The first post today is a guest article about Tibetan Yaks. The Memsahib and I raised ultra-wooly black yaks, back in the mid-to-late 1990s. We found them quite easy to manage. Our first yak bull ("Yukon Yak") bred our Jersey cow, but unfortunately, she threw a bull calf. (We were hoping for a heifer.) Our senior yak cow ("Yetta") originated from a Canadian zoo, and was far from tame! But all of her offspring including our first bull calf ("Black Yak Pershing") were very gentle. I'll never forget their distinctive "Uggh, uggh" yak grunts, and the strange sight of their purple tongues!
We sold our little herd of nine yaks in 1998, since I had accepted a job with Oracle Corporation in the San Francisco Bay Area, and could not afford to buy or even rent a house with sufficient pasture land there. We really wish that we had been able to keep them. Yaks are well worth the investment, and quite easy to fence and handle. But, as with any other bovine, never turn your back on a bull!
This is the first entry for Round 24 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The winners will receive even more prizes than in previous rounds. For example, we've added a HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com.
First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner's choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources., and C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $345 value).
Second Prize: A "grab bag" of preparedness gear and books from Jim's Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350.
Third Prize: A copy of my "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.
Round 24 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical "how to" skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
