Care and Keeping of Domestic Yak

Care and Keeping of Domestic Yak

For those wishing to keep some more unusual animals on their land, the Yak could be the animal for you. Yaks have a striking appearance, with shoulders like that of a buffalo and large horns. They have long hair that reaches below the stomach and can have various colours. Away from farming, they can make fantastic pasture pets and will respond to you by seeking attention and have real personality. Yak cows can grow to 700lbs whilst yak bulls can grow to 1400lbs.

Keeping Yaks is quite easy since they don’t require any special permits to own. Yaks can be raised in standard cattle facilities and don’t need any advanced fencing to keep in, just a standard barbed wire fence will be enough. They are moved quite easily by using a stick in front of them to direct them. When a Yak mother has calves they become very protective and will warn any perceived threats with grunts and head shakes. The Yak babies will run around a lot much like a horse and are very playful, loving to leap around the pasture.

The cost of keeping Yaks is very low since they are disease-hardened and birthing is quick and easy. This leads to vets fees being astonishingly low. As far as housing them goes, they prefer roofing without sides or even just shade provided by trees which means building and maintenance costs are low. You can pasture 4 Yaks in the same amount of space as one commercial cow making them more space-efficient, whilst food savings are significant too. A commercial cow will get through 25lbs of forage each day, but a Yak cow needs just 8lbs of forage each day. They can survive in all sorts of climates, but love the cold weather the most. During warm spells they pant strongly and spend much time in lakes, so a large water source is recommended to help the Yaks keep cool.

The produce Yaks can provide are much like cows, but they have an added bonus in that their hair and wool can be harvested and sold for a good sum. Yak hair is often used in human wig production due to its striking similarities in texture. Yak meat is juicy, flavourful and has a unique dispersion of fatty acid. Yak steaks are a delicacy around the world and can fetch a decent fee, increasing if the Yaks are fed nothing but a grass/forage diet, with no steroid or antibiotic supplements. Of course as mentioned earlier, some Yaks can become pets and when people become attached to these loveable animals they will want to keep harvest everything but meat from them. Along with hair, Yaks produce milk that can be turned into butter or cheese. This is sought after in eastern countries, but there is no real market for these or production opportunities in the US.

Overall these animals are fun to keep and if you harvest them for their meat there is plenty of profit to be made, and the cheap cost of keeping them means there are very few downsides of Yak farming, other than their capability to win over your heart.

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What does the Yak eat?






How to feed your yak










Relationship between Yak and Humans


The physical characteristics of Yak


Domesticated Yaks


The importance of Yak



Biology of the Yak


Yaks live in the Himalayan regions of the South East Asian Countries. Called as Bos Grunniens, Yaks inhabit the Qinghai Plateau and the surrounding moorlands of Tibet. People live in these regions, Nomadic Pastoralists and Tibetans, rely on Yaks as the important source of milk, meat and even dung of Yak. Bos Grunniens are domesticated yaks, and have been used as major source of supplying the essentials for more than 1000 years. Beyond milk, skin and meat, the dung aka excretion of yaks are used as a major source of fuel. In fact, it is the only source of fuel available in the Tibetan plateau, in the regions that has no trees.

The male wild yak weight about 1000 kg and can grow up to 2 meters in height. Female yak weighs and have the height about one-third of the male yaks. Domesticated yaks contain less fur, weigh less and appear smaller to wild yaks.

Yaks reach the age of maturity generally between 4 to 8 years. The gestation period of a yak is estimated at 260 days. The common mating period of yaks fall during September of every year and they give birth to baby yaks during April to June. Both wild yaks and domestic yaks give birth to one calf a year, in every alternate year. In many cases, due to poor feeding domestic yaks give birth to one calf every three or four years. The average life span of a yak is 20 to 23 years.

The yaks generally feed themselves in morning and evening. Since they live in high altitude areas (from 3500 feet) above the sea level, they travel long distances to nourish themselves. Yaks are sensitive to heat, but they can tolerate the even the extreme cold weather. Yaks constantly move in search of food, and stays in the high altitude regions that has permanent snow during the month of August and September. It is the mating period of yaks.

The wild yaks were found widespread throughout Tibetan Plateau and other regions namely India, Bhutan, Nepal and China. However, due to excessive hunting for meat and fur, the population of the Yaks was reduced. By the beginning of 70s, Yaks are found only in the remote areas of the hilly terrains and in a few remote areas of North East India. The breeding and distribution of the wild yaks are hampered due to hunting and human disturbance.

Yaks are herbivores and base their diet largely on grasses as well as sedges. Besides, they also rely on some herbs like winterfat shrubs, mosses, stipa and Kobresia.

International Union for the Conversation of Nature declared the wild Yaks as VULNERABLE animals. Although yaks are plant eaters, they are dangerous.

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Where do Yak Live?

Due to their unique physiology of having extra large lungs and hearts than their cattle cousins, Yaks are naturally better suited to existing at higher altitudes. It comes as no surprise then that most wild Yaks live in the most mountainous regions of countries such as Tibet, Mongolia and China. While historically Yaks have been known to have existed across whole swathes of the highest regions of central Asia, in modern times Yaks are limited to a concentrated geographical area in what is now southern central Asia; mainly encompassing the outer fringes of Tibet and its neighbouring countries.

While the majority of the wild Yak population exists within this concentrated geographical area, there are many smaller more isolated populations of wild Yak existing in more remote regions such as southernmost Xingjian province in China, Ladakh in northern India and westernmost Qinghai province in China. This is no mere coincidence as most of these regions consist of mountainous plateaus of alpine tundra which is a highly suitable habitat for the wild Yak. Unlike the barren Eurasian Steppe Belt that cuts through northern central Asia, these regions are blanketed in luscious grass; perfect for the modern day Yak to graze upon.

Moreover, while it is true to suggest that Yak are widely seen as wild animals, many are domesticated and used as a form of cattle. This is largely unsurprising based on the simple fact that most breeds of traditional cattle and livestock are physiologically ill suited to the challenging terrain of some of the world’s highest regions. As such, many domesticated Yaks can be found in countries where Yaks have been declared extinct. These countries include Nepal and Bhutan. While wild Yak are still officially declared as extinct in Nepal and Bhutan, domesticated Yak can be found in the highest regions of these countries and provide invaluable support to countless Nepalese and Bhutanese livelihoods.

It is also worth noting that from a historical perspective, it would be inaccurate to assume that Yaks have always resided in this very specific part of southern central Asia for time immemorial. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. Recent fossil discoveries in the eastern most regions of what is now considered mainland Russia, have shed light on the possibility that Yaks have not only existed across a much larger geographical area, but that they might have been the ancestors to modern day American Bison. The thought process behind this theory is that at one time a glacial corridor joined what is now Alaska to eastern Russia, thus providing a significant route for these historic Yaks to migrate to the Americas.

Yaks have a long history of populating the most mountainous areas of southern central Asia. From the Himalayas to the Tibetan Plateau and from Mongolia to Russia, the unique Yak have managed to survive the most difficult of terrains for centuries. Not only have they managed to exist in these remote areas, but they have also managed to survive and indeed adapt to encroaching human civilisation. On this basis, it is clear that the Yak will continue to exist and perhaps thrive in south central Asia as it has done for many centuries.

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