Musk Ox and the fiber that could make you a fortune

PALMER — The first thing you notice about musk oxen is that they aren’t as big as you might expect. That stand about 4 and half feet at the shoulder and they’re noticeably squat and round.

Mark Austin, the Executive Director of the Musk Ox Development Corporation, says the animal’s compact build is a way to conserve heat on the tundra. And that clearly has had some advantage for the species’ survival.

“These guys were walking around with saber-toothed tigers and wooly mammoths and these guys survived — they didn’t,” said Austin.

The survival of the species wasn’t always assured. Austin explains that in their native Siberia and Alaska they had gone extinct in the 1800s. The Canadian government realized they needed to protect musk ox or risk the same fate.

Musk oxen were then reintroduced to Nunivak Island in Alaska during 1935 to 1936.

In 1954 a pioneering arctic ecologist named John Teal Jr. came to the Canadian government with a proposal, he wanted to investigate whether he could “find an area appropriate agriculture for the far north,” said Austin.

Teal Jr. wanted to capture musk oxen and see whether they could be domesticated.

His plan was accepted. He traveled into the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary unarmed and took some musk ox calves. He brought them to Vermont and spent the next decade trying to see if they would lend themselves to domestication.

Austin describes that Teal Jr. had a few questions. “Will they breed in captivity? Can we harvest their fiber? And how do they respond to human contact”

Austin says Teal Jr. was “encouraged by what he saw” and in 1964, with the state of Alaska’s permission, Teal Jr. took some more calves from the reintroduced the herd on Nunivak Island.

The extraction was again successful. Teal Jr. partnered with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and set up a herd in Fairbanks. Unfortunately, this relationship later soured and Austin describes that there is “lore that under the cloak of darkness he took his herd and left.”

He brought his animals to Unalakleet, where they lived until his death in 1982. They briefly went to Montana Creek before settling in 1986 in their current home, a lush 75-acre property in Palmer.

The property is encircled by mountains and situated near the center of town.

Last year, almost the entire property was put under a conservation easement supported by the Alaska Farmland Trust. That designation means the land will forever be protected for agriculture.

“I’ll walk away from this project some day and know that I’m never going come back and find a condo,” said Austin.

The future of the farm might be more secure than ever but the future for musk oxen looks in more doubt. Austin describes that they are a marker species and that there is a growing phenomenon of rain-on-snow events that puts the animal at risk.

The event sees a thick layer of ice on the surface of the snow that makes it impossible for musk oxen to access the tundra and gather food.

National Geographic reports that in 2003 a rain-on-snow even on Canada’s Banks Island led to the death of 20,000 musk oxen.

Similarly, the warming climate has led to “extraordinary predatory challenges to musk ox,” said Austin.

Brown bears have been seen much farther north than ever before and polar bears “who can’t get on the ice because there is no ice are going south and preying on musk oxen,” described Austin.

Those changes make the Musk Ox Farm all the more important.

Austin explains that their focus is on ‘gentle agriculture,’ the animals aren’t slaughtered for meat and there is an “extraordinary amount of end of life care,” said Austin.

That philosophy is at the core of the farm’s mission to “domesticate, educate and bring economic opportunity to people in the far north,” said Austin.

On the education side, Austin explains they are building a new museum and visitors center in a barn, taking “it from the rough cut mom and pop facility that we have now,” said Austin.

“It will be a quantum change for us in our ability to educate.”

The Musk Ox Farm recently received a $300,000 grant from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation. The $300,000 was a donation to a capital campaign for the barn. The total cost is expected to be $1.2m

On bringing economic opportunity to the far north, Austin says, “It’s all about the fiber.” The fiber in this instance being qivuit, a soft wool like hair that grows underneath a musk ox’s thick outer guard hair.

In the spring as the weather gets warmer, musk oxen start to naturally shed their qivuit. The staff at the farm takes the animals inside a stall to comb it out of them using a steel-toothed hair pick.

A portion of the qiviut is then sold to the Oomingmak cooperative in Anchorage.

Austin wrote a detailed description of the cooperative’s relationship with the farm.

“When founder John Teal Jr. passed away, a decision was made to cleave the organization into two entities; Oomingmak Musk Ox Producers’ Cooperative and the nonprofit Musk Ox Development Corporation (MODC). MODC was to provide the husbandry aspect while Oomingmak would continue to process fiber into yarn, distribute yarn to member and owners, and market finished garments. To this day MODC and Oomingmak continue to work towards common goals but both organizations exist and act independently of one another. “

Oomingmak purchases some of the fiber but Austin describes, “They have been purchasing less and less.”

The remaining fiber is then sent to a de-hairing mill in Maine to remove vegetable matter, twigs, leaves and poop before heading off to a spinning mill in Virginia.

The yarn is then sent back to Alaska where it’s brought to contract knitters, giving a revenue stream to people in the far north.Most fiber is sold as yarn, some will be integrated into garments by contract knitters in Alaska and beyond.

Austin describes that garments in the past have typically been “delicate and lacey.” Now though, the Musk Ox Farm is moving to create a whole new line of technical outdoor wear.

“If you’re going to be summiting Denali and weight is critical to you and warmth is critical to you, we have a natural fiber that will keep you warm when wet.”

On its specs, qivuit does seem perfect for outdoor wear. Austin explains, “It’s eight times warmer than wool and it’s softer than cashmere.”

It’s also a smooth fiber in contrast to wool that “has scales and barbs, making it itchy,” said Austin.

The smoothness of the fiber is an important distinction — when wool gets hot and wet it shrinks.

“You can boil qiviut and it won’t shrink,” said Austin.

The characteristics of qiviutqiviut make it incredibly valuable. Austin says that a woman from Mekoryuk on Nunivak Island spent years harvesting the hair from the hides of hunted animals.

She fastidiously stored it away and one day contacted the Musk Ox Farm asking what she could do with the 30 or so pounds of fiber she had collected.

The Musk Ox Farm processed the fiber and returned 27 pounds of yarn to the woman — a windfall that was worth $70,000.

“That’s life changing in a place that you don’t just go and get a job at the corner gas station,” said Austin. “There are probably thousands of pounds of the stuff sitting in closets around rural Alaska.”

With all the economic benefits available from qiviut, it’s perhaps strange that the Musk Ox farm remains the only one on the planet running this sort of operation.

Austin explains that part of this is because as “a nonprofit we are able to enjoy the benefits of our tax exempt status as well as to cultivate a membership, and solicit grants to help us to springboard some projects forward.”

“The next step would be to bring in individuals who are motivated by the love of the project, species, and potential of the project more so than a profit motivated entrepreneur,” wrote Austin.

To make that would mean altering the farm’s mission to focus on breeding. Austin says, “I do not see this happening anytime soon.”

When asked whether there is an economic future for musk ox milk, Austin shakes his head. Not only do they not produce very much milk, it’s also very difficult to access.

For fun, the farm staff have taken some musk ox milk to make fudge.

“There are only a small group of people in the world who can say they’ve had musk ox milk fudge,” said Austin.

Beyond farming, the education component of the farm extends to bringing in members of the public to learn more about the animal. People can come and visit the farm everyday from 10am to 6pm throughout the summer, starting on Mother’s Day.

The special events are what make the farm unique. On the first Sunday in August, the Musk Ox Farm holds its annual ‘Running of the Bulls.’ An event that takes between 200 and 250 runners through trails cut into the property. Austin makes clear there is no danger for participants as the animals “are on a different side of a fence.”

The farm also hosts musical acts, knitting workshops and freestyle dancing on Mondays.

On October 7th the Musk Ox farm will host their third Ox-tober fest. The event is brings together 400 or so people and Alaska Blaskapelle, a 12-piece Oom-pah band.

Ox-tober fest is also a farm-to-table event that tries to use all local produce. “Bratwurst is made locally, the potatoes in the potato salad are made locally, wheat in the buns is local Palmer wheat,” said Austin.

And the event has had some powerful people hoping to attend. “The first year we had the Governor’s office begging for tickets,” said Austin. When asked whether guests could expect to see the Governor this year, Austin laughs.

“If he gets his ticket in time.”

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