January 06, 2020
Grain Feeding Yaks
Grain Feeding Yaks 1/5/20
Yaks, like all bovine are designed to eat forage; grasses, alfalfa, weeds, anything green that is not toxic to them. Grains are far too rich in energy (calorie) content. It makes them too hot (fidgety, spooky, aggressive,and energetic), rather than being naturally calm.
Grains generate very high counts of e.coli and salmonella in the gut, eventually leading to ulcers and leaky gut syndrome, allowing this high bacteria count to get into the blood stream.
Grains make the animal artificially large and fat, which is not healthy for yaks. They were created to be lean and smaller in stature, which makes them far more feed efficient. Grains also shorten their life span, sometimes considerably. Heavy grain feeding can cut their life span in half.
Grains also change the fat type in their bodies to unhealthy fats for human consumption, rather than the naturally healthy fats to eat.
There is nothing positive about feeding grains to yaks, and can even be considered dishonest for buyers judging yaks by their size at a young age; as young yaks on grain look bigger and fatter and hairier than their grassfed natural counterparts. This represents a bigger "healthier" appearing animal than their genetics would dictate naturally, but in reality is deceiving the buyer in a false representation of the genetics of the animal.
Hopefully that helps,
Bob, DELYAKS
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