A Chenango County family’s farm has new life after they brought a yak named Jack to town.
Ryan’s Yak Farm on a hill in Oxford now boasts eight additional yaks since Jack arrived in March 2025, including one born on the farm. Pigs snorted while following around family members as chickens and baby goats roamed freely on Friday, July 24.
Cody Ryan, the owner of the agritourism business, said the farm has been in her husband, Craig Ryan’s, family since 1906. The couple lives there with their three children.
“It was mostly just for us,” Cody Ryan said of the about 10-acre property which used to primarily be used for beef. “We were never open to the public.”
That began to change when Jack entered the picture.
“My husband went over to his uncle’s farm to help with chores, and Jack was there,” Ryan said, adding that the animal had come from an animal neglect case to be housed there.
“And my husband comes home and says, ‘Do you want a yak?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t even know what a yak is.'”
Originally from central Asia, the bovines are recognizable for their large horns and skirts of hair.
“This is a new adventure, a new beginning for this farm and for this family that I didn’t know that we needed,” Ryan said.
The new beginning has included opening the farm to events, visitors and now a small shop dubbed the “Milk House Market” with some food items and other goodies. Visitors are able to meet, and for some, feed, farm animals including kunekune pigs, goats, chickens, a horse, a mule and the yaks.
“Jack is the super friendliest one that we have,” Ryan said shortly before standing next to Jack and petting him as he ate food.
Ryan said she wanted to sell yak meat, but butchers did not want to deal with the horns and asked if the farm would remove them prior to bringing them in, which she called “so inhumane.”
“I don’t want my animal going through any stress. I want him leaving here as calmly as possible,” she said.
Ryan said the family plans to turn an area next to a barn on the property into a seating area for events, and that the business has filed permits to serve farm breakfasts.
Son Chase Ryan chased a young pig into the barn before sharing what it’s like growing up on the farm: “Crazy,” he said.
“Lots of animals. Lots of stuff to do,” he said, adding that his work often entails feeding the yaks. But he said he likes it, and wants to become a farmer when he grows up because it’s “just fun to do.”