Posted on 01/17/2005 3:18:23 PM PST by Shermy
CHEYENNE -- With fierce-looking horns and shaggy black hair, the yaks that live on Willis Larson's ranch look like a cross between domesticated cattle and sasquatch walking on all fours.
But despite the intimidating impression that they first offer, the scraggly coated bovines are actually tamer than cattle and train easily for use as pack animals, Larson says.
Yaks also produce a low-fat, flavorful meat that has begun to attract health-conscious people looking for an alternative to beef.
When he talks about his yaks, Larson's voice softens and he speaks about the complexity of each animal's personality.
"They're clowns, and sometimes they'll tease me," he says, smiling. "They'll kind of get in a circle and run around me. When they all run together, they look like one big flying carpet."
Yaks fling their tails up when they run, and their heavy hair flips around them as they buck like deer.
Raising the animals has been easier than Larson and his wife, Robbie, expected.
Yaks are native to Tibet, Mongolia and China, and didn't arrive in the United States until the 1970s, when they were imported for zoos. There are still only about 2,000 yaks in North America, and the few breeders form a tight-knit group and communicate often about their herds, Larson says.
Those who breed the animals sing their praises for the fine hair they produce, their disease resistance, their ability to cope with extreme cold weather and, most of all, for the taste of their meat.
"There's no comparison to beef -- yak is way better," said Jerry McRoberts, owner of McRoberts Game Farm in Gurley, Neb. "It's juicier and has a totally different flavor."
He is considered one of the nation's experts on yaks and owns almost half of the yaks in North America.
"True-bred yak are probably more docile than cattle; they've been domesticated just as long," McRoberts adds.
Families in Tibet and Nepal treat yaks like members of their families, according to an informational video on the animals. Inside the traditional Tibetan family home, yaks live on the first floor, and the families sleep upstairs where the animals' heat helps provide warmth.
Tibetans use yak hair to make ropes and clothing and use the milk to make butter and traditional tea. The animals' dung is burned in cooking fires and is used as mortar in home building.
Larson marvels at his yaks' ability to deliver calves and defend their young. When a pregnant yak nears her delivery date, she begins to stretch in a manner that Larson calls "yak Lamaze."
"She'll start stretching about a week before she's due and she'll separate herself from the herd," Larson said. "When the calf comes, it happens in just a few seconds."
When he enters the pasture with his herd of 64 animals to feed, the yaks crowd tightly together near the feeders, making soft grunting sounds. Larson walks confidently among them, partly to re-establish his dominance.
"Yaks are herd animals, and they've got a pecking order," he says. "You've got to make sure that you stay at the top."
The large bull keeps a wary eye on the humans in the area, but the females munch on hay without seeming to notice Larson. As he loads hay into the feeder, the animals passively chew and continue to communicate with soft grunts and snorts.
Larson says he decided to raise yaks after researching different exotic animals and talking to breeders at the National Western Stock Show several years ago in Denver.
"We did a lot of research before we decided to go with yaks," Robbie Larson says.
Compared to cattle, yaks are remarkably easy to raise and need much less food and preventative medical care, Willis says.
McRoberts agreed.
"They have incredible metabolic requirements since there's not much to eat for much of the year in the Himalayas," McRoberts said. He said a 600-pound yak cow only eats about one-fourth of what a 1,200-pound Angus cow consumes.
The Larsons grew so fond of a male calf whose mother rejected him after his birth last year that they've raised him in their backyard. Now named Andy, the 8-month-old animal, greets Robbie every afternoon when she comes home from work.
"He walks up on the deck and comes right up to the sliding glass door and looks for me," she says, laughing. "When I put my hand out, he sucks on my fingers."
Robbie says her husband is well suited to raising yaks.
"He's a real animal person -- everything's spoiled rotten, but he kind of has a different sense with them, a good communication," she said.
McRoberts says Willis is quickly becoming a knowledgeable member of the yak ranching community.
"He's learning, and I think he's very competent," he said.
Cool!! More red meat
I do have some red lobster and beef stock in the freezer.
'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
PETA will not be amused that yet another species is being subjugated by evil human oppressors. I, however, look forward to tasting my first yak at a good steak-and-game house.
Does this mean they taste funny?
I'm always up for trying a new kind of meat...
Yak. It's what's for dinner.
"a low-fat, flavorful meat that has begun to attract health-conscious people looking for an alternative to beef"
Beefalo. Ostrich. You name it, all failed to catch on.
Wyoming Yak ping lol
I was in Lhasa once and for one meal I had yak meat, yak tongue, yak stomach, yak lung, and yak butter tea.
I could live without a lot of that stuff, but if I was offered a yak steak I'd have no hesitation about eating it.
How does it compare to Buffalo?
From the government's point of view, it is important to know if the wolves like young yak meat and whether the adult yaks are mean to wolves (and other reintroduced predators) or not.
Two cannibals eating a clown. One looks at the other and sez,
"Does this taste funny to you?"
(Sorry - couldn't help it!)
Maybe the RIGHTALK ranch in Wyoming needs a few Yaks!
Hey...isn't that what Jeffrey Dahmer said?
Buffalo is good eatin'. I don't have anything against Yak, I'm an equal opportunity carnivore.
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