Haters Gonna Hate, Farmers Gonna Farm

I want to be a farmer, but I also want to have sick talons

Oooh girls, yesterday was a day! I spent so much time getting things ready for the yaks arrival. I had to pen the sheep, which was a much easier task in my mind than it turned out to be. I was able to get them into the lambing area relatively easily, but getting them into their respective pens was much more of a task. I first tried bribing them with oats, then cucumber. Nothing worked. Then I put a rope on them, which made them kick up (I mean that literally) a fuss. I essentially had to wrestle each of them into a pen, close the door with myself inside and hope they remembered all the oats I have given them and didn't squish me. They didn't squish me! Walske of course was the most difficult to get into a pen he was very grumpy about it, and he's got much larger horns than the girls. But I managed! I should have penned them ages ago, now they have no but choice to accept my pets. I am hopeful that by the time they lamb we shall be the best of friends.
I then had to attach a gate to the main feeding area for the yaks, so I could keep a close eye on them while they got used to it. I like to consider myself a fairly proficient handyman however my gate attachment looks like it was done by a two year old.
I had to make a variety of makeshift chutes for both the yaks and sheep. Which was basically just a bunch of old plywood stood up in areas around the gates. Normally when I carry plywood I have help, or at least it's not old mud/snow/poop covered plywood that's been in a barn for ages. Not this day. I continue to surprise myself at what I am able to do on my own. Ya'll keep in mind I did all this with huge nails, so to all you haters (Mom, Jake, Durae, Christine) who said I couldn't keep the nails when I got back to the farm, DON'T BELIEVE ME JUST WATCH! I AM THE QUEEN OF THE FARM!

The start of my "chute"

Scout and Calpernia do not like to be apart

Then at last the yaks arrived. 

If you don't know much about yaks, that's cool I don't either. I'll give you some of the basics. Yaks are bovine, but different from standard cattle. They come from the mountains of Tibet where they live in large herds through intense mountainous weather. Some of the domestic yaks, like the two I have are even used to pack supplies to Mount Everest. If they are raised around people, and are familiar and trusting you can even train them to wear a saddle and ride them. Mine are not however trained like this, and not particularly friendly. 

We chose yaks for our farm because;

- they have a significantly lower feed and maintenance cost

- we need far less space for a herd of yak than cattle

- they mature slowly so it gives us time to figure out what we're doing

- yaks have approx 1/3 of the carbon footprint as cattle

- the fiber (hair) that you comb out of them during their spring shed makes incredible wool

- if raised for meat the meat is leaner than beef

- if raised for meat the entirety of the yak is used, the bones are used for a number of traditional carvings, the skull is valuable, the hide is used in a similar way to cow hide, even the yak tails are commodities

As I said yaks are herd animals, and these two young girls had just left their large herd for the first time to be transplanted into our farm. The man that sold them was worried they would try to break or jump our fence in order to search for their herd. He suggested I put my ram in the pasture with them so they were less likely to take off. THE SAME RAM I HAD SPENT ALL DAY GETTING IN THE PEN FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE YAKS. So I sent Walske out, things were tense my friends. First Walske charged, then they charged. For the rest of the day they decided it was best to just have long staring contests from opposite ends of the pasture. They are not much better today. I closed the gate in the main feeding area last night with Walske inside so as to ensure no middle of the night showdowns. Yes, closed the same gate I had attached for the yaks but turns out they'll just jump it so it's useless to keep them in, it works for little baby Walske though!

I see that my next few days are going to consist of a lot of pasture walking and being paranoid that my girls have left me. They're such gorgeous animals. They look super soft and I want to pet them with every piece of my being, alas, I don't want to make them further afraid, or be skewered by their horns.