# Tibetan Yak



## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

Anyone raise yaks? I have a little starter herd and I'm wondering if anyone else here has some.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I sure dont, but I have eaten the meat. 
A friend of mine in NM used to work on a ranch where they raised them.

Wild wooly critters and delicious.

Do you ever sell the fiber? I would be interested in some naturally shed yaks wool, for spinning.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

gone-a-milkin said:


> I sure dont, but I have eaten the meat.
> A friend of mine in NM used to work on a ranch where they raised them.
> 
> Wild wooly critters and delicious.
> ...


Wendy, great minds think alike, I was going to ask the same thing. > Marc


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Interesting animals. I bet you don't worry about snow and ice! I'm not sure where you are, but I hope it's someplace that's cold. Temperament? What do you plan to do with them? Interested in learning more about how you manage them.


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## Miss Kay (Mar 31, 2012)

Nope but I saw them at the Denver Stock Show once. They told us they needed to live in high altitude and were a little like deer (shy, fence jump etc.). I thought they were so pretty and interesting. Love your picture.


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## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

They are so beautiful!


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

I'm in the process now of brushing everyone out and collecting their fiber. Then I have to separate out all the guard hairs, and THEN I can think about selling some. I'll have a little white, and a bunch of gray/brown fiber when it's all said and done. Yak down is the same staple length as Cashmere, and very warm. They blow their down, but you have to brush it all out, or it mats and makes them look like Rastafarian yaks... That happened to us last year because I didn't have a squeeze/head catch. I have one now!

We are in Western MT, and when the snow falls, the yaks dance. Royal T Yaks if you want to see some more pictures 

They don't need (or like) a barn. Even in a blizzard, they bed down and when it's all said and done, they just stand up and walk out of it. The yaks use their horns to 'plow' the snow to get to grass under the snow, but I'm nice and give them round bales in the winter 

My yaks stay in our 47" woven field fence with a single barbed topper. They tested the fencing when they first arrived, and my bull did go over the fence once without the topper (our bad) and once with (his bad). He cut his leg a bit, and hasn't messed with my fences again. The girls are much less ornery than Bullet, so it's worked out great. We like the field fence because the property is sandwiched between a fairly busy road and a dirt road, and if a calf got onto either, I'd never see them alive again. People tend to "adopt stray animals" around here. Or hit them with their trucks. Either or.

I looked at American Bison and Tibetan Yak when I was deciding what we wanted to raise. Bison are not easy on fences, and they get huge. The yaks are easy to keep in and smaller than Angus cattle- perfect for me 

The yak are actually very intelligent. One person can work them on foot if they know what they are doing (can't be said for many similarly sized creatures). They take advantage of opportunity to see new things, so all you have to do is open a gate, and they'll go through it to see what's on the other side. They're very curious. 

Ours were shy when we got them, but I think it's all about your management style. Our heifers came from large (80+ cow) herds and the bull came from a smaller meat producer. He would eat out of our hands first, but he was only 1 1/2 years old at the time. Now that he's 3, Bullet is more of a typical bull, but the girls have come around awesomely. The girls will all come for treats. Standing to be brushed isn't on the menu, though. I will be imprinting and harassing daily all calves that drop so they don't turn out like the starter herd.

We use them for their brush clearing right now; we will be using their fiber and calves will be raised friendly for pets/riding/packing. We've had a lot of interest in calves already, and people are always stopping in the street to watch them. They're traffic hazards, really. The current herd will be used simply for breeding/fiber and there is one milking prospect out of the 5 girls.

I am starting a hybrid program with Bullet and two Scottish Highland heifers. Just got the girls last week, and the Scotties will stand to be brushed and are just as smart as the yaks- they know their names and come when called. 

The hybrid calves will be interesting- males are sterile, females are fertile. Hopefully I'll have some good examples of them in a year or so.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Thanks for all the information and enjoyed looking at the website. Is there a market for the fiber? Curious, though, why you want to cross breed.


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## tailwagging (Jan 6, 2005)

WISH I could have them down here.
thought about breeding my zebu bull to highland cows to see if I could breed something that looked like them but....


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

I've had a bunch of interest in their fiber, both locally and on the internet. If it weren't such a pain to harvest, I'd be more excited about that side of things. 

The Cross-breeds will grow faster like the cattle, the male F1's are incredible workers, and the females will be bred back to another bull or either can be used for meat if I don't like their temperaments or how they turn out. My goal is a well-fibered animal with the agility and tail of the yak, growth rate and strength of the SH. Our Scotties are very similar in temperament to the yaks, luckily. I've seen others that were not so nice!


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

tailwagging said:


> WISH I could have them down here.
> thought about breeding my zebu bull to highland cows to see if I could breed something that looked like them but....


How large is your bull?

My bull will probably top out at 1200 lbs around age 6 (yaks are very slow-growing). Your typical yak cow tops at 6-800 lbs. My two SH heifers are larger than the yaks of same age, but if you had a 600 lb or so bull... could be doable?

If you could get the SH coat with the hump of the Zebu, you could be onto a yak-a-like  However, I'm not sure how you'd go about getting the Dewlap out of them, but it may not be an issue, either... Could have a Southern yak on your hands  Other than the dewlap, the 'horse' tail is a major characteristic of the yaks. Not sure how you'd get that in there!


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

tailwagging said:


> WISH I could have them down here.
> thought about breeding my zebu bull to highland cows to see if I could breed something that looked like them but....


I did this. Ended up with a short haired red roan bull calf. It was huge too. Boring to look at with a bad personality :/


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

lasergrl said:


> I did this. Ended up with a short haired red roan bull calf. It was huge too. Boring to look at with a bad personality :/


Aw  What a downer. The yaks' personality is great...


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

Took this video yesterday. It's the yaks and my two Scotties playing. If you've never seen a yak throw up its tail, it's very cute 
http://youtu.be/cKt-ocMfxvM


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Video is great! They have full tails, don't they?

Still not sure why you'd want to cross-breed. Seems to me they are very special in their own right and their fiber would not be as special if crossed with Highlands or anything else. You have something rather unique, so why not promote it as such? (None of my business, of course, LOL!)


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I have worked with them in the past and found them to be very pleasant!
We could stand at the yard gate and call and they would come running for treats and affection.
I found that I liked them better than cows for personality and not as much drooling. blech.
They were easy keepers as well!~!


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

G. Seddon, I want to cross-breed because there is a huge interest in the hybrids and no one seems to have an active program going. I only have two females for the hybrid program, and I will keep it to that number (so not a huge investment). And I will still have 4-5 pure yak calves/year for fiber  I do promote the yaks and people are very excited by them. I can't wait to get a calf on the ground to take to farmer's markets with me. 

They really are pleasant to be around, Chickenista  They are such easy keepers, disease resistant, and great at clearing brush


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

I have a friend who's a chef. He loves cooking yak meat. Says it's really dark in color but quite delicious tasting.


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## tailwagging (Jan 6, 2005)

Royal.T.Yak said:


> How large is your bull?
> 
> My bull will probably top out at 1200 lbs around age 6 (yaks are very slow-growing). Your typical yak cow tops at 6-800 lbs. My two SH heifers are larger than the yaks of same age, but if you had a 600 lb or so bull... could be doable?
> 
> If you could get the SH coat with the hump of the Zebu, you could be onto a yak-a-like  However, I'm not sure how you'd go about getting the Dewlap out of them, but it may not be an issue, either... Could have a Southern yak on your hands  Other than the dewlap, the 'horse' tail is a major characteristic of the yaks. Not sure how you'd get that in there!


he is between 35-36 inches behind the hump and vet's guess 350lbs.


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## tailwagging (Jan 6, 2005)

lasergrl said:


> I did this. Ended up with a short haired red roan bull calf. It was huge too. Boring to look at with a bad personality :/


too bad =(


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

Ted H, yes if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend tasting yak meat! That's the whole reason we got into them. 

Tailwagging- you may get different results, never know  Just gotta figure out if it's worth the time/money investment to start a hybrid program.


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## Cheribelle (Jul 23, 2007)

Cows with pony tails.... that's really cool!


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## brody (Feb 19, 2009)

what little athletes!!


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

They did a great run yesterday... just long enough for me to get inside, get the camera, and then they were done. Of course. I'll have to catch it next time. It's really funny when they all throw up their tails and run. 

And yes, their horsey ponytails are pretty funny in combination with the horns, aren't they?


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## opportunity (Mar 31, 2012)

My husband said no to the yaks but we have the scottish highlands in our herd I wanted to cross breed but he said keep the highlands pure and cross with my angus. Hes no fun I will have to stop and see your yaks when I'm in the area.


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## Royal.T.Yak (Apr 20, 2012)

Aw Did you tell him they're super quiet and secretly ninjas? Maybe that would win him over 

When do you come through? We're closest to Missoula


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