Lighting is everything

The sunset the other night really lent itself well to some fantastic pictures of Snort. This has such a softer feel than the pictures taken in the afternoon. It has been too windy to get many good shots of the critters for the last couple of days; hopefully that'll change tomorrow.

Grazing off into the sunset

The sunset indicates that hey, I got a shot facing to the west! The actual mountain mountains are to the south west, so, still no mountains, but some reasonable bumpy bits in the background. This picture makes me happy; I love how Snort is glowing around the edges in the sun.

Interpretive Yak Dance

When I was creeping out to take photos of the yaks, the Littles got startled and gallumphed off. They stopped in this formation, which I decided was the beginning of the Yak Dance.

To blatantly re-post what I said on Facebook:
Step one: Get into an equilateral triangle.
Millie, eyes forward, please.
Maria, stop flipping your tail. Please also take a step closer to Millie for proper positioning.
Good job, Grunt.

The sky was beautiful.

Chickens are also threatening

Yes, this is Kate staring down a chicken half the size of her head, right after she charged and threw her horns at him. Since it is a Heavy Metal Chicken (I'm not sure if it was Ozzy or Sabbath), he just made a disparaging noise and shuffled away from the giant ball of pointy death. Chickens. Not so bright.

(The white fluffy chicken that Grunt was having an encounter with yesterday was Dio, and the last of the four is Zakk. Really, we have metal chickens. Ozzy emits a bizarre growling noise that I had no idea chickens could make.)

Chickens are apparently confusing

We've recently started letting the chickens run free range for part of the day. Today was the first time that the yaks and the chickens were near each other, and the results were not what I was expecting. The little bantams (who are, of course, very bold) came right up to poor Grunt here, who decided they were Scary, and ran away. This brought Kate over, who also decided that Chikkinz Iz Scary, but she decided to charge the chicken who was challenging her. (He skittered away from her.) I tried to explain to the wee fluffy chickens that it is all fun and games until they get trampled by an angry yak, but, well...explaining things to chickens doesn't usually go very well. The whole flock seems determined to dig around right outside of the paddock and are having a fine time doing so, while the herd is pretty unsure what the heck these little things are or what they are doing. They've been in sight of each other the entire time, but now the chickens can get CLOSER. Terrifying!

When is dirt not dirt?

Right after a small snowfall that melts. Then it is mud. Kate apparently missed the "this is mud, don't rub your face in it." memo this morning. Photo taken between rounds of low-key yak jousting.

The things they pick up from their friends...

We have rabbits that live on the farm. Clearly, they are bad influences on Grunt.

Peeeeenk!

Snort would like to wish my mother a very happy birthday and offers to give her big pink nose kisses the next time she comes down to visit.

Future's so bright, I've gotta wear shades

Luckily, Grunt has built in fuzzy shades to protect him from the somewhat blinding sun. We were looking at photos of when we first got the yaks back in September, and it is amazing how much they've grown and changed! Especially in the horns...his horns used to be little nubbins that didn't even reach the end of his ears, and look at 'em now. Ah, how fast they grow.

Blue tongue

Grunt goes "tbbpt" at me for posting this so late today.

Tiny Stampede!

Clearly, Millie doesn't take this as seriously as everyone else in the herd. It is just an excellent opportunity for frolics for her!

Keep your eyes on the ball...or bale, that is.

Since the husband occasionally gets a little enthusiastic with the hay distribution, Snort makes sure he can figure out where the hay will land before Kate does. Shortly after this photo was taken, there was a mini stampede. We're not sure why the whole lot of 'em ran off, unless the jogger who was passing by with his dog was actually a serial yak killer, and they could tell from his smell.

The Stampede Sequence will come tomorrow.

Yak Droppings

I mean, don't they look like they were picked up and just dropped at random? What? What did you think I meant? :)

The "Flat Yak" pose was a little disconcerting at first. Now we refer to them as "dead yaks" when they do that. Good thing Snort's tail was flipping around, or we'd have to go poke him with a stick.

Toe sock!

Though I didn't notice for many months, you can see the tiny sock on Maria's right hind foot. She also has a couple of white hairs on her head, though they are hard to see if you aren't looking closely for them. Ninja tiny-trim yak! Her horn is healing remarkably well, considering she took the end off of it the day that Kate was delivered to us. Let me tell you, it makes you feel quite bad having a previously perfectly healthy critter suddenly injure itself right when you're having the people you bought it from coming to visit. We had set up kind of a half-assed creep feeder, and we think she got spooked and plowed through it too quickly, getting her horn caught on one of the metal posts. Poor thing will never be a showgirl now!

You can almost hear the sigh

Snort usually lies down like standard yaks, but occasionally he does this little curl up bit where he seems to be trying to make himself as small as possible. It was a cold morning when I took this photo, so I couldn't blame him

Hi! OMG Hi!

When people ask "Why yaks?", invariably I mention their fantastic personalities. Outside of your standard pets (dogs, occasionally cats), I'm not used to an animal just lighting up when it sees you and coming over to say hi. Admittedly, part of that is the oft-mentioned treat-seeking, but it still is wonderful to have them scamper up for pets.

Other things that attract yaks? Loud, droning, continuous noises. Like, say, that of dragging the wheeled trash can down to the end of the driveway and back. For whatever reason, the little girls are fascinated by that. Millie, in particular, likes to frolic alongside the fence when we're taking the empty bin in in the evening.

Cookie goes where?

HERE! COOKIE GOES HERE! GIMME COOKIE!

We learned today that double teaming the yaks works best for feeding them. Snort is afraid of Kate, and tends to spaz out a bit if she is nearby when he is eating. (She thumps him a lot, so that is understandable.) That would be why he got me a couple of weeks ago; she looked over and he freaked out, thinking that there would be no more food because she'd chase him off. So, I took the job of "shovel Kate full of cookies at another location" whilst the husband fed the yaks out of the bucket and feeder. It went incredibly well, and everyone got the treats they wanted, aside from Millie, who is aloof to all that "treat" stuff. If it isn't calf manna, she isn't interested.

Dinnertime sky

Though I couldn't quite get them whilst facing West, at least you get a background a little different than the standard "This is the house of our neighbours to the East." one. It is a beautiful evening, and the happy grazers were right up behind the house to find the new green shoots that are barely peeking through the ground.

Whaaa?

It isn't fair to pick on chewing critters, but Snort so has a look of perplexity on his face that one can't help but point it out. I'm not sure why, but he tends to look silly, whereas Grunt gets to be cute, Kate looks regal, Millie is mischievous and Maria seems long-suffering.

My camera finds Millie challenging

For reasons that I can't quite comprehend, Millie is SO VERY BLACK that despite good lighting, my camera always has the flash pop up for her. So, apparently imperials are actually fluffy black holes, absorbing light. That shadow is actually a space-time anomaly!

Also, Millie is such a mischievous little imp. It must be the shape of her horns.

Since I mentioned it yetsterday...

Here is Kate, with her tail flipped up and frolicking. As you can see, the rest of the herd looks somewhat dumbfounded by this behaviour.

Oh, the wonderful thing about yakses...

Is yakses are wonderful things! Their tops are made out of fluff and horns, their bottoms are made out of springs. They're bouncy, flouncy, fluffy, fuzzy, fun fun fun fun fun! But the most wonderful thing about yakses is that I own this one!

It is a beautiful day out, and we're all feeling a little silly. Even Kate frolicked, which almost never happens. She's an old pregnant lady, you don't expect frivolity from her, so I'll take it when I can get it!

Tatanka!

Grunt's convincing portrayal as a very small bison.

When we went to the National Western Stock Show to meet and greet other yak owners/members of IYAK, there was a paddock with bison. They looked to be in their "teenage" stage of development; not yet big shaggy things. They were so tall and narrow that they reminded me of sunfish.

The Littles

Millie, Grunt and Maria grazing after the snow melted this morning. Observe the poofy tails; when they get their frolic on, yaks throw their tails over their backs and gallumph about. In contrast to the other view being from my kitchen, this one is from my master bathroom. Unfortunately, I'm never going to be in a position to take a photo of the yaks facing the west, so you'll just have to take my word for it that we live near the mountains.

"Negotiations"

Kate and Snort are not in agreement as to who should be in charge of the little herd, so have these little conversational interludes at random. This was the view out my kitchen window as I was preparing breakfast this morning. The yaks love the cold weather, and seem pretty pleased that snow happened. Kate spent about an hour standing stock still, looking to the West. I'm not really sure what she was waiting for, but she was resolved to not move until it happened.

The other adventure of the day was when I went out to tend the chickens and pay a little attention to the big furballs. I was greeted with such pitiful faces that I grabbed the cookie bucket and started handing them out to greedy yaks. Now, Kate has discovered that there is a little gap between a fence we have and the pole it is latched to, and usually reaches somewhat through said gap. Today, I was distracted for a moment, feeding Grunt and Maria, and looked back to find that Kate had decided to try for the cookie bucket, and had managed to get caught in the gap. To make matters worse, as she was trying to free herself, she got her horn caught in the wire mesh we have over the metal gate. I had a bad moment thinking that she was about to break her horn off. Horns have blood vessels deep inside of them, so if she had broken her horn, she could have bled to death. (Maria managed to bump the end off of her horn the day Kate was delivered and bled a little, but not too badly. It is growing back, but looks funny.) Well, just as I was trying to decide if I was going to open the gate (Which could have been bad for other reasons...free range yak on the wrong side of the fence sounds like no fun.), she managed to free herself. I gave her the rest of her cookies *over* the fence, and not through the gap.

Ah, farm life. Full of learning experiences.

Yak Yoga

Millie has excellent form when executing the complicated "I have an itchy neck, and no hands to scratch it." This is often brought on by frolicking in the food, which is a favoured yakky past time.

Non-Yak Bonus Post!

These are the latest additions to the farm. We already have a flock of laying hens, and these little ones hopefully are more girls to add to the egg count. The existing flock consists about half a dozen barred rock hens, 1 Rhode Island Red hen, 3 light Brahmas (2 roosters and a hen), 4 fluffy silkie roosters, 1 bottom of the pecking order golden rooster, 1 "mystery chicken" that is a bantam and 2 black star hens. We get anywhere from 0 to 9 eggs a day from our girls. The new bunch of 5 were sold as Ameruacanas, but after reading a 47 page thread about how breeders are horrible liars, I'm just going to call them Easter eggers, since they are supposed to lay colourful eggs, and I don't raise chickens for show purposes. A few already are showing the cheek tufts that they should develop. I'm hoping for cheek tufts and the beard, so I'll have bearded lady chickens. Yes, I'm strange.

As a side note, in reference to my previous post: I am bruised and sore. I don't recommend being picked up by a yak if you can avoid it. Ow.

Yaks have big horns

As you can see, Snort has a pretty good sized pair of horns on him. (In addition to the pink tongue.)

Today, I was reminded that respecting large animals is important. If you forget basic safety rules, you can get hurt. I was feeding Snort out of bucket whilst in the paddock with him, and he was being rude, so I took it away. He got mad and flung his head. In the process, he managed to catch under my coat and pick me up. (I'm not a small person; I don't get picked up a lot, so that was no fun.) There was a lot of yelling, and luckily I had a friend with me, to grab the big black stick of "bad yak". No, I didn't hit him with the stick, I just gesticulated and shouted and he ran off.

So, that was dumb of me. Never forget that yaks have big horns and are greedy with their food. Respect the yak!

It is windy here

As evidenced by Snort, looking rather wind-blown today. Royal yaks, such at Sir Snort, are primarily black, with white that splashes from the bottom up. Yaks also have very horsey tails, though it is somewhat difficult to see with the wind blowing it around.

Kate has an elegant profile

This is Kate, Grunt's mama. She is the (occasionally disputed) herd leader, and has some very interesting "conversations" with Snort about who should be in charge. Thus far, she remains in control.

Kate came to join us in November, whereas the rest of the herd came to us in September. Her tardy arrival stemmed from the fact that we wanted to make sure she was bred before she came to us. She has a pretty good tummy going on her at this point, and hopefully have a healthy little calf around May. We are really hoping she doesn't have the calf when we are out of town, as that would be inconvenient. I have already advised the friend of mine who will be looking in on the herd that she may be on Calf Watch. Lucky her!

I'm looking forward to seeing the new addition to the herd. (And kind of hoping for a girl, since a boy would either need to find a new home or become a steer. 2 is more than enough for our wee herd.)

Grunt is fuzzy

The main motivation of the yaks is the pursuit of treats, also known as wookie cookies or just cookies. If cookies do not appear, the big sad brown eyes are blinked woefully to inform the beholder how neglected the yak in question is.

Welcome to The Silly Yak Ranch!

Well, maybe more of a ranchette. We're a 10 acre property located in Northeastern CO, about 15 miles south of the Wyoming border.

We have a small herd of yaks, consisting of a black 11 year old bred cow who should be due around May (Kate Gray-Nose), her black trim son who was born in May of 2010 that is incredibly adorable and affectionate (Gruntulus Maximus, AKA Grunt), our up and coming 2 year old royal bull (Sir Snortimir, AKA Snort) and two little heifers. Maria was originally thought to be a black yak, but I recently observed that she has one pink hoof with a hint of white sock on it, and one tiny white bit on her forehead, so she is apparently a ninja trim! Speaking of ninjas, the last (and littlest), but not least is Millie, our imperial. She is a skittish little thing who has never acquired the taste for treats that the others have, and she has very impish horns. She spent the first couple of months that she lived here escaping at night and exploring the farm, but slipping back into her enclosure before we got up in the morning. Her ninja skills were betrayed by her yak'y habit of leaving spoor everywhere she went exploring.

Prompted by a friend, I recently made a Facebook profile for Grunt (instantly becoming one of Those People) so I could post daily yak photos for interested friends. Well, since not everyone in the world is on Facebook, I thought I'd replicate the photo posts over here, as well as have a few more verbose posts about life nestled near the foothills of the Rockies. So, that's the idea! Hopefully I'll be able to maintain the posts, even if they are just photos.