The first dairymen were a hardy bunch; imagine gang-tackling a fresh yak. The invention of rope was likely critical to early successful efforts. Slowly, these wild hairy horned beasts became smaller Scottish Highland-like animals. Corrals and stanchions became the avant-garde technology. Grain farming finally reduced the bovines to where they would willingly come in and get felt up for a meal.
Any cheese that happened before that was purely accidental. I managed to make everything from yogurt to cottage cheese incidentally in buckets I was carting home (fresh cow bloody milk and penicillin milk from treated cows) from a dairy I used to work at (to feed my hogs). Some buckets would be pink, some blue, some green in all manner of semi-cheese consistency.
The hogs didn’t mind and ate it all, mixed with corn, etc.
It was like a window into ancient europe.
I don’t think the first dairy men used yaks. They probably started with goats, and then wild cattle. Sunken Civ recently posted an interesting article concerning the likelihood that milk drinking dairy herders migrated into central Europe around 8 or 9,000 year ago. With the superior nutrition provided by lactose tolerance and milk, they superceeded the previous inhabitants.
You may also have encountered some posts about the likelihood that we have from 1 to 4% Neanderthal genetic material in our bloodlines. My big boned, red headed warrior husband seemed like a good candidate for 4%. In my case, I have molars so large that the university dental clinic had a hard time locating a metal ring large enough to hold down the rubber dam they wanted to surround the tooth with. Also my roots seem very long compared to others I have seen.