Professor emeritus plans to show yak wool

O’Rourke will display and sell products constructed from yak wool at 1 p.m. to close on Friday, Jan. 28, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29, during a session at Double Exposure, the clothing store at 201 West Second Street.

The materials created from the long-haired bovine, obtained from O’Rourke’s relations with the Mongolian Yak Wool Society, include socks and gloves, in addition to raw and spun wool. O’Rourke also will be showing 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 per 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.

During tours with the Mongolian Society for Range Management, he met members of the Mongolian Yak Wool Society. During his conversations, O’Rourke offered to bring products to Chadron for show and sell.

“I’ll be there Saturday to talk about the project’s objectives and how the CSC range management program is linked to it,” O’Rourke said.

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’ll sell the materials for the prices they’ve set,” O’Rourke said. “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.’”

Note: This event was postponed from the date listed in an earlier article.