By Dale Mize
Click here to read, “Field Notes: Introduction”
Savannah Ridge Farms
While driving through the country roads just south of Indianola, there are some common sights: rows and rows of corn and soybeans, land so flat you can see the curvature of the earth, and perhaps an occasional coyote, turkey, or deer loitering in the fields. But, if you take those one-track dirt roads far enough, you may eventually come across an unusual creature snacking in the fields of eastern Illinois, yaks. At this point, you will know you have come across Savannah Ridge Farms, a first-generation family farm owned and operated by Ron Bailey and his two sons, Shane and Colin.
Although the Bailey’s have owned farmland in the area for nearly four decades, it wasn’t until the last several years they decided to move away from conventional commodity crop farming and toward a more sustainable style of farming. The Bailey’s now focus on regenerative farming, a type of management focused on regenerating topsoil, increasing biodiversity, and improving water quality. The family is able to accomplish this through longer crop rotations, reduced tillage, cover crops, and the elimination of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Savannah Ridge rotates on a two to three year crop rotation, alternating oats, clover, and white corn. However, one thing Ron notes about this style of farming is that it takes patience. Planting usually takes place in mid-May, but when there is weather involved that delays your neighbors from planting, a regenerative/sustainable farm has to wait even longer to ensure there is no cross-pollination or overspray from a neighbor’s farm contaminating their crops. After tending the fields all summer, harvest generally occurs around the first week of November, after which, the family works the ground and prepares to start all over again the following spring. Regardless of the trials and tribulations that may occur in a given year, becoming regenerative producers was paramount for the Bailey’s and Savannah Ridge Farms.
Making the switch to regenerative farming was important to the Baileys for numerous reasons. First, they are grossly aware of the climate crisis we all face and want to actively make changes that help reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment. In addition, making the switch had personal implications, too, as it allowed Shane to begin farming full-time, a dream he always had. Now when Shane goes to the office, he’s working about six hundred and fifty acres of ground, which includes moving yaks.
Why Yaks?
In order to begin to answer this question, it is important that everyone understands what a yak is. Yaks are not beef cattle, oxen, or even a type of buffalo. Yaks, ancient bovines native to the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau, Mongolia, and Siberia, were domesticated in the cold, harsh highlands of the Himalayas. They have survived centuries by moving lightly on the land, thanks to their small stature and nimble nature. As they are not native to the United States, there are only about 6,500 yaks in the country. Currently, around 60-70 of them reside at Savannah Ridge Farms.
However, yaks were not always the primary target for Savannah Ridge Farms. Cattle and poultry were projects of theirs at one time, but the cattle did not thrive on the landscape due to the quantity of legumes they had and the poultry market was not sustainable in the long term for the family. Instead, the Bailey family first became interested in the possibility of raising yaks when a missionary from Intercity East St. Louis spoke at a local church. When the Bailey’s mentioned they had a farm, the missionary said, “If I had a farm, I would have yaks,” and then continued to list off the reasons she would raise them. This idea piqued the Bailey’s interest because they wanted livestock as part of their crop rotations, and so they began to research yaks. They then traveled to Kansas and Pennsylvania to visit yak ranches to see if this would be a viable option for them here in Illinois.
What the Bailey’s discovered through their research was first, yaks do not bloat and die off when fed legumes like cattle would. Second, yaks are also remarkably efficient grazers, consuming 40% less grass per acre than cows while obtaining the same amount of nutritional energy. This means that it is possible to run more yaks on the same or less acreage than cattle. Moreso, they are naturally hardy animals who can handle harsh winters, and very rarely have health issues. As for health maintenance, yaks are wormed about three times a year. Being smaller in stature they are also less work-intensive and supply the farm with a manure supply, which can be used as fertilizer rather than shipping in manure from other farms to use on their crops. Additionally, the small cloven hooves of yaks act to aerate the soil, which improves nutrients in the soil and encourages root growth. Finally, yaks can be used for meat, milk, and leather. Additionally, even their thick hair has been said to be compared to cashmere when properly processed. For Savannah Ridge Farms, yaks were perfect for their operation.
In 2020, the Bailey’s decided to give it a try and began buying yaks. They started with a seed herd from breeders across the United States, and are still working to build up their herd today. With a limited quantity of stock, building a herd takes time, especially because it takes approximately three years to finish out a yak without any issues. Ron noted patience again when talking about building their herd. You see, yaks have about an eight-month gestation period, breeding in December and calving in July. Because yak calves are naturally small (about 20-30 pounds), yaks calve on their own, which means the Bailey’s do not have to worry about being out in the pastures to pull calves. However, being from a cold, mountainous environment, heat is hard on them, especially when calves are being born on the flat lands of Illinois. Consequently, the family had issues with calves dying in the summer due to the heat and humidity Illinois has to offer. While trying to find a solution to this problem, Savannah Ridge skipped a breeding cycle last year. This set back their progress on building their herd by two to three years. Now, the Bailey’s, in partnership with the University of Kentucky, have been working to alter the breeding cycle slightly, so that cows and heifers would go into heat in January/February and have calves in October or November. This would ensure that calves are not born during the hottest months of our Illinois weather. With this new breeding cycle, Ron is hopeful that they can get herd numbers up to around 120 yaks.
Yak-king up the Market
Since switching their crop production to regenerative and rotating their fields with yak grazing, the Bailey’s have seen an increase in their profit margins. Due to this, they look forward to what the future holds for the farm as the herd grows. Currently, yak meat sales are good, but the Bailey’s do not have enough product yet to meet the demand. They are only sending between five to eight animals to market a year. In fact, their current stock will hit the market between 2025-2028.
For now, much of the meat the Bailey’s sell goes to restaurants in Indiana. This is possible because yaks are considered exotic, which means they do not have to follow USDA restrictions. The Bailey’s biggest hurdles within the market so far have been marketing their product and trying to educate consumers on the benefits of yak meat. Nutritionally it is leaner than beef, containing only ⅙ the fat content of beef. It is higher in protein, and lower in saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories. The flavor is described as being mild, clean, and juicy due to its higher moisture content, meaning the best way to cook the meat is low and slow. You can cook on a grill, skillet, or in a crock pot. Knowing that most consumers prefer to have a connection to their food source, a hope for the family is that at some point they can tap into the agritourism market and give tours of the farm to educate consumers about yaks, as well as the environmental benefits of sustainable and regenerative farming.
In the meantime, you can visit Savannah Ridge Farms for all your yak needs.
