What are the kinds of cattle?

Cattle, which originated in the Miocene, is a mixed and progressive branch differentiated from the original ancient deer. Cattle have many uses, meat and milk can be eaten, leather belongs to industrial raw materials, cattle can also provide service and provide for agricultural production, and so on. The main types of cattle are yellow cattle, buffalo, yak and bison. Let's take a look!

Yellow cattle

Yellow cattle is an inherent common cattle breed in China. The number of breeding heads in China ranks first among all livestock or cattle, and the breeding area is almost all over the country. It is mainly used for service in agricultural areas, milk in semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas, and milk and meat in pastoral areas. Their body shape and performance can be divided into three types due to different natural environment and feeding conditions: northern yellow cattle, Central Plains yellow cattle and southern yellow cattle. Yellow is the most common coat of yellow cattle, from which the breed may get its name, but there are also reddish brown and black. The head is slightly thick, with different horns and round corners. Strong physique, compact structure, strong muscles, strong limbs and solid hooves. There are about 25 kinds of yellow cattle in China, and the top five are Nanyang cattle, Qinchuan cattle, Luxi cattle, Yanbian cattle and Jinnan cattle, collectively known as China's five improved breeds of yellow cattle.

Yellow and black cattle are mainly yellow and black, with strong and compact physique, thick skin, long coat, strong bones, medium muscle development, low and flat toenails, straight back, deep chest, long middle body, short and strong limbs, obvious joint tendons and good combination of limbs and body.

Scalpers have the characteristics of good service performance, strong strength, fast speed, agility, not afraid of hot and cold, easy to train and so on. The maximum pulling force of healthy cattle is 428.2 kg, accounting for 96% of the body weight. There are two sets of new step ploughs for healthy cattle, with 0.77 mu of stubble land per hour and 1.3mu of second stubble land per hour. A single set of rubber wheeled cattle is loaded with 600-700 kg of chemical fertilizer and 30-36 km per day at a speed of 1-1.3 m per second. In the past, most of the farmers' arable land, transportation and other heavy labor were borne by cattle. Yellow cattle also have good reproductive performance, with a survival rate of 59.06% under the condition of grazing management and natural mating. There are 7 calves in the whole life of cows, and the cows with good feeding conditions can give birth to more than 8 calves. The nature of pregnancy protection is very strong, less abortion phenomenon, commonly known as "iron fetus".

Buffalo

Buffalo, also known as Indian buffalo, is a large cloven-hoofed animal with thick skin and underdeveloped sweat glands. It needs to be immersed in water to dissipate heat when it is hot, so it is named buffalo. Domesticated buffalo are distributed in Asia, Europe, North Africa and America. Wild buffalo are active in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand. Wild buffaloes live in jungles, bamboo forests or reeds. They like to roll in the mud to dissipate heat and prevent insect bites.

Buffalo stout, hair sparse, mostly gray-black; horn thick and flat, and bent to the rear; thick skin, sweat glands are extremely underdeveloped, hot need to soak heat, so the name buffalo; hoof large, solid, resistant to immersion, knee and ball joint movement flexible, buffalo auricle is short and small, head and forehead narrow long, back midline indumentum forward, back tilted backward, slender horn.

The African buffalo has large drooping ears, a short, wide head, a back midline quilt, a straight back, thick horns, and a black, brown or reddish yellow body.

The body is stout, the coat is sparse, mostly grayish black; the horn is thick and flat, and bends to the rear; the skin is thick and the sweat glands are extremely underdeveloped, so it needs to be immersed in water to dissipate heat when it is hot, so it is named buffalo; the legs are short and hoofed, so they are suitable for farming; the servitude, milk yield and roughness tolerance are higher than yellow cattle; the rate of milk fat is about 8%, and the cream is white; the meat is thicker.

Yak

Yak is an endemic breed of cattle in alpine areas, herbivorous ruminants. The yak is a mammal living at the highest altitude in the world. Mainly produced in China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau above 3000 meters above sea level. Adapt to cold ecological conditions, rough, hard-working, good at steep slopes and dangerous roads, snow-capped swamps, can swim the rapids of rivers, known as "the boat of the plateau". The yak is covered with treasures. The Tibetan people cannot do without it for food, clothing, housing, transportation, burning and ploughing. People drink yak milk, eat yak meat and burn yak dung. Its hair can be made into clothes or tents, and leather is a good material for tanning. It can not only be used for farming, but also can be used as a means of transport on the plateau. The yak also has the ability to know the way, is good at walking on dangerous roads and swamps, and can choose a way to avoid traps, which can be used as a guide for tourists.

The yak head is large, the horn is thick, the skin is thick, the bun nail is tall, long and wide, the forelimb is short and upright, the hind limb is knife-shaped, the lower part of the body is inversely coarsely hairy, the tail is short and fluffy, the head of the male yak is thick, rectangular, the neck is short and thick and deep, the testicles are large, close to the abdomen, and do not droop; the female yak head is long, the eyes are large and round, the forehead is wide, horned, the neck is long and thin, the breast is small, in the shape of a bowl, the nipple is short, and the milk vein is not obvious.

The yak head is thick and heavy, the forehead is wide and flat, the face is slightly concave, the eyes are round, the mouth is large, the lips are thin, and most of them have horns, which fold upward and open outward, the distance between the corners is large, and the horns of female yaks are very thin. Both male and female have no drooping flesh. The forechest is open, the chest is deep, the ribs are open, the back and waist are straight, the abdomen is large and does not droop, and the rump is narrow and inclined. The tail root is low and the tail is short. The limbs are strong, the hoof is small and round, the hoof is tight, and the hoof is solid. The forechest, arms, chest and ventral body are covered with growing hairs and floor, and the tail hairs are clustered in the shape of broom.

buffalo

The bison is huge, with a body length of 200cm to 300cm, a height of about 2m and a weight of about 600kg to 1500 kg. The corners are thick and sharp and curved. There is a white spot on the top of the forehead. There is a tumor-like bulge from the shoulder to the front back. Most of the body hair is brown and black, and the hair below the knees is white, so it is also known as "white socks".

Indian bison, also known as bison, wild yellow cattle, white-legged bison, etc., is famous for its huge body, is now the largest kind of cattle. The bison genus Bison is the only member of the cattle subfamily outside Africa and Asia, including American bison Bison bison and European bison Bison bonasus. European bison are rare and are now in a semi-wild state. American bison used to be the largest large animal in America, but at one time it was almost killed and restored after protection.

Bison can cross with common cattle species in the genus Bos to produce heterosis and provide useful genes for the breeding of new breeds.