Yak Grower Finds New Markets

Yak Grower Finds New Markets 31-3-8 John Hooper calls himself the Yak-Man. He has observed yaks in their native Tibet and he also has one of the largest herds in the eastern half of North America with between 55 and 60 yaks. Hooper, a Christmas tree farmer, started his herd almost a decade ago when he went looking for "exotic" livestock to graze his 85 acres near Cold Spring, Minn. He decided on yaks by elimination. Bison and elk require expensive fencing, and he doesn't like the way deer and elk pace in a pen. "I like to interact with animals," Hooper says. Hooper did some research and found some yaks in North Dakota, buying his first bull and five cows in 1997. Hooper admits his first yaks "were a little scary" because they had been raised on a ranch with little human contact. Though smaller than beef cows - cows are 600 to 700 lbs. and bulls 1,200 to 1,500 lbs. - they know how to use their horns. Their defense against predators is to make bluff charges - they charge full speed and stop and turn at the last minute. The yaks tamed down, however, with regular interaction and physical contact. "In a pasture situation, I feel quite at ease with them," he says. "I even walk through my herd of 20 bulls." He even rides two of the yaks and also milks his herd to make butter and cheese. Hooper sells yaks for breeding, meat, hair, and skulls. He also breeds his yaks with Angus and Pinzgauer beef cows. The resulting crossbreeds grow bigger faster and retain yak meat qualities - lean and tastes like beef with a yak flavor thrown in. He pays a USDA plant to butcher and package the meat, and he sells it frozen at four farmers markets and to a couple of restaurants. Prices start at $4.50 per pound for ground meat. "Health conscious people buy it," he says, adding they like to know the meat they eat was raised on pasture instead of a feedlot. Hooper uses rotational grazing on 100 acres of pasture and is impressed with the yaks' hardiness. When he traveled to China as a consultant for Land O'Lakes to help Tibetans improve yak production, he found out how tough yaks are. They are excellent foragers; he puts his yaks on pasture in the spring early, saving about a month's worth of hay. He feeds the cheapest hay he can find through the winter and the yaks do just fine. He supplements with a little oats, mostly to keep them tame, and to look over the herd on a daily basis. Fencing for yaks is the same as for beef cows. If they get out because a gate is left open, he and his Border collie and Welsh Corgi can easily round them up. Interest in yaks is growing slowly; there are about 3,000 to 4,000 in North America. That's helped moderate costs. Hooper charges the same for bred yak cows as he paid for them nine years ago - starting at $2,000. He sells to hobby farmers, who just want something interesting to graze on their pasture, and to people who want to raise yaks for a living. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Hooper (Yak-Man), 15813 Christmas Tree Road, Cold Spring, Minn. 564321 (ph 320 685-4489;'yak-man@yak-man.com; yak-man.com).

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