On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, people can often see a strange kind of cow. It has a magnificent figure, short limbs, long hair and a horse-like tail. It is called a pig, especially its abdomen and buttocks, with coarse hair 30 ~ 40 cm long, just like wearing a special "long-haired apron". This is the yak known as the "boat on the plateau".
At present, there are more than13 million yaks in the world, mainly distributed in China, Nepal, Afghanistan, Mongolia, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sikkim and other Asian countries. Among them, China has the largest number.
Yaks in China are mainly distributed in the alpine grasslands above 3000m above sea level, such as Gangdise Mountain, Tanggula Mountain, Kunlun Mountain, Altun Mountain, Tianshan Mountain, Altai Mountain, Qilian Mountain, bayan har Mountain, Hengduan Mountain and Minshan Mountain in Tibet, Gansu, Xinjiang, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. The distribution centers are Himalayas and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Wild yak is huge, powerful and fierce. There is a "no man's land" in Gaize County, east of Ali, Tibet, which is called "the kingdom of wild yaks". Every winter, hundreds of flocks of wild yaks gather on the lakeside flat to spend the winter together. In summer, they moved to a place near the snow line suitable for calves to mate and live. The weight of wild yak is more than 1000 kg, which is equivalent to the weight of four domestic yaks. It is said that once a driver drove a Jiefang brand car through the "Kingdom of Wild Yaks", and a bold and aggressive male yak came straight to the car, which actually knocked the car full of goods and almost overturned. Obviously, it is not easy to domesticate such a crazy beast into tame livestock.
However, according to some historians' research, as early as the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, the ancient Qiang people living in the western frontier of China had domesticated wild yaks into livestock for milk, meat, wool and service. Archaeological excavations have also proved that at least 3,000 years ago, the ancient Qiang people who lived in today's Nomuhong area of Qinghai successfully domesticated wild yaks into adult yaks, and spun woolen cloth, wool rope, wool, wool belt, etc. with yak hair as raw materials and sold them to the Central Plains.
The ancient Qiang people also improved the yak by crossbreeding it with the yellow cattle, creating a yak with better milk, meat, wool and service. This kind of cow is not only docile, but also has a high milk yield, and its ability of ploughing and carrying is far better than that of yak, but it can't pass on its own seeds.
Yak is a unique breed of cattle that grows on the plateau. It is a domestic animal with high economic value and is also the main means of transportation for Tibetan people.
Yak has extensive eating habits, great strength, good mountain climbing and high cold tolerance. A yak used for carrying can generally carry 40 ~ 50 kg, and some can carry as much as 100 kg. Walk 20 ~ 25 kilometers every day without rest. Sometimes you can go without eating or drinking for several days in a row, and carry on as usual. Yak's toe has a tough cartilage, and it can walk freely on the rugged mountain road. Usually, the horse runs faster than the yak, but in the alpine region above five or six kilometers above sea level, because of the thin air, the horse can't run faster than the yak. Especially in snowfields and glaciers, yaks travel more steadily than horses. When old herders cross snow-capped mountains or glaciers, they would rather ride yaks than horses. When the mountain is closed by heavy snow, Tibetan herders often let yaks go first. Yaks can open the snow with their hooves and mouths and open up roads. Moreover, yaks know the way and are reliable guides for herders. The most interesting thing is that yak can drag its body like a boat and slowly cross the surface of the swamp when crossing the grassland swamp; If it gets deep, it will automatically stop moving forward and find another way. It is precisely because yak has so many advantages that Tibetan herders affectionately call it "Noel" (meaning baby).
Yak has high edible value. Its muscle fiber is thicker than that of yellow cattle, but more fragrant than that of yellow cattle, with high protein content and less fat. The weight of each female yak is generally about 200 kg, and the male yak weighs 250 ~ 300 kg, and the net meat rate is over 40%.
Yak milk is rich in nutrients. Compared with Dutch cows, the yak milk yield is not as high as that of Dutch cows, but the milk juice is thicker than Dutch milk, and the fat content is usually 7-8%, and some of them reach10%, which is almost twice as high as Dutch milk. Moreover, the protein content and calorific value of yak milk are also greater than that of Dutch milk. The calorific value of Dutch milk is 600 ~ 700 kcal per kilogram, while that of yak milk is as high as 1000 kcal per kilogram.
Yak skin, wool and cashmere are important raw materials for tanning and wool products, especially yak wool, which can be made into high-grade woolen cloth, blankets and other wool products. The precious "prime minister" is made of yak hair and fine wool.
Due to the limitation of natural environment and other factors, most yaks are still in the state of primitive cattle breeds, with low production performance, slow growth, late maturity, low fertility, slow turnover and low commodity rate. Now, the country is organizing a large number of researchers to study the improvement of yak.