We believe that one of the best ways to provide a quality product is by caring for our animals.
Some of the practices we use for our animals are:
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Our yak are raised naturally on our own homegrown forage without chemicals applied to the plant.
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Our calves are naturally weaned and raised without added hormones.
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Most of our yak never receive any antibiotics throughout their lives, but antibiotics are used when there is a medical benefit for an animal. Any withdrawal periods are exceeded well beyond required intervals.
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To reduce animal stress, we have invested in a remote delivery device, so that often animals can be treated in the pasture.
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When it is necessary to handle our yak, our facilities provide access to water and shelter in the holding pens.
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Because yak are a social animal, our handling facilities are designed to handle the animals in small groups without over-crowding.
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Environmental Stewardship
We are continually attempting to incorporate operational practices that improve our own environmental stewardship. Below are some of our stewardship practices.
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Forage used for winter livestock feed is bulky and transporting the feed can greatly contribute to the carbon footprint of livestock production. Therefore, our yak are raised on homegrown forage, with winter feed produced less than 3 km from the wintering site for the livestock.
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All our feed is grown without any pesticides applied to the plant.
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To reduce soil tillage, most of our yak feed is produced using perennial forage plants. However, for nutritional balance and diversity annual forage is also grown for feed.
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Incorporating yak and annual feed production into our crop rotation provides a complementary benefit to our cropping operation, specifically:
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Using multi species cover crops as part of our annual forage production helps build biological diversity in our soil.
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The broader crop rotation with variable seeding and harvest periods naturally improves the crop’s competitiveness against pests and reduces dependence on synthetic inputs.
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Winter feeding of our yak on crop land encourages nutrient recycling and helps build organic matter in the soil.
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