Maybe it was the free yak burgers – better than elk, not quite as good as bison.
Whatever the reason, the Tibetan bovine drew a large, inquisitive crowd at the National Western Complex stockyards last week.
“They’re wonderful animals,” said Michelle Steiner, owner of High Prairie Yaks in Elbert County, as a yak suckled her finger. “They have the personality of your favorite dog.”
Peculiar or not, yaks are rising on the Western horizon, though it’s a fledgling enterprise
While there are fewer than 2,000 head of yak in North America, the population has tripled in the past five years, according to the International Yak Association. By comparison, bison number more than 250,000 and cattle number more than 80 million, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Eleven of the 19 yak ranches included in the association are in Colorado, and the group’s annual convention is held in Denver during the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo each year.
“It looks like they mated a steer and a poodle,” said Nebraska rancher Willard Polk, a beef eater for nearly all of his 61 years, as he looked over the penned-up herds of eight yak breeders. “I’d still eat that before I’d eat a buffalo.”
Yak has a lot of upside, said Jennifer Keeling Bond, a Colorado State University assistant professor of agriculture who has researched emerging markets.
“There are some trends and some opportunities to take advantage of,” she said. “There are shifting preferences and emerging information about diet and health from meat products, and yak meat is very low in fat and high in fiber and protein.”
Yaks are naturally tolerant of diseases, cold and high altitudes. A yak produces about the same high-grade meat as a cow but grazes on one-fourth of the acreage, according to its trade group.
“We’ve had a lot of ranchers talking to us about breeding yak with their cattle to get the larger animal with the attributes yak have,” Steiner said.
Yak milk, cheese and butter are staples of the Tibetan diet. Yak down is comparable to cashmere – selling for $4 an ounce – and their hides are stronger than leather, according to yak producers.
And because of their intelligent, docile nature, the bovine is preferred by some as “pasture pets,” Steiner said. Yaks require no special permits, fees or brands as an exotic animal, and they can entitle “ranchers” to tax breaks.
“It’s a high-producing animal,” said John Hooper of Cold Spring, Minn., vice president of the International Yak Association.
He keeps 70 head on 86 acres, and gets $2,000 for a heifer capable of reproducing every eight and half months. Hooper sells calves, he sells ground yak for $4.50 a pound, he sells wool and felt, and he even sells the composted yak manure.
“There’s a great market out there for yak, but we’re going to have to work at it,” said Hooper, wearing a beret made of yak felt. “Once people look at the advantages of yak over other ranch products, they see there’s no comparison.”
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
