Livestock of the Mongols

As a nomad nation, the Mongols have thousands of years of history and
experience of raising livestock. The life of the Mongols almost totally
depended on those animals. They ate the meat and the milk , even distilled
wine from the sour cream; They made clothes from the skin and made the felt
of the yurts from the wool; Their transportation was the big animals like
horse , ox and camel. So the Mongols are very fond of those livestock and
they can recognize every single one and call its name from hundreds of
them. You probably wonder , How many kinds of livestock do the Mongols
raise? The answer is very certain, the Mongols only raise five kinds of
livestock. Except the following animals, other animals are never considered
as livestock ( ‘mal’ in Mongol language) by the Mongols. The five kind of
livestock ( the Mongols call them ‘ tavun hushuu mal’) are: Horse , Sheep,
Ox, Camel and goat.

[Image] Horse: the Mongol name is ‘ mori ’ or ‘ aduu ’ , the most beloved
        animal of the Mongols. Those famous Mongolian small horses, had
been carrying the Mongols , conquered half of the world. It was the major
transportation of the Mongols. It is very rare that the Mongols kill a
horse. So they are not used to eat the horse meat and use the horse
skin.But the mane and the tail hair is good for making rope and bag etc. It
has “a powerful neck, somewhat thick legs, and a dense coat, but it is
wonderful for its fiery spirit and its vigor, endurance, steadiness, and
sureness of foot” , as a foreigner described. The horse is a symbol of the
Mongol nation.

[Image] Sheep: the Mongols call a sheep as ‘ khoni ’. Mutton is the most
        favorite meat of the Mongols . It is said that the mutton of
S&oomlnid of Inner Mongolia and Gobi regions of Outer Mongolia is the most
delicious mutton. The original Mongolian sheep has a straight and coarse
hair, it is good for tough weather. Skin is for coats and shoes, wool is
for felt, carpet and clothes, milk is for sour cream and cheese. Sheep is a
symbol of submissiveness and weakness since it keep quiet when it is
killed.

[Image] Ox: the Mongol name of a ox is 'ükher'. The cow milk is considered
        as the best milk for milk tea, cream and cheese. Beef is also very
welcome among the Mongols. Good leather is always made from ox skin. Ox is
also the only right animal for the Mongolian cart, a wooden cart with a
pair of big wooden wheels. Although it is really slow, but the Mongols
enjoy it . Usually the cart is driven by single ox, but the royal cart of
Genghis Khan was driven by 80 white oxen. Ox is the symbol of sturdiness
and sometimes, stubbornness. Yaks are poppular in the cold regions of
Mongolia and considered as a kind of ox.

[Image] Camel: the Mongol name of a camel is 'temee'. Camel is the highest
        animal the Mongols raising. It is the most important livestock of
the Mongols who living in the Gobi deserts. The wool of female camel is a
very good natural resource of textile. It offers good transportation and
meat to the people raising them. A camel can drink 20 gallon water once and
survive for a month without drinking any water.Camel is a symbol of
something very high

.

[Image] Goat: the Mongol name of a goat is ' yamaa '. Goat is a animal that
        the Mongol have been considering as the most unimportant livestock.
But it is proved that goat is the animal having the most valuable and
expensive stuff indeed. Cashmere, a fine wool growing beneath the outer
coarse hair of the goat , is considered as the finest and most expensive
natural fiber. 1 Kg raw cashmere worth about $ 60 in the international
market. The finest cashmere in the world comes from the goats of Ordos
region, Inner Mongolia ( my hometown). Except the cashmere, goat meat and
skin are also good stuffs. Goat is the symbol of something or somebody
which is not serious in manner.

Except the five animal introduced above, I'd like to mention another animal
, which the Mongols also like very much:

[Image] Dog: the Mongol name of a dog is ' nokhoi '. It is the only
        non-livestock animal to receive high honor from the Mongols. The
Mongolian shepherd dog is is known as the best guard to the livestock and
propertis of the Mongols. They have courage to fight with the wolves which
attack the livestock. The Mongols also train dogs for hunting. The great
Genghis Khan had have many hunting dogs and falcons. The Mongols never
consider the dogs just as pets. The most admirable character of the dog is
its loyalty .

By the way, donkeys and pigs are not welcome among the Mongols. Donkey is
considered as a stupid animal and pig is considered as an animal full of
dirtiness and greed. Cats are not very welcome because they are not as
loyalty as the dogs.

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Feb. 10, 1997