North American Yak Association Membership Agreement

The North American Yak Association (NAYAK) has three very basic criteria operating principles: The Mission Statement; Membership Ethical Conduct Standards; and the Association’s criteria for a yak to be registered. The Mission Statement and Ethical Conduct Standards are part of the Association’s Bylaws. It is important that all applicant members (and current members) support these three basic principles upon which NAYAK will operate.

The reason why it is important is because The North American Yak Association is not simply “a place to register yaks”. Rather, it is to be an association of yak breeders, researchers, yak product developers, marketers and yak enthusiasts working together to fulfill the mission of the Association (which includes registering yaks) which is ultimately to build up the North American yak industry. These three “principles” form the basis from which we will work together.

These principles are:

The Mission of the North American Yak Association. It states that the work of the North American Yak Association is to:

1. Establish and maintain a yak registry which at a minimum verifies and records the parentage of yaks registered if the genetic data for the sire and dam are available. Determines, records the percentage of cattle introgression as measured by genetic testing, information on the mitochondrial DNA. Provides a Co-efficient of inbreeding, in terms of the percent homozygosity of the alleles used in the genetic test. This information will be used to help educate interested yak breeders in “best breeding practices”, for marketing and will be made available to scientists and researchers working on yak genetic studies in an effort to better the breeds future.
2. To preserve the North American Yak Registry Herd Book developed by the International Yak Association (IYAK) as a historical (educational) record of yak lineages for breeders and yak research.
3. To educate the public about yaks and yak products in North America through the association website, social media, exhibitions of yak-based products, yaks and yak shows.
4. To provide available educational resources to yak breeders relating to yak husbandry and marketing through an information library and recent related papers on the association website, social media, podcasts, webinars and hands-on training events.

Conduct of members of this Association. These “standards of conduct” are not new. They are taken from the USYAKS and IYAK By-laws concerning membership. The minimum expectations of conduct concern how we treat our yaks, conduct our business practices and importantly how we treat one another in the Association, as well as all yak breeders and persons in the yak industry. These standards of conduct are:

1. Provide adequate food, water and humane treatment to ensure the wellbeing of the animals they are responsible for;
2. Not administer or permit the administration of substances such as drugs, hormones or antibiotics on a sub-¬therapeutic (non-¬therapeutic) basis on any yak under their ownership or care;
3. Not knowingly release any animal into the custody of a person who does not have the ability or appropriate facilities to provide for the animal’s needs;
4. Provide adequate documentation concerning the age, health history, registration level/status and genetic background of any animal they offer sale;
5. Pursue all yak-¬related activities with honesty and fairness. Conduct business in a professional manner, providing current and factual information so as to educate others;
6. Advance the yak industry through improving one’s own knowledge, increasing one’s skill, and encouraging research and sharing information; and,
7. Not act in ways detrimental to the mission and work of NAYAK including:
   • Actions which would discredit NAYAK including distributing or spamming membership lists;
   • Making threats or acts of disruption and/or violence within the yak community at large;
   • Using derogatory language in any communications;
   • Making disparaging, unethical or false statements on social media concerning any member of the yak community at large;
   • Making unsubstantiated claims about yaks and/or yak products;
   • Misrepresentation or misconduct in connection with breeding, registration, showing, and the purchase or sale of a yak; or,
   • Intentionally violating the By-¬Laws, Rules and Regulations of NAYAK.

Criteria for a yak to be registered. The registration criteria to be used by NAYAK is the same as was used by USYAKS and was agreed upon by the current leadership of both IYAK and USYAKS. NAYAK will use the same basic genetic test (but with more markers) that has been used by IYAK and USYAK. An animal whose DNA test proves it has no more than 3% cattle introgression will be eligible for registration in the North American Yak Association Registry. If the DNA submitted shows the animal has more than 3% cattle introgression it will be registered as a hybrid yak with the amount of cattle introgression recorded on its registration.

What determines if a yak is registerable in this Association does not depend on the breeding program it came from, who its sire or dam is, what color(s) it is, whether it has a high or low coefficient of inbreeding or its type of mitochondrial DNA. What matters is that at least 97% of the genetic markers examined in its DNA test are from yak and not from cattle.

These are the basic principles which define The North American Yak Association and its membership: (Our common mission, our conduct and what we believe is the most cattle introgression which a yak can possess and be considered a registered yak (3%).