The Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County and Sunan Yugu Autonomous County, both located in the Qilian Mountains (Gansu Province), were selected for comparison of the livestock production efficiency between two types of ownership of rangeland. Using the snowball sampling method, 15 households were selected in each county. In the Sunan County, the use of the pasture is allocated to households. Each household has its pastures for the summer, autumn, and winter. In the Tianzhu County, summer and autumn pastures are communal (common). Their use is collective on the village scale. Only the crop land for forage production and winter pastures are allocated to households. The research area, a part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, has a fragile grassland ecosystem, and livestock is the main source of income for local residents. Grazing is one of the causes of grassland degradation, and the difference in ownership led to different grazing behavior. Grazing activities overseen by herdsmen are determined by grassland ownership, and at the same time, these people are active in livestock production decisions. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to better understand and compare the land status in the two counties, to assess the resulting effects on the livestock productivity in terms of efficiency and to define new kinds of land ownership adapted to the local context. During this research, input and output data within each farm of the sample area were fully collected, such as the size of a pasture, supplementary feed, the number of breeding females, family labor, and the income from selling livestock, wool, milk, and other products. The DEA model (the model of data envelopment analysis) was used to analyze the collected data and to assess livestock production efficiency under different types of land ownership. The following are main conclusions: (1) The average pure technological efficiency of households in the Tianzhu County was higher than that in the Sunan County (0.96 > 0.91), and so was the average scale efficiency (0.86 > 0.70), which resulted in the higher average livestock production efficiency of households in the Tianzhu County than in the Sunan County (0.83 > 0.63; P < 0.05). (2) The percentage of households whose comprehensive efficiency was <0.5 in the Tianzhu County was greater than that in the Sunan County (16.7% > 10%), and so was the percentage of households whose comprehensive efficiency was >0.7 (23.4% > 10%). Thus, the distribution of efficiency was also better in the Tianzhu County. (3) According to these results (excluding the impact of the scale efficiency), redundant input is the main reason for households' low livestock production efficiency. The factors such as feed supplements, the number of breeding females, size of pasture, and family labor have different effects, from strong to weak, on the efficiency of livestock production. In conclusion, status of the rangeland ownership directly affects the livestock production efficiency. The collective use/management is better for improving production efficiency. These results can serve as a reference for local governance in order to develop a more rational system of rangeland ownership, to implement sustainable economic development, and to preserve the ecological environment as well.