Success StoryForage Species Study for Yaks



Forage Species Study for Yaks

Author: Mary McCarty

Planning Unit: Menifee County CES

Major Program: Forages

Plan of Work: Animal Science

Outcome: Intermediate Outcome

2017 Fall Ag Field Day was held at a Beef Farm and alternative forages and weed control was the concentration of presentations at the event. After hearing the alternate forage presentation by Dr. Jimmy Henning yak (Bos grunniens) producer requested a farm visit to check out the forages that his yak was consuming and what they were passing up. At the farm visit a few weeks later it was found that the yak would not consume vegetative high quality tall fescue, even in fall when most palatable. Initial farm visits could find no apparent reason for this refusal of forage. At the suggestion of the UK County Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources Mary McCarty, a replicated forage species study was designed and planted during spring 2018. 

Nine forage varieties including toxic endophyte, friendly endophyte and endophyte free tall fescue as well as other forages known to be grazed on this farm, such as Kentucky bluegrass and orchard grass was planted and replicated 4 times. Endophyte and Ergovaline levels were of each pasture were taken in the summer of 2018. All fields except field 4 were 90% or higher. 

 4 Yaks averaging 325lbs were turned into the garden on July 26, 2018. Yak were in the garden for 4 days. The initial grazing showed that Payday and Lin were there preferred varieties. On September 4 the plots that had been grazed hard as well as the varieties that were graded below 70% were reseeded for the 2019 garden. 2019 plans for the garden has adding warm season grasses to the trial. 






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