Yak, a counterpart of Cow or worse than a Cow?

[Burki from Turki]

Yak has a moving speed of 3.00 c/s. I *guess* Yaks can be milked for milk because female Yaks have nipple details below their chests.

They don't grow fur.

So what I guess is Yak is a wild Cow but it's actually a worse one, if you can't find Cows but want the milk, Yak is your choice then?

Well... Are they worth the same or is Yak worse?

[Cormac]

if i am not mistaken, yaks are in every way inferrior FARManimals than cows..... BUT yaks can be used as caravan animals to carry stuff. they will slow down your caravan somewhat, but having more carry capacity might be a good tradeoff for the slower speed (you do not have to travel 2-3 times to get your desired amount of items from/to your trading partner)

[gussmed]

I’ve got a couple of Yaks. They do give milk, and they’re pack animals, unlike regular cows.

I don’t really care about the movement speed of farm animals. Milk’s the same no matter how slow the source. The speed’s an issue when using them as pack animals, of course.

[Burki from Turki]

Originally posted by gussmed:

I’ve got a couple of Yaks. They do give milk, and they’re pack animals, unlike regular cows.

I don’t really care about the movement speed of farm animals. Milk’s the same no matter how slow the source. The speed’s an issue when using them as pack animals, of course.

So Yak is better than a Cow because you can find them for free in the wild, right? But I guess they can't come up "Farm Animals Join" event, right?

[Cannenses]

Other than cows, you can get milk from dromedary, goat and yak. They produce 12 units of milk per occasion, whilst only cows produces 18. If you're running a caravan, and need milk, dromedary is better choice. Cows can join ("naturally tamed") but don't bet on it because it's rare. Cows are easy to find / buy and breed if milk is your goal.

[TwoTonGamer]

If you need to trade, a pack animal of any kind is superior to any other non-combat animal. The milk is a bonus!

[Burki from Turki]

Milk is considered as a part of the 'vegetables' category, right? There's no way it could be meat. Can I make kibble with it?

[Cormac]

milk is counted as 'meat' in this game, or at least it satisfy as meat when cooking. basicly, you can get 'meat' from living animals, until you butcher them anyway to get real meat.

cows are supperior farm animals, more milk, small amount of aditional meat&leather (~5%), cows have less than 10% wilderness which means they never lose their training and once tamed, they are always tamed without needing work (that was vanilla, right?), yaks on the other hand needs training every so often, not much, but it takes work.

the advantage the yak has above the cow is that it is a caravan animal, means if you take it with you, you can carry more items than you would otherwise. having 5 yaks+2 pawns in a caravan may be better than using 7 pawns, yaks are easier to 'manage' and to 'keep happy' than pawns (more food, harder raids and so on). the disadvantage of yaks is their slow speed, they will slow down your caravan.

having only yaks in your colony is superior to having only cows (as long as you form caravans here and there), having only yaks is superior to having only horses (which are faster and better caravan animals, but don't produce milk).
BUT having both, cows and horses in your colony is superior to only yaks.

[grapplehoeker]

I've tried yak and didn't like it. It's nothing to do with taste ;)
https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Yak
It's just that visually they look more like a water buffalo than a yak!
If you don't believe me, just Google it... they are supposed to be very shaggy, which makes their inability to be used as a shearable animal even stranger.

[Burki from Turki]

Their in-game information tells that they have better walk speed in snow but their leather is not very helpful about snow... It's just a patchleater...