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