Animal husbandry ecosystems that have many comprehensive characteristics can be assessed through observations of their vigor, structure and resilience. Animal husbandry ecosystems are very important to realize the healthy development of animal husbandry. Based on the significance of the health of animal husbandry ecosystems and their characteristics, an assessment system with indexes was constructed using vigor, structure and resilience. Among such indicators, livestock carrying capacity of grassland, number of livestock per capita, livestock population structure, land degradation and desertification rates, proportion of fine breed livestock, shed-bred or half shed-bred rate are the main manipulatable indicators of animal husbandry ecosystem health in north China pastures. In addition, a projection pursuit grade evaluation (PPE) model is presented for comprehensive evaluation of animal husbandry ecosystem health. Projection pursuit is a statistical technique which involves finding the most “interesting” possible projections in multidimensional data. Such projections can then be used for optimal visualization of the clustering structure of the data, and for such purposes as density estimation and regression. Diminishment of dimension is also an important objective, especially if the aim is visualization of the data.
Based on the assessment indexes system and assessment model of animal husbandry ecosystem health, grassland animal husbandry ecosystem health in north China pastures, including Inner Mongolia pastures, Xinjiang pastures, Gansu pastures, Qinghai pastures, and Tibet pastures are evaluated. The conclusions of the animal husbandry ecosystem health assessments of every region in North China pasture are as follows: the health of animal husbandry ecosystems in Inner Mongolia pastures, Xinjiang pastures and Qinghai pastures is rated “medium-healthy”, while Gansu pastures and Tibet pastures are rated to be of “low-health”. The ranking from the best to the worst, among the five pastures in north China, was Inner Mongolia pasture, Xinjiang pasture, Qinghai pasture, Gansu pasture and Tibet pasture. Health in the five main pastures is indeed not so good and it is influenced or limited by economic costs, infrastructures, economic scales, natural resources, water resources, soil erosion, ecological fragility, diathesis of agricultural laborers, population development and scientific and technological contributions, etc. It is suggested that related to capacity building for sustainable development of grassland animal husbandry, five main measures should be taken. First, strengthen the legal framework about grassland and administer protection and construction according to law. Second, strengthen infrastructure construction and raise the production level as a whole. Third, carry out a strategy of accelerating animal husbandry through science and technology and enhance the transformation of production means. Fourth, optimize the resource allocation, and develop intensive animal husbandry rapidly. Fifth, develop industrialization and promote added values by processing products. Finally, enhance the construction of marketing systems and increase the organization levels of farmers.