By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
During May, northern Hamilton County was very quietly invaded by yaks. The Lammer family have become yak ranchers, or, as we like to call them, yakherds. They are also vintners, since their new business is the Woolly Yak Ranch & Winery, 3124 E. 266th St., Arcadia.
The Reporter spoke with new vintner and yakherd Cathy Lammer about why they wanted wine and woolly beasts, and what you can expect to gain from a visit.
Cathy and Chris Lammer have twin sons, Jacob and Zachary. Jacob is autistic, while his brother is not.
Raspberry jalapeño is but one of the flavors of wine produced at Woolly Yak in Arcadia. (Photo provided by Woolly Yak)
Because Jacob loves the outdoors and large animals, and because the Lammers wanted him to have a career option he’d enjoy, they decided to start a farm.
“My husband’s background is in accounting and mine’s in finance,” Lammer said. “We were like, ‘we don’t really know anything about that, but what the heck?’ I went to work the very next day researching large animals.”
Lammer said they didn’t want to raise cattle because, in her words, “the only way you can do anything with them is to take them to market.” Yaks, on the other hand, are social animals with a smaller environmental footprint and they provide wool.
Lammer also told The Reporter neither the yaks themselves nor their dung have any odor. As of press time, no one at this newspaper has sniffed a yak, so we can neither confirm nor deny that claim.
The Woolly Yak Ranch & Winery is a small agrotourism business with yaks, sheep, pigs, a pecan orchard, a pawpaw orchard, a vineyard from which they produce a variety of adult beverages, the “Grill & Graze” food truck serving gourmet grilled cheese. They offer a variety of family-friendly activities.
“We have a 1905 gambrel barn where every Friday night we have what’s called ‘Brass on the Grass,’” Lammer said. “We have no amplification. We don’t have any microphones or speakers or anything. So we just have a brass band that comes out because that’s loud enough for everybody to hear. It’s very family oriented.”
You can visit Woolly Yak Ranch & Winery, 3124 E. 266th St., Arcadia from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Friday and Saturday they are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Learn more online at WoollyYak.com or on Facebook at tinyurl.com/WoollyYakFacebook.
Photos provided by Woolly Yak