Milking a yak is not as easy as it sounds...
or as easy as this lady makes it look, unless you have a very tame yak!
Female yaks have a much smaller udder than regular cattle, which can make it harder to get the milk out, depending on the size of your hands. Instead of using a full fist, a thumb, index and middle fingers are about all you can get around the smaller "equipment" in order to complete the milking process.
The only time we've stepped in to milk a yak is when a newborn has trouble latching on to its mother, which isn't very common. Yak calves are quite vigorous, stand up and generally start sucking sooner than our Angus/Galloway cross calves.
Yak milk is a deep yellow color and can even look slightly pink. The yak mamas don't produce a whole lot of milk, but then their little babies don't need much either. They eat small, frequent meals throughout the day.
A lesson to be learned for us humans.
Some yak owners milk their animals to make cheese, as it is available at select gourmet food stores. Yak cheese reportedly contains higher levels of heart healthy fats than cheese made from dairy cow milk.
See this article for details:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080317093858.htm
However, I can't see yak cheese being available on a large scale anytime soon. The North American yak herd numbers are low and it would take some time to build up to a level where this would be feasible.
On a lighter note, if you remember my posting on the children's book:
"Go Track A Yak", even Papa milked a yak.
And they all lived happily ever after.
Yak milk is a deep yellow color and can even look slightly pink. The yak mamas don't produce a whole lot of milk, but then their little babies don't need much either. They eat small, frequent meals throughout the day.
A lesson to be learned for us humans.
Some yak owners milk their animals to make cheese, as it is available at select gourmet food stores. Yak cheese reportedly contains higher levels of heart healthy fats than cheese made from dairy cow milk.
See this article for details:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080317093858.htm
However, I can't see yak cheese being available on a large scale anytime soon. The North American yak herd numbers are low and it would take some time to build up to a level where this would be feasible.
On a lighter note, if you remember my posting on the children's book:
"Go Track A Yak", even Papa milked a yak.
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