Does giving so much consideration towards cows not give it a more regional perspective i.e., does it not make Vedas look more like a commonly accepted set of social norms which ancient Indians devised to live peacefully and with prosperity rather than it being a universal voice of infinite God?
You are right. There is plenty of evidence in the Vedas to suggest that cows became popular mainly because the Vedic society depended on them heavily for yajñas (sacrifices), as a medium of exchange, fees and donations. Had they relied on water buffalo instead, the buffalo would have gotten the same reverence as the cow.
This is what C. V. Vaidya says in History of Sanskrit Literature:
Sumerians and Indo-Aryans
There are other striking differences in their civilizations and conditions which may also be noted. The Vedic Aryans and the Iranians were worshippers of the cow and cows were plentiful in their lands beyond the Indus as well as in the Panjab. The seals show that the Sumerians worshipped or rather used buffaloes which were plentiful in Sind, their home land. The Ṛigveda does not mention the buffalo at all. They probably did not know it, as it is stated in the Purāṇas that the buffalo was a new creation by Viśvāmitra. If the Vedic Aryans had come from Mesopotamia, they would certainly not have forgotten the buffalo. Nay more, the Mudgala of the seals of the land of buffaloes can not be the Mudgala of the Ṛigveda who had a lakh of cows; for there could never have been cows in such plenty in Sind in those days. Then again while the Ṛigveda shows no trace of the buffalo, the Sumerian seals show no trace of the horse which is spoken of constantly in the Ṛigveda and which was so plentiful with the Vedic Aryans.
Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa
... the ordinary Dakshiṇā of a sacrifice was a cow. She is called Vara (boon) in III 12, 5. In higher sacrifices one hundred cows and even one thousand are prescribed as Dakshiṇā. The country was fit for cow-breeding and the Vaiśyas and even the Kshatriyas maintained large herds of cows and bulls. (See description of Duryodhana's herd in the Mahābhārata). In the jungles of the Panjab and of Kurukśhetra and Rohilkhand, which are many even now, not only are cows plentiful but they give also plentiful milk. Buffaloes are not mentioned anywhere and people drank cows' milk and used it in sacrifice. Indeed in the Vedas cows and sacrifice go together. A four year old cow, especially when pregnant, was the best Dakshiṇā and "secured every blessing"; she had a special name Shashṭauhī (III 12, 5).
Intermediate Brāhmaṇas
Fees are indeed prescribed by this Brāhmaṇa as a rule as Vakils' fees are prescribed by rules in British India. Fee was, however, not taken in advance as Vakils' or doctors' fees are taken, which again are more exhorbitant than those demanded by the priests of the Tāṇḍya Brāhmaṇa for performing tedious and onerous sacrificial duties. For, the price of a cow given as Dakshiṇā has been fixed at one rupee and a quarter and one hundred and twenty cows mean in modern [1930's] currency only one hundred and fifty rupees. Considering the labour and the knowledge and education demanded of the Hotṛi and other priests this remuneration does not seem to be excessive. But this aspect apart, we find from. the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, as already noticed, that fees were never settled before and that they ranged from one cow to one thousand according to the liberality and ability of the sacrificer. This shows how the latter Brāhmaṇa is older than the Tāṇḍya. Cows, it may be noted by the way, represented the medium of exchange in those days, as corn did in India even down to the British times.
Further Details about the Tāṇḍya Brāhmaṇa
This Brāhmaṇa almost always prescribes the Dakshiṇā to be given at each sacrifice. It is usually in the form of cows, so many as one thousand cows being prescribed in one place in three instalments of 333 each time. A horse, black, in colour, should be given to the Brahman (18, 1) and soma chamasa (spoon) to a sagotra Brahmin. Strangely enough, the Subrahmanya gets a he-goat only (18, 8). The Grāvastut gets a she-calf. Pregnant shashṭauhīs (four year old cows) are prized as Dakshiṇā. Gold and silver are also prescribed and apparently nishka was the coin used.
