"Pig" in the Dirt

video by Jennalee

Here's our yak-cow mix, "Pig", trying to either scratch her back or roll over, but she's just a little too big to do so. You can see one of the others looking on as if to offer some encouragement.

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Naming the Farm

It seems naming the yaks is much easier than naming the farm. We've been trying to agree on a name for almost 7 years. Of course once we decide on the name we have to make sure it isn't already being used by someone else. I'm about ready to set up a "name that farm" contest, or poll who ever we can for their opinion. We've gone through names using cedars, creek, quartz, crystal, all things that are abundant on our farm...... just nothing seems to fit. We're open to suggestions.Pin It Now!

Teaching Challenge

video by Jennalee

A short video of Boy teaching Challenge to head butt. The lesson had been going on for a while before the video was started. Apparently, the student wore the teacher out.

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Naming the Yaks

It's probably not the best idea to name your farm animals. Some how, once named, you tend to become more attached to them. The idea of farming is to increase the herd and sell some of the animals. Not as easy when you've become attached to them. We probably only have a couple of yaks that aren't named. Some of our yaks were already named when we bought them. We originally started our herd with four yaks, an adult bull named Fred, two female yaks, and a 5 month old bull, the baby of one of the females. OK, Fred would not be a top name choice, but he came to us already named, and it seemed to suit him. After awhile we settled on names for the other three. The mother and baby were named Destiny and Dakota, and the other female was named Molly. Molly was pretty feisty when we first got her. She was a young heifer but has calmed down quite a lot since becoming a mother. We named one of her babies Button. Very sweet and gentle. Usually the offspring has a temperament similar to her mother, but not in Button's case. We'll have to post a picture of Button and her story. Seems like every yak has a story behind his/her name. Then there's the newest baby that Ken wants to call "Challenge". The name says it all.Pin It Now!

Rosey

Here's our little mischief maker, Rosey. We're not sure if Rosey realizes that she is different from the other animals in the field. She does have a pony playmate, Thunder, but Rosey seems to enjoy "playing" with the yaks. Kind of like the child that wants to get a rise out of their sibling, Rosey will watch for the opportunity to get the yaks stirred up. The other day she decided to start running around the field, which caused the yaks to start running and kicking their heels up. Then Rosey calmly steps back and watches the show. Thunder, on the other hand, seems to watch Rosey in disbelief, as if he knows not to mess with an animal larger than himself with rather ominous horns.Pin It Now!

The Gathering Place

Recently we had to separate our herd. We have two bulls that have been vying for the attention of the female yaks, well, more like they have been competing for the right to receive the attention of the females. They will quite forcefully butt heads with any other rival bulls to show off their stuff. They are built for this and it is quite natural, but sometimes a horn can cause some injury, usually minor and very seldom. So, rather than letting them spend all their time butting heads, each bull was given a field of his own, with the company of some of the females. Up until this point they have all lived together in relative harmony. This was because our oldest bull didn't really have a real challenger until this year. Now the yaks are in two fields, separated by a fence. It seems that fence is a "gathering place". Several times during the day they will stop their grazing in the middle of their fields and come to the fence to be together. It's kind of sad and kind of sweet. You can hear them communicating with each other through the fence. Yaks make this sort of grunting noise, nothing like the incessant mooing that a cow can do. (although some farmers may think this is music to their ears, I'm not so sure the non farming neighbors would agree) We had a cow in with the yaks for awhile. That's another story, or several stories..... but that cow could make some noise. The yak grunting is much more pleasant. Anyway, the yaks remind me of neighbors meeting at their property lines for an afternoon visit, maybe to catch up on the neighborhood news.Pin It Now!

Subscribe

Glad you found our blog. We're trying to be more active with this. I hope to post some interesting stories about our life with the yaks (maybe about our other animals, too, like our pony who thinks she's a yak). Please take a moment to subscribe. We hope you will enjoy our posts. Any comments are welcomed.Pin It Now!

Here's the baby from the 2/05 post, now almost 4 years old and not quite full grown. We lovingly call him "Boy". He has a wonderful disposition. He LOVES to have his head scratched, and his shoulders, and really likes to have the area around his eyes rubbed. He will stand there and almost go to sleep while he is being rubbed. You can hear his breathing change and according to one of our daughters, he purrs. Too Funny. He's such a big guy and so gentle.Pin It Now!

2007 Addition

It's been a long time since anything new has been posted. We're going to have to post an updated picture of the baby boy, our last post in 2005. But here's a photo of our newest addition, born in August of 2007.

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