This paper discusses how food consumption trends have influenced the direction of sheep and goat breeding, particularly concerning the shift in sheep and goat farming and the development of the Hu sheep industry in China. Historically, sheep have been bred primarily for wool production, but with the increased demand for meat, the breeding direction has begun to shift toward meat use. As a major producer and consumer of mutton and goat meat, there is room for development of the meat sheep industry in China. In this paper, we review the development of China's sheep breeding industry before and after the reform and the change in breeding objectives through examples, summarize the factors causing breeding changes in China's sheep breeding industry, introduce the breeding achievements of the Hu sheep after its shift to meat use, analyze the reasons as to why this breed was selected by a vast number of farmers, and reveal the current decisive traits in the development of the meat sheep industry. This article also shows the improvement in Chinese people's consumption abilities and the change from sheep breeding to consumption, providing China's development experience as an example for today's regions lagging in the global livestock industry. Breeding to respond positively to changes in the economy can better cater to the consumer food market.
Keywords: breeding direction; consumption demand; livestock industry.