Abstract: In pastoral areas of North China, the cold season has a negative impact on the mutton sheep industry. Grazing ewes need energy to cope with the heat loss during the cold season, resulting in a drop in feed reward, which has become a main factor driving up the rearing cost of grazing and supplementary feeding production mode in the cold season. Animal husbandry′s long-term profitability depends on low-cost production. This paper investigated the main problems of grazing production of mutton sheep in the cold season in North China, as well as the importance of low-cost production mode. Based on the concept of circular economy, this paper proposed a low-cost rearing mode of mutton sheep in the cold season in pastoral areas of North China, expounding the connotation of the technical mode from three perspectives: preparing low-cost total mixed ration, converting production mode, and building welfare and low-cost warm shed. Furthermore, the environmental quality index in the warm shed, the rearing effect, and the cost comparison were used to evaluate the practical application effect of this technical mode. This paper also rendered some thoughts on the industrial application of low-cost rearing mode of mutton sheep in the cold season in pastoral areas of North China, in hoping to provide references for accelerating the transformation of mutton sheep production mode in the cold season and improving the rearing economic benefits in pastoral areas of North China.

Key words: low-cost, rearing mode, cold season, mutton sheep, practical effect, industrial application