FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Are yaks in the bovine family? Are they ruminants?

Yes, yaks are horned Bovines. If you’ve raised cattle, you already know most of what you need.

Do both male and female yaks have horns?

Yes, all yaks have horns.

How big do yaks get?

Size: Adult female yaks commonly weigh 500 to 650 pounds. Adult bulls commonly weigh more than 1200 pounds. Some North American bulls have exceeded 1800 pounds. Females reach full size at around three years of age, bulls normally reach full skeletal growth at about five years of age.

Yaks fed a grain-heavy diet at a young age will grow accordingly. Bulls that are 1800 pounds frequently die early. Cows that are 900 pounds frequently have fertility problems.

What is the lifespan of a yak?

Longevity: Absent disease or predation, a healthy female will frequently live to be twenty-five years old. During her lifetime she might have up to 20 calves. Bulls don’t live as long; a healthy bull may be productive until he’s sixteen. In a multi-sire breeding group, the dominant male is usually less than 10 years old.

How long is the gestation period in yaks? Are they good mothers?

Calving: Gestation is normally 8.5 to 9 months. Twins are rare. A healthy yak will usually have one calf each year.  Calves are small, 30 pounds is common, 50 pounds is very unusual. Unless the calf presents poorly, human intervention is unexpected. For the safety of the calf, experienced moms normally keep their calf away from the herd for a few days. Sometimes ranchers will keep inexperienced moms nearby, separated, and under their eye. A first-time-mom might walk away from a calf and come back too late. Most dams will have their first calf on about their third birthday. Males and females are frequently fertile at about 18 months, an 18-month-old female might be too small to safely deliver a baby 8.5 months later. Bulls are normally dependable breeders at about 36 months.

What should I feed yaks, and how much do they eat?

Feed: Yaks are grazers, not browsers; they eat grass. In moderate temperatures a yak will eat about 3% of its body weight every day. If it’s thirty below zero, a yak will eat more. A yak will continue to eat stubble in the winter if it’s available. Stubble normally has less protein, so you may need to make allowance for this. Grass or alfalfa is normally made available all winter.  In cold climates some ranchers will supplement with DDG cake.

Do yaks need any supplements?

Mineral: Keep a salt block available at all times. Yaks need mineral, this is usually in the form of a supplement. Loose mineral comes in 50-pound bags, yaks will eat it better if you mix it 50-50 with wheat bran or wheat-germ. Your soil may be deficient in copper; it might have too little or too much selenium. If it does, the grass grown on that soil will too. Check with your feed store, or your vet, and get the loose mineral appropriate for your area.

What kind of fencing do I need?

Fencing: If the grass is best on your side of the fence, a standard four (barbed) wire fence is normally adequate for yaks. If you have highway frontage you will probably want something a bit stouter. Woven-wire pasture fence with a strand of barbed wire on top seems to be adequate. Yaks respect electric fences.

What kind of climate are yaks most suited to? Do they need shelter?

Temperature: Yaks are native to Tibet and are most suited to a colder climate, where there is a winter, but they can tolerate hot summers as long as they have some shade and easy access to water. Yaks don’t sweat, so they can’t rely on evaporative cooling. They will want shade for protection from the sun during summer. Some ranchers will use a sprinkler system to artificially create evaporative cooling. 

If yaks are well fed and healthy, cold temperatures don’t really seem to bother them. In a blizzard they don’t start walking like cattle do, they normally lay down and just sleep through it all. Shelter is not needed unless a yak is sick or if a calf is weak in the first weeks of life.

Direct sunshine in hot weather is a very real danger to newborn calves.

What kind of a temperament do yaks have? Are they friendly?

Friendliness and Calmness: Yaks are domesticated, so they are normally reasonably calm. On average, they are not as calm as Angus, they were domesticated later. Calmness seems to be an inherited trait, friendliness is learned. If you wean your yaks in a corral where you spend relaxing time with them, they will become friendly. Sit with them with food close-by. Calm and friendly yaks make good pasture pets.

Do I need to vaccinate my yaks? What diseases are yaks susceptible to?

Vaccinations and Disease: Yaks are susceptible to the same diseases as cattle. Most ranchers vaccinate their yaks according to the regimen used by local cattle breeders; most administer the vaccinations themselves. Some states require female yaks to be vaccinated against Bangs disease (Brucellosis); this vaccine must be administered by a veterinarian before the yak reaches reproductive age. Even if your state doesn’t require a Bangs vaccination, it can be required for your yak to cross into another state.

In 2021, there is no vaccine for Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD). This viral disease is rarely severe in cattle, but can be deadly for yaks. Yaks can also fall very ill from Bluetongue, a closely related disease.  Prevention of these diseases requires rigorous fly control. You can read more about EHD on the website. We anticipate an experimental vaccine for some EHD serotypes to be available in 2022.

What about veterinary care?

Veterinary Care: Veterinary care for a yak is essentially the same as veterinary care for cattle. Some vets don’t know this, so get a vet lined up as soon as you have yaks. Don’t wait for an emergency, and then start shopping for a vet. Your vet will likely expect or demand an adequate restraint system. This normally means that you will need a squeeze chute and a method of easily getting your yak into it. Don’t get a chute with an automatic head-catch, an automatic head-catch doesn’t work well on animals with horns.

Do yaks produce good fiber? How do you collect fiber from yaks?

Fiber: Yaks have one of the world’s finest natural fibers. The fiber is an under-coat that grows for winter warmth. It is harvested in the spring by combing through the outer coat of guard hair, not by shearing. The fiber’s value depends on the yak and your care during collection. Well-collected fiber regularly sells for $4/ounce straight off of the animal. Depending on the yak and your diligence in harvest, a yak can offer anywhere from eight ounces to four pounds of fiber per year.

Can you raise yaks for meat? Is the meat similar to cattle or bison?

Meat: Yaks eat less than cattle and are therefore slow-growers. Steers are normally harvested at about age three, when they weigh about 900 pounds. Normally, yak meat is priced according to local bison meat prices. You must build your own market, don’t expect to take your steers to the local sale barn.  The meat is most similar to bison – very lean and high in omega-3s.

Are yaks a dairy animal?

Dairy: in Asia yaks provide butter, milk, and soft cheeses. Yak milk is extremely high in fat. Hard cheeses made from yak milk are normally too strong for Western tastes. In North America, soft cheeses have been produced commercially from yaks hybridized with small-breed dairy cattle.

Can you halter-train a yak? Or train them to pack?

Halter Training, Trekking, and Drafting: Yaks are halter trained using the same techniques used for other livestock. They usually require a bit more patience. Some yak owners use their halter-trained yaks to carry the load on multi-day hikes. On the Tibetan plateau, yaks are loaded and the herd is moved en-masse to the next day’s encampment. Yaks can be trained as draft animals.