[ Gengam Tacha, Toram Tamuk, Ganrim Mossang, Token Kamki, Dr T Gyaneshogori Devi & Dr Merina Devi ]
Yak farming is a traditional, environmentally friendly (emits significantly less methane), semi-migratory livestock found usually in high-altitude regions of India (Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh), the Himalayas, Bhutan, etc, where conventional agriculture is extremely limited. The yak, scientifically known as Bos grunniens is of paramount importance, and is well adapted to extremely cold and low-oxygen conditions.
Traditional yak farming usually follows seasonal migration (transhumance) which helps to prevent overgrazing and maintains grassland biodiversity. Despite their critical role, the future of yak farming is uncertain due to a confluence of challenges. Efforts to sustain yak farming include improving rangeland management, introduction of improved veterinary and breeding services, and support through government policies aimed at protecting pastoral livelihoods while adapting yak rearing to climate change.
Yak farming plays an important role in providing livelihood and food security to tribal communities by supplying milk, meat, wool, hide and dung. Yak milk, which is rich in fat, is used to prepare traditional products such as butter and chhurpi, and yaks also serve as pack and transport animals in hilly regions, offering scope for value addition and rural entrepreneurship.
In Arunachal Pradesh, yak rearing is mainly practiced by the Monpa tribe, with traditional herders known as Brokpa. The major yak-rearing areas of the state are high-altitude regions of western Arunachal, particularly Tawang and West Kameng districts.
Yaks mainly depend on grazing natural grasses and sedge for their nutrition. Their feeding does not follow a fixed percentage system, as it varies with season and production purpose, but they generally consume about 1.5-2% of their body weight as dry matter per day. The diet is largely forage-based, with hay and fodder provided when grazing is limited, especially during winter. Seasonal feed scarcity can cause significant weight loss, so concentrate supplementation becomes important during colder months. Effective yak feeding focuses on natural grazing, seasonal feed management, and adjusting concentrate levels based on milk or meat production goals.
Hybridisation: Hybridisation of yaks with domestic cattle is commonly practiced to produce hybrids such as dzo and dzomo that show strong hybrid vigour. These F1 hybrids grow faster, attain larger body size, produce more milk, mature earlier, and have better reproductive performance than pure yaks, especially in intermediate-altitude and milder climates.
Female hybrids are fertile and highly reproductive, while all male hybrids are sterile, which requires continuous crossing using pure yak females.
Although hybridisation improves meat, milk, and draught potential, excessive crossbreeding can threaten the pure yak gene pool, making controlled breeding essential for sustainable yak farming and conservation.
Yak farming is affected by various bacterial, viral, parasitic, and protozoan diseases that reduce productivity and cause mortality. Common problems include bacterial infections like pasteurellosis and brucellosis, viral diseases such as bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and lumpy skin disease (LSD), and parasitic infestations including liver fluke, ticks, mites, and gid, which affect both young and adult yaks.
Recent outbreaks of lumpy skin disease reported in July 2023 in the Gangtok district of Sikkim and rising BVDV infections are major concerns, while parasitic diseases remain widespread in free-range systems. Effective prevention depends on strict biosecurity, regular vaccination, parasite control, continuous disease monitoring, and proper environmental and nutritional management to maintain yak health.
Yak shelter and management among the Brokpa community are traditional, with houses made from locally available materials and limited facilities due to harsh climatic conditions and migration. Yak farming faces major marketing challenges such as remoteness, poor transport and market access, low awareness and demand for yak products, lack of organised marketing systems, price instability, and minimal processing or value addition. Production is mostly small-scale and seasonal, while institutional support remains limited.
In yak farming, regular vaccination is essential to prevent major infectious diseases. They are vaccinated against haemorrhagic septicaemia using alum-precipitated HS vaccine once annually before monsoon, and in endemic areas vaccination is done twice a year. Black quarter is also controlled by administering the alum-precipitated BQ vaccine annually before monsoon season.
To prevent brucellosis, the brucella strain-19 vaccine is given only once to female calves between four and eight months of age, particularly in problem herds.
Yaks are often called the ‘almighty livestock’ by the Brokpa community because they provide livelihood, food security, and economic stability through multiple essential products, while requiring very little external feed. They also play a strategic role in national security by serving as reliable pack animals for the Indian Army in difficult border terrains, and the Arunachali yak is India’s only officially recognised yak breed, making it a valuable genetic resource.
In spite of their immense importance, yak farming faces challenges such as climate change-induced heat stress, shrinking and invaded grazing pastures, winter feed scarcity, inbreeding due to restricted germplasm exchange, and socioeconomic changes like youth migration and poor market access.
However, unlike many other states, Arunachal has shown a positive population trend due to scientific support and conservation efforts by the NRC on the Yak, emphasising the need for continued research, policy support, and sustainable management of yak farming. (The contributors are pursuing veterinary science at the College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Jalukie, Nagaland)
