milk copiously on feed that is otherwise useless to humans and that can be stockpiled as straw or silage Without them there would be no dairying Dairy Animals of the World Only a small handful of animal species contributes significantly to the world’s milk supply The Cow, European and Indian The immediate ancestor of Bos taurus, the common dairy cow, was Bos primigenius, the long-horned wild aurochs This massive animal, standing ft/180 cm at the shoulder and with horns 6.5 in/17 cm in diameter, roamed Asia, Europe, and North Africa in the form of two overlapping races: a humpless European-African form, and a humped central Asian form, the zebu The European race was domesticated in the Middle East around 8000 BCE, the heat- and parasite-tolerant zebu in south-central Asia around the same time, and an African variant of the European race in the Sahara, probably somewhat later In its principal homeland, central and south India, the zebu has been valued as much for its muscle power as its milk, and remains rangy and long-horned The European dairy cow has been highly selected for milk production at least since 3000 BCE, when confinement to stalls in urban Mesopotamia and poor winter feed led to a reduction in body and horn size To this day, the prized dairy breeds — Jerseys, Guernseys, Brown Swiss, Holsteins — are short-horned cattle that put their energy into making milk rather than muscle and bone The modern zebu is not as copious a producer as the European breeds, but its milk is 25% richer in butterfat The Buffalo The water buffalo is relatively unfamiliar in the West but the most important ...BCE, the heat- and parasite-tolerant zebu in south-central Asia around the same time, and an African variant of the European race in the Sahara, probably somewhat later In its principal homeland, central and. .. that put their energy into making milk rather than muscle and bone The modern zebu is not as copious a producer as the European breeds, but its milk is 25% richer in butterfat The Buffalo The water... In its principal homeland, central and south India, the zebu has been valued as much for its muscle power as its milk, and remains rangy and long-horned The European dairy cow has been highly selected for milk production at least since 3000 BCE, when