The Tibetan Yellow Cow, known as “Palang” in Tibetan, is a dairy animal belonging to the mammalian class and bovine family. These ruminant livestock are primarily raised in the river valleys of eastern and southern Tibet. Tibetan Yellow Cows inhabit areas below 4500 meters in elevation, including semi-arid cool, semi-humid cool, semi-humid warm, humid warm, and humid hot regions, with a concentration in the semi-arid cool and semi-humid cool zones below 3500 meters.
Characteristics
Tibetan Yellow Cows are relatively small, with narrow forequarters and fine bones, but they have well-developed mammary glands. They possess strong limbs, walk briskly, and are well-suited to mountainous grazing conditions. Their coats are mostly apricot yellow or black, with some red-brown variations. They reach sexual maturity early and can be bred at around one and a half years old. The average estrous cycle is 21 days, with estrus lasting 18-36 hours, and a gestation period of 280-285 days. The lifespan of these cows is about 25 years.
Physical Dimensions:
- Adult Male Cows:
- Height: 93-115 cm
- Length: 105-125 cm
- Chest Circumference: 130-160 cm
- Adult Female Cows:
- Height: 90-105 cm
- Length: 95-117 cm
- Chest Circumference: 130-150 cm
Tibetan Yellow Cows have a lactation period of around five months. In the summer, they produce 1.5-2.5 kg of milk per day, with a fat content of about 5%. Each cow produces 12.5-15 kg of butter annually, making them an important source of dairy products in agricultural regions.
Distribution
Tibetan Yellow Cows make up a small percentage of the total livestock population, accounting for only 3.35% of all livestock. They are more common in regions with a higher emphasis on agriculture, such as Chamdo and Shannan, where they constitute 31.7% and 25.6% of the total Yellow Cow population, respectively. They are less common in Shigatse, Lhasa, and Nyingchi, making up 14.86%, 26.01%, and 26.01% of the population in these areas, respectively. They are even rarer in Nagqu and Ngari, accounting for only 1.16% and 0.67% of the total Yellow Cow population.
Medicinal Uses
Tibetan medicine uses various parts of the Tibetan Yellow Cow for medicinal purposes:
- Cow Gallstone: Has anticonvulsant, antipyretic, analgesic, cardiotonic, hypotensive, choleretic, and hepatoprotective properties. It treats visceral inflammation, infectious diseases with high fever, epilepsy, convulsions in children, throat ulcers, abscesses, heat edema, jaundice, hepatitis, and echinococcosis.
- Cow Bile: Has sedative and anesthetic effects on the central nervous, respiratory, and circulatory systems. It detoxifies and improves eyesight, treating eye diseases and poisoning from drugs or food.
- Cow Meat: Clears bile heat and treats mixed bile disorders.
- Cow Testicles: Strengthen the kidneys and back, treating kidney deficiencies, lower back pain, urinary difficulties or incontinence, and chronic kidney diseases.
- Cow Milk: Enhances physical strength, calms the mind, nourishes the lungs, alleviates asthma, clears heat, produces breast milk, quenches thirst, and treats lung diseases, blood disorders, bile diseases, chronic fevers, frequent urination, asthma, excessive phlegm, fatigue, dizziness, and mania.
