Yak Uses



statue of golden yaks in downtown Lhasa, Tibet.

The yak is truly "the treasure of the Plateau" as the inscription reads below the golden statue of yaks located in a busy intersection in downtown Lhasa. In the mountain tundra and ice desert of the Tibetan Plateau with altitudes soaring over 19,000 feet, yaks flourish where other domestic beasts die. Because of this, the people inhabiting this region use the yak for everything.

"The yak is inescapable in Lhasa. The acrid, slightly sour smell of yak butter permeates the streets and temples where pilgrims burn the whitish yellow fat at innumerable altars and carry smoking candles through the streets."

-World Tibet Network News: Tibet's yaks, treasure on roof of world (Reuter). Friday, October 4, 1996


Food Production

Milk:
Yak milk is golden in color and very rich in fat at 7-8%. It has a sweetish taste.
Milk production from yaks is seasonal.
Hybrid yaks tend to yield more milk.
Milk can be rendered into powder, butter, yogurt, cheese, and Kurut.
Kurut is made from curdled milk which is churned, boiled and then drained.
The cream from yak milk, called Kaimak, thick, sweet, and yellow with a flavor like almonds.
Yak cheese is a hard, Swiss style cheese that fetches high prices in Kathmandu.
Tea is made with yak milk and is a staple part of the diet of Tibetan yak herders. Milk is also added to mushrooms to make a milk-mushroom stew.
Butter is the principal product from yak milk. It is a staple food for herdsmen and locals. Tea can be made from butter.


milking a yak

Meat:
Yak meat is beef-like, but more delicate in flavor, contains no marbling because the yak is a cold climate animal, and the fat is located around the outside of the body.
In the United States yak meat is becoming more popular in restaurants.
The fat content of yak meat is low (3.8%, 1/16th the fat of beef).
The cholesterol level is under 50.
Yak meat is high in protein (22.95%), and has less calories than beef or chicken breast!
In Central Asia yak meat is dried, or deep frozen in natures own freezer, for storage and portability.

Blood:
Blood drained from a yak is drunk for medicinal purposes in Central Asia. It is also used to make sausage, and can be dried to make a high protein blood meal for animal feeds. Yak blood is 18.5% protein.

Hide, Hair, and Bone

Wool:
Yaks have a thick wooly layer under their long fur which they molt every spring. A single yak can produce 1 - 1½ lbs. of wool per year. This wool is comparable to Cashmere and is spun into yarn to make clothes, blankets, mats, and fabrics. " Wooly" yaks are a variation that have more wool and hair than other yaks.


Wooly yak

River molting

Hair:
The hair covering the bottom half of the yak, called the skirt, can be more than a foot long. It is used to make rope, sacks, blankets, clothing and tents.

Tail:
The tail of a yak is a luxuriant bush of long hair very much like a horse's tail, and not like the long, bony tails of ordinary cattle with only a tuft of hair at the end. Yak tails are used as religious offerings, ornaments, fly whisks, dusters, and in Hindu and Buddhist rituals.
Yaks hold their tails erect when galloping.


River showing off his tail

Hide:
The tough, thick hide of a yak is used to make a variety of leather products including boots, storage bags, belts, saddles, and straps.

Horns:
Yak horns are used for decoration, and when hollowed, they can be used as bugles.


 

Bone:
Tibetans use yak bone to make ornaments and objects such as combs and buttons. Yak bone is also rendered into bone meal and glue and is used in foods and medicine.

Bezoar:
Bezoar stones are an unusual yak product. They are produced in the gall bladder naturally, or by introducing a small, hollow plastic ball which is inserted into the gall bladder surgically by herdsmen. The ball stays in the gall bladder for two years to allow an accreted buildup then it is removed again by surgical means. Bezoar stones are sold as Chinese medicine.

 


Work

Riding:
Yaks are widely ridden like horses in Central Asia.

"To be in the saddle, on that broad, powerful back, with its upholstery of thick wool is like sitting in an armchair. The yaks are black or white, tawny or piebald; they have large heads and small deep-set eyes like the bison, with great curved horns, which, however, are sometimes lacking altogether. The withers are high and prominent, covered by a tuft of hair which develops into a small mane; short legs, which seem so ill-suited to the enormous bodies, carry them up the high rocky ledges and the steepest slopes with wonderful ease and surefootedness. They climb slowly, however, with lowered heads and muzzle almost the ground, painfully panting, with strange wheezings and grindings of the teeth, and spasms of asthmatic coughing; giving the impression of tremendous effort. The nostril is perforated to admit a rope tied with a slip-knot; by this means they are easily led."

Description of riding yaks over a pass impossible for horses, De Fillipi, Himalaya Karakorum and Eastern Turkestan.

 

Note: you will not see a picture of me riding River here!

Transport/Packing:
Known as "ships of the plateau" pack strings of yaks are used to transport loads of up to 220 lbs. across the Himalayan passes. For many centuries yaks were the only means by which trade between Nepal and Tibet was possible. Annual yak caravans still make their way up these mighty mountains to trade grains from the lowlands for salt from the high plateaus. Yaks are very nimble and sure-footed, able to traverse steep rock and snow covered slopes.

Yaks are excellent for use on the trail. They can pack up to 150 pounds at two years of age. They are extremely sure footed and easy on the trails and surrounding countryside. They can go places that horses usually cannot. Yampa Valley Yaks specializes in breeding and training "pak yaks".


 

 
Draught:
Yaks are harnessed and used to plow fields.

 

Energy Production

Dung:
Since trees are very scarce on the Tibetan Plateau, yak dung is the major source of fuel. Yak dung is collected and dried. It burns just like wood and is used for cooking and heat. However, it is unavoidable to breathe the smoke emitted by the burning dung which is harmful to the throat and lungs. Yak dung is used to build 'yurts' - native huts or houses.

[Yak] dung smells cleaner and sweeter than domestic cattle dung because it lives only on wild grasses."
-Yang Matai, head of Tibet's agriculture bureau.

Yaks do not defecate in the conventional way as a cow (cows just stand there), instead, yaks squat!


dried and stacked yak dung

River squatting to poop!
Did I mention that River's nickname is "Poopity Breath"!

 

Butter and fat:
The fat and butter from yaks are burned as a light source such as a candle or lamp.

 

Other Uses

Circus:
There is a "Yak Act" and it's found in the Mongolian State Circus and Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily Circus!

Zoo:
Yaks are located in many zoos throughout the world

 

Links / References

***The Yak, Second Edition***

Tame Yaks, Wild Yaks, A Yak Caravan in the Himalayas

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baily Circus

Mongolian State Circus

World Tibet Network News: Tibet's yaks, treasure on roof of world(Reuter)