With an unwillingness to settle for cattle, and after watching his favorite Brad Pitt movie, Kent Sutton of Archer, Idaho decided to start his yak herd 15 years ago.
“One of my favorite movies is Seven Years in Tibet,” Sutton said. “Yaks show up all through the movie in the beautiful landscape. I researched them a little more, and found some up in Northern Idaho and brought five of them down that were bred and just kind of started my herd.”
Sutton says, yaks are native to the highlands of Tibet and thrive in cold weather conditions. To survive the cold temperatures of the Himalayas, the body of a yak has an outer layer of fat, which serves as insulation.
Yaks can grow to as much as 1,200 pounds and have been known to run at speeds over 35 m.p.h. for short distances.
