Covering an area of nearly 600 hectares, the grassland now boasts around 2,000 cattle and 5,000 sheep. Animal husbandry has become a pillar industry in Weining county, Bijie, and brings prosperity to local residents. Many of them have bought cars, People's Daily reported.

Wen Zhongcheng, a 73-year-old herder, takes care of cattle in pastures for Guan Shaogang, a major cattle producer.

Wen is quite satisfied with his annual salary. "My job is to take care of 110 cattle from May to the end of October. I can earn 25,000 yuan ($3,416) every year," he said.

"When I was a child there was only weed, and overgrazing leads to grassland degradation," Wen added.

To avoid such an ecological disaster from happening again, local residents are herding according to the grassland's carrying capacity.

Guan said, "My family ranch adopts scientific farming methods by restricting herding periods in a section every three to five days, and controls the number of cattle and sheep."

The improved environment makes the cultivation of cash crops possible. In Xiejia village, Lyu Yongkun is in charge of an apple orchard.

"The orchard covers about 67 hectares and its overall output value can reach 4.5 million yuan. Thanks to better transportation facilities, it takes only one hour from Weiyuan's urban area to here. Now we can attract hundreds of tourists to pick apples every day," said Lyu.

Huang Yi, a tourist from Xiaohai township, said: "We took a group trip and picked 400 to 500 kilograms of apple. Now the trunk is full of apples."

The high-quality apples produced at the plantation are also sold in Shanghai and Beijing. Under Lyu's technical guidance, dozens of households can earn over 100,000 yuan a year in Xiejia village.