Himalayan White Yak
The Snow White Yak is the rarest color phase of Yak in the world. In China and Tibet they figure their numbers to be around 3% of the population, with the vast majority of those residing in Tianzhu Tibet, there almost all of their yaks are white! In Tibetan culture the White Yak is regarded as a divine animal in ancient and present time, and in the past it was a spiritual sacrifice animal. Before slaying a White Yak, people should read lection for 300 times.
In North America, I have only found one other family that breeds white yaks in Colorado. Other than them if there is anyone else out there with solid White Yaks please contact me, I would love to hear from you. So as far as we know Silvertine Ranch has one of the only breeding herd of solid white yaks in North America, and the ONLY one in Canada. Our White Line was a accidental result of a Charolais Cow being bred by a Native Tibetan Bull back in the early 1990's. Our entire herd has grown from this one snow white fertile Hybrid animal to be the basis of our herd today. This Hybrid lived in a commercial yak herd for about 15 years. This commercial Yak herd consisted of Royals, Trims, and Native Tibetan Bulls. Over the 15 years each time she was bred (by chance) to a Native Tibetan, she threw a solid white calf, be it male or female, and each one of her female offspring that were bred to a Native Tibetan (by chance), those offspring were Solid White. It seemed that this line carried on the double white gene, and passed it on to its offspring only when bred to a Tibetan Bull. The Male offspring were never kept for breeding, as the commercial breeder had a meat business, and all males were slaughtered, except one "Boreas." When this breeder was retiring and shipping all his animals we selected all five female the solid white offspring (4 Females and 1 Male) out of his herd and these animals have become the nucleus of our White herd. Even though the bloodlines all started form one hybrid, the youngest offspring is 6th generation Yak, and the White Cows and Bulls we have are 100% fertile. All our females carry the strong double gene to breed solid white when bred to white or a native Tibetan. We have been diligent at only breeding the whites that produce consistent high quality offspring with no genetic flaws, and then we out-cross to our Tibetan Bulls to get the genetic kick they need to avoid inbreeding and eliminating any undesirable traits. Our White Himalayan Yaks, as you can see from the photos, are 99% Yak, and all have long flowing skirts, chaps, and woolly coats to handle the cold Canadian winters and excellent conformation we breed for here at Silvertine Ranch. |
For more information on our White Yaks
check out our Yak Website at:
www.yaks.ca
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