Blackwell Science, Ltd http://www.paper.edu.cn Milking and milk processing: traditional technologies in the yak farming system of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China S K DONG,1,3* R J LONG2,3 and M Y KANG1 1Key Laboratory of Natural Disaster and Environmental Change, Ministry of Education, Institute of Resources Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, P. R. China, 2Northeast Plateau Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, Xining, 810001, P. R. China and 3Grassland Science College, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, 730070, P. R. China Yak milk and its products are widely consumed by local herders and are regarded as the resources of economic income by the households on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Yak raisers have developed their own milking skills and milk-processing technologies through a long history of yak keeping. All of these traditional skills and technologies have their own characteristics. In this paper, the methods and procedures of milking and milk processing in yak farming systems are reviewed. Keywords Dairy yak, Milk collection, Milk products. *Author for correspondence. E-mail:
[email protected] management and milking regime, averaging 0.9 kg INTRODUCTION to 2.6 kg daily within around 180 days of lactation, Yaks are found extensively on China’s Plateau, there are many of them (around 100 head per which is an alpine and subalpine region at altitudes household), so the total quantity produced is sub- ranging from 2000 to 4500 m with a cold, semihu- stantial.7 Moreover, the quality of yak milk is good. mid climate. The area of yak distribution extends The total dry matter is around 17–18% during the from the Himalayas in the south to the Altai in the main lactating period, the fat content varies at north, and from Pamir in the west to the Minshan around 6.5%, protein and lactose are each around mountains in the east, centring on the Qinghai- 5.5%, and ash 0.8%.