西夏的大部分地区土地贫瘠.人烟稀少,早期的经济来源主要通过战争掠夺和交换互市.从中原取得资源。正如司马光所说.西夏就像靠中原哺乳的婴儿.如果中原一旦“断乳”.这个弱小的经济生命将难以生存。为了改变经济上的依赖性.从开国之君李元昊到第五代国王李仁孝.都把发展独立的民族经济作为基本国策之一。畜牧业在西夏经济中占首要地位。西夏的畜牧业地区原先在今日的陕北、盐池、鄂尔多斯高原、阿拉善旗以及额济纳旗一带.后来又扩展到.“畜牧甲天下”的武威和“素鲜耕稼,专以畜牧业为生”的敦煌、安西等 Most parts of Xixia are barren and sparsely populated, with early sources of income predating the war through looting and exchange of markets. As Sima Guang said, Xixia is like a breast-fed baby in the Central Plains, and if the Central Plains were once broken, this weakened economic life would hardly survive. In order to change the economic dependence, Li Yuan-hao, the founding father, and Li Renxiao, the fifth-generation king, all regarded the development of an independent national economy as one of the basic national policies. Animal husbandry occupies an important position in the economy of Xixia. The livestock husbandry area in Xixia was originally in the areas of northern Shaanxi, Yanchi, Erdos Plateau, Alashan Banner and Ejin Banner today, and later expanded to Wuwei and “primeval farm” Industry for life "Dunhuang, Anxi and so on