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Sherpa was our first love when it came to yaks. We purchased him in 2001 from Cynthia Huber at Duckett Creek Ranch in Hillside CO. His best girlfriend Diamond G101 joined him here with 3 other female yaks. Cynthia didn't want to break up the love affair with Sherpa and Diamond and they truly were a match made in heaven, they spent their entire lives here together and are now buried side by side.
Sherpa was so tame, gentle, polite... so kind to people, his cows and his calves. He would seek us out for brushing and scratches, he would let Mike trim his hooves as he laid in the corral. He was so patient as we tried to make him fit through a headgate for vaccinations or whatever. He just loved Mike and I and showed it every day. We figured if this is what yaks are all about...count us in! It has been 23 years in yaks, and we have never looked back!
Sherpa died in 2012 at the age of 14 from EHD, that was the first year that awful disease reared its head in the Yak community. In CO. alone 33 yaks were lost from IYAK members. There is no vaccination and no cure, all you can go is treat the symptoms. Us and the vet did all we could do for Sherpa, but it wasn't enough. A year later I (Lynda) was the one that investigated the possibility of feeding granulated garlic to yaks to keep those nasty midge flies away! After all I had fed it to my horses my whole life and it worked for them. We have fed it every summer for the past 11 years and only had 1 more case of EHD and that cow survived.
Even 12 years after Sherpa's death we still get calls from people wanting the 'Sherpa lines'. We are lucky to have his last daughter, granddaughters and even great granddaughters. Give us a call...we will hook you up with that fabulous line too!