New breed of yak will lift herders鈥 income
Print Edition
A NEW breed of yak without horns has been developed by scientist Yan Ping and her team at the Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
They are expected to raise the income of herdsmen on the remote Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
It took more than 20 years for Yan鈥檚 team, working with the Datong Yak Breeding Farm in northwest China鈥檚 Qinghai Province, to breed the Ashidan yak.
鈥淭he Ashidan yak has no horns and has a mild temperament, so it is easier to keep and feed in stalls,鈥 Yan said.
鈥淚t is better suited to large-scale intensive breeding in the cold and arid alpine areas of China. We can make full use of the feed resources in alpine and semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.鈥
Naturally, about 6 percent or 7 percent of yaks in Qinghai have no horns and these were selected for the breeding program.
Scientists identified the genes related to horns and cultivated the Ashidan yak using molecular breeding technology.
Under the same feed conditions, the average reproductive survival rate of the Ashidan yak is 59.98 percent, 11.72 percentage points higher than local yaks and mortality is 1.24 percent, 4.32 percentage points lower, according to the research team.
The Ashidan yak is also bred to improve meat production. Almost 4,000 male Ashidan yaks have been introduced to Qinghai farms to improve the stock.
Statistics show that the average weight of the 18-month Ashidan yak is 92.77kg, 24.71 percent heavier than local yaks.
Yan, who has spent 35 years on the plateau studying yak breeding, looks on the Ashidan yak like a doting mother.
鈥淲hen the yaks walk, their long fur sways in the wind like a skirt,鈥 Yan said.
When Yan entered the Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1984, she was assigned to the yak research team.
On the Qinghai Datong Yak Breeding Farm, Yan saw yaks for the first time. During the 1980s, conditions on the farm were harsh, with no electricity or running water.
Yan would spend more than half a year at a time there, researching and domesticating wild yaks.
She stayed with herding families, recording the yaks鈥 growth. She often tracked yaks for hours at an altitude of 3,000 to 5,000 meters.
Long Chunhua, a herder of the Tu ethic group in Qinghai, is raising more than 200 Ashidan yaks.
鈥淢y parents were herders,鈥 said Long. 鈥淢ost of the yaks they raised had long and hard horns. Those yaks were mainly raised free range and were difficult to keep in stalls.
鈥淏ut the Ashidan yaks are docile, grow faster and are easier to raise.
鈥淓very year they can bring us an income of 120,000 yuan (US$17,647) to 130,000 yuan.鈥
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