Gorbatov Red Cattle and Yakut Cattle

librarian · Apr 7, 2015

This paper,
http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v103/n5/full/hdy200968a.html#fig4
Maternal and paternal genealogy of Eurasian taurine cattle (Bos taurus)
Heredity (2009) 103, 404–415; doi:10.1038/hdy.2009.68
Has this very interesting (ok, to me, anyway) figure that I don't really understand, but there are codes for various breeds and genetic differences across geographies seem to be characterized by color changes.
Trying to figure out the dark blue area of REG, Red Gorbatov cattle in the USSR, took me to this publication about Animal Genetic Resources of the USSR.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/ah759e/ah759e08.htm
My favorite is the Yakut, last on the page.
"When properly fed and managed Yakut cows are noted for their long productive life: among the cows studied by Romanov in 1963 the 12-year-olds accounted for 25.9%. The better cows in the conservation herd have a milk yield of 2100-2350 kg with 6.1-7.3% fat."
They even have their own haplogroup, whatever that is.
From the abstract, concerning the Yakut
... Here, we provide mtDNA information on previously uncharacterised Eurasian breeds and present the most comprehensive Y-chromosomal microsatellite data on domestic cattle to date. The mitochondrial haplogroup T3 was the most frequent, whereas T4 was detected only in the Yakutian cattle from Siberia.

librarian · Apr 7, 2015

The Yakut is No Fool!
http://eyakutia.com/2011/12/yakutian-cows-lost-survived-returned-siberian-taiga-cold-winter-yakutia-russia-photos/

Cabanha Santa Isabel - BR · Apr 7, 2015

I have this publication.
USSR had intention to be self providing of cattle, sheep, swine and horse breeds, using western breeds as improvers of their easter breeds. By iron curtain fall many projets were abandoned and extincted. Some interest breeds as Siberian pig, Orlov Trotter horse, Kholmongory cattle......

librarian · Apr 7, 2015

There are Yakut horses too. It says they have an extrordinary sense of smell that helps them find food beneath the snow.
http://www.lrgaf.org/articles/yakut_horse.htm
The origins of the Yakut horse are still uncertain, but researchers believe that it is probably one of the oldest breeds in existence. The genetic and immunity markers seem to show similarity with the original breeds of Central Asia (Akhal-Téké, Arab, Kazakh, Kirghiz and other saddle horses), which has led to the theory that the Yakut horse is not a native of Siberia, but that he was taken there by the ancestors of the Sakha people. These latter first arrived in the region by following the Lena river, around the 13th century, followed by successive waves of immigrants. The Lena’s source is in Lake Baikal, further south, near Irkutsk, on the border of western Mongolia. Other researchers think that the breed is linked to the Mongolian horse, which also is perfectly feasible.
Maybe the cattle arrived with the horses.

librarian · Apr 8, 2015

It turns out there is a planetyakutia! Should you want to go on a Pole of Cold Tour, there is travel information.
http://www.en.planetyakutia.com/about-yakutia/events/0001086/data/tpl-articles_print/
Actually, the Lena River looks beautiful and I would like to go there- by small boat, not cruse ship.
NOT with this guy, though..."the Lena River on a homemade raft"
http://lena-travel.com/?p=541&lang=en#comment-51
The fishing looks good and there are parks along the way.
However, there is a dark side to Arctic travel. The Jeanette expedition, for instance.