In Lhunzhub County, which is known as the "back garden" of Lhasa, more than 4,000 yaks are eating well-proportioned feed and bask in the sun leisurely in the Gesangtang Modern Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Industry Demonstration Park. This is Tibet's first comprehensive agricultural and animal husbandry demonstration park with a whole industry chain, which has explored a new way of scientifically raising yak.

Yak farming has a history of thousands of years in Tibet, but the farming methods are relatively extensive. The phenomenon of yak "strong in summer, fat in autumn, thin in winter and nearly starving in spring" makes it difficult for the development of the breeding industry and restricts farmers and herdsmen to increasinge their income and becominge rich.

"Gesangtang" means "a happy and beautiful open place". In 2017, the construction of Gesangtang Modern Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Industry Demonstration Park started. The project was built with the aid of Jiangsu Province, with a total investment of 150 million yuan. The park is divided into an east area and a west park. The east area functions as a breeding base for high-quality yak, while the west park is mainly used for dairy farming, yak fattening and forage processing. After several years of exploration and development, it not only builds an integrated industrial chain of producing grass, cattle, meat and milk, but also drives the employment and income of local people through the "company + base + cooperative + farmer" model.

Zhu Yanbin, the now deputy head of Lhunzhub County who works with the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Tibet Autonomous Region, introduced that the yak in the park are regularly vaccinated to avoid parasitic infection. The staff will carry out scientific feed ratios according to the needs of yak at different stages, such as the growth needs of calves and the nutritional needs of cows during calving, so as to ensure the growth needs of yaks at various stages to the greatest extent. The traditional breeding calf needs about a year and a half to wean, however, the weaning time of a calf in the park can be much earlier.

In addition, when the sparse vegetation cannot meet the needs of yaks in winter and spring, the yaks are fed with planting forage and fattened, which makes up for the disadvantage of yak breeding "relying on the sky".

The park also targets the high-end beef market. Zhu Yanbin said: "We plan to hold a tasting meeting in September to see if our cattle can produce snowflake beef."

The development of the park also provides employment opportunities for local college students and farmers and herdsmen. Lhaba Samdrup, a college student majoring in animal and plant quarantine, become a veterinarian in the park after graduating in 2020. He said: "Working here, I can use my major and I can learn scientific breeding techniques from experts, which can lay a good foundation for my future development,." he said.

"Through scientific breeding and refined management, we are confident in cultivating and promoting high-quality yak breeds that are more suitable for Tibet." Zhu Yanbin introduced that the park will focus on yak breeding, take short-term fattening as a breakthrough to create a refined market segment. By doing these, they are striving to build Gesangtang an excellent modern breeding demonstration park in Lhasa City and even in the whole Tibet Autonomous Region within three years, bringing benefits to farmers and herdsmen.