Yak

[misfitmorgan]

So i've been looking into different mini cows. I was leaning towards dexters if I could find some a reasonable distance. Today I stumbled across a CL post for Yak's. Has anyone researched them or owned them?

So far they seem to live for about 25yrs, are hardy and convert feed really well. Males weigh 750 - 1,300lbs are under 4.5ft tall and females weigh 500 - 650lbs and are under 4ft tall. Meat is low in cholestrol, fat and high in omega #3. Also interestingly they are pregnant for slightly less time then standard cows at 257-270 days vs 279-287 days for a cow. All sounds workable for us, now what the price is I dont know. The farm that was advertising is about 3hrs from us and offering cows, heifers, pairs, steers, bulls, or packages/starter herds.

 

[Baymule]

I know nothing about yaks. Recently there was an ad on craigslist for a pair of Royal Yaks, black and white spotted at $2,000 each. They were located less than an hour from us. I was not tempted. LOL They sound interesting, but I think they would do better in a colder climate, more like where they come from, than scorching hot Texas.

 

[Kusanar]

Something else to add into your calculations is that yak is a very desirable exotic fiber animal.

De-Haired Yak Top

A very soft, de-haired top made from the undercoat of the yak. Reminiscent of qiviut, although not as fine.

woolery.com

 

[misfitmorgan]

I know nothing about yaks. Recently there was an ad on craigslist for a pair of Royal Yaks, black and white spotted at $2,000 each. They were located less than an hour from us. I was not tempted. LOL They sound interesting, but I think they would do better in a colder climate, more like where they come from, than scorching hot Texas.

That's what I am wondering on is price. Honestly a beef steer here starts are $950 and goes up from there. A beef heifer starts at $1,200 and a bull starts are $1,600 so even if the yaks were $1,00 each it wouldnt be a bad price. Even the dexter I was looking at are $900-1,400 each. Luckily we have the cold climate here so a yak would fit in great and maintain condition better in the winter. Apprently they also dont need grain so thats nice. ATM we are feeding 170lbs of grain a day, so we dont want to add to that. The calves are getting 20 lbs of that.

Something else to add into your calculations is that yak is a very desirable exotic fiber animal.

De-Haired Yak Top

A very soft, de-haired top made from the undercoat of the yak. Reminiscent of qiviut, although not as fine.

woolery.com

I did see things saying yak were used for fiber as well but I have no idea of that process. I would imagine something to do with brushing them. Not sure how you would de-hair it. At $40-60 for 250g it would be something to look into for sure. Mind I have no clue how much fiber 250grams is actually. Like would it be the entire yak lol? Even so good deal vs the wool we throw away.

 

[Kusanar]

I did see things saying yak were used for fiber as well but I have no idea of that process. I would imagine something to do with brushing them. Not sure how you would de-hair it. At $40-60 for 250g it would be something to look into for sure. Mind I have no clue how much fiber 250grams is actually. Like would it be the entire yak lol? Even so good deal vs the wool we throw away.

Yep, you brush them in the spring or even go around the pasture and pick it up off of the brush they scratch on.

According to this link Here a yak can produce 25 kg of fiber per year and half of that is down. So, up to 12.5 kg of down per year which is 12,500 grams or 50 of those $40-60 bundles per yak per year. So, could be up to $2,000-3,000 per year per yak on the top end.

Dehairing is easiest done if sent to a mill for processing, but I'm not sure how much dehairing needs to be done if the animals are brushed. The stuff you remove is the long hairs that more or less stay on the animal year round and you want the fluff. Alpacca, llama and camel fiber is also dehaired so you could look up tutorials on how to do that with those breeds to see the process.

This mill charges $12-15 per lb to dehair yak.

The 12.5 kg = 27.5ish lbs or $330-187.5 to have the entire thing dehaired at the mill. So, pricy, but not bad if you are getting 2-3K.

The price I sent you is from a big bulk company. If you sold it with pictures of the animal it came off with and some marketing you could most likely get even more for it.

 

[Alaskan]

I watched a video on them a while back

The biggest issue I saw was fence... looked like you needed Buffalo grade fence.

But maybe super tame ones aren't as bad?

 

[misfitmorgan]

Yep, you brush them in the spring or even go around the pasture and pick it up off of the brush they scratch on.

According to this link Here a yak can produce 25 kg of fiber per year and half of that is down. So, up to 12.5 kg of down per year which is 12,500 grams or 50 of those $40-60 bundles per yak per year. So, could be up to $2,000-3,000 per year per yak on the top end.

Dehairing is easiest done if sent to a mill for processing, but I'm not sure how much dehairing needs to be done if the animals are brushed. The stuff you remove is the long hairs that more or less stay on the animal year round and you want the fluff. Alpacca, llama and camel fiber is also dehaired so you could look up tutorials on how to do that with those breeds to see the process.

This mill charges $12-15 per lb to dehair yak.

The 12.5 kg = 27.5ish lbs or $330-187.5 to have the entire thing dehaired at the mill. So, pricy, but not bad if you are getting 2-3K.

The price I sent you is from a big bulk company. If you sold it with pictures of the animal it came off with and some marketing you could most likely get even more for it.

I guess I would have to see if I could find a market for it then see if I could make a go of it. ATM we cant give away fleece, even cleaned no one wants it. I cleaned and carded a 1/3 of a fleece and couldnt even give that away. If the fiber actually brought even 2k a year it would be worth it. They live for 25yrs so one yak would make you 50k just off fiber, not even counting off-spring fiber or meat for that 25yr period. If you figured mom and dad were 4k total to buy and were 2yrs old and figured a 50% offspring rate thats 11 offspring. Even if you sold all 11 offspring at 1k each that 22k and would easily pay for the parents feed/medical costs before counting the 100k from fiber. Definitely something to think on.

The same farm also sells yak meat. $9/lb for ground and $15/lb for steak. That's more then we get from our lamb, we only get $3/lb for lamb when we can sell our lambs.

I watched a video on them a while back

The biggest issue I saw was fence... looked like you needed Buffalo grade fence.

But maybe super tame ones aren't as bad?

The farm that has them has tons of pictures from the last 2-3yrs, their fences appear to be woven wire with 3 strands of electric on the inside and two above the woven wire. So looks exactly the same as the planned new fence for our goats and sheep.

I do know the wild yaks are bigger in size up to 6ft tall and up to 2,200lbs for the males. The ones on this farm are the smaller domestic ones and all are said to be super friendly. Looks like they have 32 total yaks atm and list 26 that have been sold and 16 currently for sale.....that's all in the past 5yrs.

 

[Kusanar]

I guess I would have to see if I could find a market for it then see if I could make a go of it. ATM we cant give away fleece, even cleaned no one wants it. I cleaned and carded a 1/3 of a fleece and couldnt even give that away. If the fiber actually brought even 2k a year it would be worth it. They live for 25yrs so one yak would make you 50k just off fiber, not even counting off-spring fiber or meat for that 25yr period. If you figured mom and dad were 4k total to buy and were 2yrs old and figured a 50% offspring rate thats 11 offspring. Even if you sold all 11 offspring at 1k each that 22k and would easily pay for the parents feed/medical costs before counting the 100k from fiber. Definitely something to think on.

The same farm also sells yak meat. $9/lb for ground and $15/lb for steak. That's more then we get from our lamb, we only get $3/lb for lamb when we can sell our lambs.

Understood. I mean, you will need to do more research obviously, but it does seem to sell decently. I have some 50/50 yak and silk blend and it is so ridiculously soft....

 

[misfitmorgan]

Actually just checked they are only 2hrs away it seems, I was thinking it was 3hrs. Being that close it seems like sales should be similar, though that side of the state tend to have a little more money but not by to much. Also I would assume if i was selling the fiber it would be shipped rather then local.

My inital interest is yak's for meat, the fact they need no grain, are stocked at 4 yaks per acre on our pastures and convert their all grass diet almost twice as well as cows.....pretty big pros already.

It also just dawned on me.......milk! Google says it has more butterfat, protein, calcium and iron then cow milk. Interesting

 

[Kusanar]

Actually just checked they are only 2hrs away it seems, I was thinking it was 3hrs. Being that close it seems like sales should be similar, though that side of the state tend to have a little more money but not by to much. Also I would assume if i was selling the fiber it would be shipped rather then local.

My inital interest is yak's for meat, the fact they need no grain, are stocked at 4 yaks per acre on our pastures and convert their all grass diet almost twice as well as cows.....pretty big pros already.

It also just dawned on me.......milk! Google says it has more butterfat, protein, calcium and iron then cow milk. Interesting

I don't know how old they would be when butchering, but if you could plan it to where they are over a year old, then you could brush the babies out when they start getting their adult hair and get "baby yak" down, then brush them out again in the spring, then send to processor after they have shed out.

I also don't know how well they milk, but with milk cows, you can milk share where you separate the mothers and babies for 12 hours, milk them, then put them together for 12 hours and repeat, this way you don't have to bottle feed the babies. You could probably rig it so you have an even number of mamas for milk and split them in half, all the babies stay in one area all the time and switch out the mamas so the babies still have protection and can possibly nurse off the other mamas while they are separated.