Supporters: Mary McCarty, Gregg Rentfrow, Les Anderson, Jeff Lehmkuhler, Patricia Harrelson(MSU), Phil Prater(MSU), Ken Andries(MSU), Greg Dike (Zhi-ba Shing-ga Yaks), Susan Mandatta (Silvercuff Farms), Kat Tylee (Little Hawk Yarns)

The second yak conference was held October 28, 2023 at Morehead State University.  A total of 48 tickets were claimed from the online registration site which had a total of 140 page views.  The conference was attended by some 40 individuals being at the conference with 12 registered participants canceling within 48 hours of the program.   Exact attendance was difficult to determine as many didn’t sign-in and some only watched the bull breeding soundness exam.  Participants came from across the United States with people traveling from Oregon, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, and Kentucky.  The conference spanned 11 hours providing information on general yak husbandry as well as updates from the Southern SARE supported producer and on-farm research grant work.  A post-program evaluation was provided and 12 individuals completed the questionnaire.  From the completed forms, 58% indicated they did not own yaks.  These individuals were looking to buy yaks and wanted to learn more about them first.  Knowledge gained was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale for knowledge level BEFORE and AFTER the program sessions.  All sessions saw knowledge increases between 1.3 and 2.8 units.  The greatest knowledge gain was for the STOCKET record app which few had seen before followed by the meat cutting demonstration and Match A Yak program.  When asked about the usefulness of the information presented using a 5-point Likert scale, the mean was 4.9 with 90% indicating the information was extremely useful.  When asked why participants owned or were interested in owning yaks, fiber and meat production were the greatest reason indicating followed by selling of breeding animals and pleasure with pack animals being only indicated by 2 individuals.  Participants were asked to rank sources they would like to see information be made available for yaks.  Facebook group had the lowest frequency of being selected as a source, but when ranked, this source was among the highest ranked.  Webpages were the greatest frequency and highest ranked followed by Yak Association newsletter/webpage and YouTube.  Podcasts and Extension websites were the next sources preferred.  This information should be used by the Yak associations to improve communications with their members and that individuals are willing to use multiple platforms to get information.  For those owning yaks, when asked what they intended to change after the conference, several indicating using the STOCKET app for record keeping, consider implementing artificial insemination, improve record keeping, improve fiber practices and marketing, use the Match A Yak program for mating decisions, develop a budget, improve forage program, and use the weigh tape to estimate body weights.  Overall, the program was a success with many increasing the core knowledge for managing yaks.