Dr. Jim O’Rourke, professor emeritus at Chadron State College in Nebraska, USA, recently displayed materials that people may be hard-pressed to find in most shopping venues. These were mostly  products made from yak wool. The materials created from the long-haired bovine, obtained from O’Rourke’s relations with the Mongolian Yak Wool Society, included socks and gloves, in addition to raw and spun wool. O’Rourke also showed some of the yak wool items he’s acquired through the years, including clothing and car seat pads.
O’Rourke, who has served national and international range management activities since stepping down from his CSC faculty post in 2002, is part of a three-person advisory team for the Mongolian Society for Range Management, a three-year post that takes him to Mongolia twice a year. The opportunity to serve the Mongolian group was presented to O’Rourke while he visited Mongolia during his term as president of the International Society for Range Management.
Historically, the Yak Wool Society has been focused on breeding better animals and less on marketing its products, he said. “They are trying to create diverse income sources, rather than just meat and milk. We sold the materials for the prices they’ve set. They just gave some examples to me and said, ‘Here, take it and bring the money back the next time you’re here if you get it sold.’