given patients traditional herbal remedies, but farmers are also starting to feed them to livestock in the belief that it improves the meat.

Lambs given traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Longxi County of Guansu Province, the center of TCM production, are selling well.

Zhang Mingxiang pioneered raising lambs on a herbal diet, and more than 150 sheep farmers in Longxi have joined his Shengyuan Farmers' Cooperative.

Zhang uses common TCM ingredients including the plant dangshen, astragalus roots and Chinese angelica in his lamb feed. "These common herbs are just as effective on animals as on humans," he said.

Zhang started to feed lambs self-concocted herbal mixtures in 2014, carefully balancing the ingredients so their smell would not be off-putting to the sheep. His tests gained support from local farming institutions.

Research by Gansu Agriculture University found Zhang's concoctions can make lamb meat tender, improve its smell and reduce fat.

TCM-fed lambs sell for 10 to 20 yuan (around 1.5 to 3 U.S. dollars) more per pound than standard lambs.

The four Longxi farms using TCM feed sold lamb worth 12 million yuan last year, according to Li Wenbin, deputy director of Longxi's animal husbandry service center.

"The lamb with a herbal diet is considered a premium product," said Li.

Zhang added, "People care about their health so much now, so the market potential for my lamb is great." Endi