On May 30, 2026, the "2026 Hebei Sheep Industry High-Quality Development Technology Training Conference" was successfully held in Tang County, Hebei Province. The conference, with the theme of "Digital intelligence-driven, quality and efficiency improvement, green and low-carbon, innovation collaboration", brought together industry leaders, authoritative experts, outstanding entrepreneurs, industry chain elites, and representatives of large-scale sheep farms, totaling over 500 people, to jointly explore new paths for the coordinated development of the industry chain.
Professor Guan Pingyuan from Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, based on the 2025 detection data, gave a presentation titled "Main Sheep Diseases and Control Measures". He pointed out that the large-scale development of the sheep industry has led to more frequent occurrence of diseases, with respiratory and digestive system diseases being the main types. Currently, the five major diseases - foot-and-mouth disease, small ruminant plague, sheep pox, clostridial disease, and mycoplasma pneumonia - need to be prioritized for prevention and control.
Expert Yang Ruai's report, "Analysis and Prevention of Swine Pox Epidemic Trends", states: In China, sheep farming is still mainly conducted on a small-scale basis, with only 4.86% of the farms having an annual output of over one million sheep. The decentralized model has increased the difficulty of unified prevention and control. The impact of foot-and-mouth disease is significant: the mortality rate of lambs after infection can reach 20% to 50%, the milk production of lactating sheep decreases by 30% to 50%, and it takes 1 to 3 months for the production performance to fully recover after recovery.
In recent years, the epidemic strains have shown new changes: the main epidemic strains in cattle and sheep herds are the O-type Ind-2001e strain. In 2026, the SAT1 type Chuan strain was newly detected in Xinjiang and Gansu, and the risk of transmission of the Middle East SAT2 type is relatively high. There are still shortcomings in the implementation of immunization. Universal immunization for young livestock is widespread, the number of immunizations is arbitrarily reduced, and antibodies are not tested. He emphasized that vaccines that match the epidemic strains should be selected，the immunization procedures should be standardized，and strict implementation of biosecurity measures should be ensured. The goal is to achieve immunization without disease and even purification， and to build a defense line for the healthy development of the sheep industry.
Professor Yuan Wanzhe's presentation, titled "Current Situation of Epidemic Diseases in Meat Sheep and Scientific Control Measures", pointed out that the current epidemic disease prevention and control in meat sheep farming faces multiple challenges: multiple pathogen mixed infections have led to a high incidence of systemic diseases such as respiratory, digestive and reproductive disorders; clostridial diseases have occasionally caused sudden deaths of sheep; stress syndrome in breeding is frequent; the types of sheep-related diseases have increased from 30 in 2008 to 35; frequent breeding and transportation have also raised the risk of disease transmission. He identified four key epidemic diseases for focused prevention and control: foot-and-mouth disease, small ruminant pox, contagious pleuropneumonia in sheep, and clostridial diseases in sheep. He proposed a scientific control path centered on the construction of a biosafety system, the establishment of a scientific immunization program, the implementation of green and efficient health care solutions, and the promotion of the purification of important epidemic diseases in breeding sheep.
This meeting successfully integrated the core elements such as technology, market and resources of the sheep industry chain in Hebei Province, and built a bridge for the deep integration of industry, academia, research and application. It not only brought cutting-edge breeding technologies and real-time market information to the frontline farmers, but also clarified the development ideas and pointed out the forward direction for the Hebei sheep industry, which is currently in a period of deep capacity adjustment.
