A TV screen shows the movement of sheep in Tabantaolegai village, Otog Front Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region.[Photo by Satarupa Bhattacharjya/Lin Hong/China Daily]

Sheep on screen

It is late afternoon in Tabantaolegai village when Wangchuge decides to survey the grounds on which his sheep are grazing. But instead of walking through sandy fields to gather the animals from different corners, he monitors them on a TV screen from inside a modern yurt.

The herder, who runs a family business of raising sheep for meat and wool, says he sells an average of 300 sheep a year.

A video camera he has placed on the roof of his house provides him with real-time feed of animal movements on his plot of land, which is large.

"Traditional methods of raising sheep have disappeared (in his village)," Wangchuge, 41, says as he slices salted mutton, a Mongolian delicacy.

"The use of technology has helped reduce both labor and time."