Book Description

A wonderful resource for goat breeders, Raising Meat Goats for Profit includes Information about the Meat Breeds, How to get started with meat production, Easy to use feed ration tables, Real advice for new breeders, Kidding and Raising Kids, How to sell your goats, Up-to-date informations about health and diseases, Recipe book, 250 pages of user friendly information! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Also exceeded my hopes and expectations!
The Arlington VA reviewer has it right - This is a great book and it is really funny in places too! I loved the telephone chats that are written of.

I am sure any one who reads English will love this book...even if you never want to raise meat goats!

Exceeded my hopes and expectations - GREAT BOOK
Gail Bowman is the sort of writer that most all authors could learn from. More important, Gail Bowman is obviously experienced in the craft she writes about and her love of the most cantankerous of farm critters shows through.

This is one of the few chatty how-to books that I have found did not waste even a page of type.

No matter the topic, it is apparent Ms Bowman has learned from experience and is unafraid to tell us her mistakes as well as her successes. But, she is not preachy and doesn't try to convince us there is only one way. She freely informs us of methods and techniques, and even other breeds, reported to her by other breeders.

I had long thought the best way to try and make a living with goats would be as a dairy, but, milking a hundred goats can be mighty tiring for a bare living. Thus, I was considering meat goats after downloading some introductory blurbs published by the Saskatchewan Ag folks.

I, however, remained skeptical of meat goats for profit. I was concerned I might be getting into a branch of agriculture for dreamers (the visionary sort, no disrespect meant) but, at age 50, I just don't feel the hankering to blaze any new trails. In other words, I want to let today's youth do the experimenting. I just want to earn money to sock away for my retirement.

Well, Ms Bowman has done a great job in showing me that meat goats are not the 21st Century equivalent of ostrich, emu, elk, deer and bison. They are a viable farm product that can produce a reasonable income without having to create a new market or without having to depend on other breeders for one's profit.

I nominate Raising Meat Goats For Profit as one of the Best How-To books for the 21st Century!

If I were still publishing farm magazines I would definitely be shouting the news to my readers. Raising Meat Goats For Profit is a masterpiece.

for the meat goat lover
this is the first book you should buy if u own, boer or other meat goats, this one you cant put down, there is tons of knowledge in this book for anything you need to know while raising your goats, great job Gail Bowman!

Meat Goat Information Galore
The book is wonderful, informative, up to date, practical, the list goes on and on. I highly recommend it to anyone with goats. Gail Bowman writes in an easy to read format. I can't say enough about the great quality of this book. Buy it, really, you won't be sorry.

Raising Meat Goats for Profit
I cannot say enough good words about this book. Every question I had was answered in laymen's terms and I would suggest anyone interested in raising goats to add this one to their library. ... Read more

Book Description

This updated and expanded edition offers current knowledge of nutrient metabolism and the formulation of diets from an array of available feedstuffs. Discusses animals' role in ecological balance, environmental stability and sustainable agriculture and food production. A new section on life-cycle feeding of individual animal classes features chapters contributed by authorities in their respective fields of animal nutrition. These new chapters include cattle, poultry, rabbits, sheep, swine, horses, cats, fish and exotic animals. ... Read more

Book Description

The eighth edition of this highly-acclaimed, best-selling book gives an overview of the Animal Sciences; it highlights the significant biological principles, scientific relationships, and management practices of livestock production and management in a condensed but informative manner.Included are chapters on reproduction, genetics, nutrition, lactation, consumer products, and more. It covers the breeding, feeding, and management of beef cattle, dairy cattle, horses, sheep, swine, poultry, goats, and aquaculture.Basic and sufficiently simple for those with limited livestock experience, Scientific Farm Animal Production is still informative for those who have a livestock production background; it is an excellent reference work for livestock producers and others desiring an overview of livestock production principles and management. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (29)

Best Book for Beginners
I started my backyard flock with only this book for reference. It's got really good information and is a really fun read - lots of humor mixed in with the great information. If you're thinking about starting a small flock and you're a beginner, this is the book you should buy. It's got great information including a chapter with basic poultry terminology, info on hatching chicks, chicken diseases, raising chickens for eggs or for meat, and a whole lot more. And it's all written in everyday English that even a girl from the city like me can understand. Buy this book!

It's the book that got me started
We live on a hobby farm in Minnesota, and this is the book that got me started with my flock of happy hens. It's written in plain, down-to-earth English for the rank beginner who wants to keep chickens on a small scale for eggs, meat, or just the pleasure of having them around. It's especially nice for the free-run flock, with instructions on choosing breeds, raising chicks, housing, nutrition, hatching your own chicks under broody hens or in an incubator, etc. A must-have for anybody who is thinking about keeping chickens. Lots of humor, too!

Outstanding Starter book for Chickens
I highly recommend this book to anyone starting or considering the keeping of Chickens in your yard - be it large or small, rural or not. A source of much information, as well as insight and comfort. Also helps you to gain an appreciation of your birds through understanding them.

Helped me keep chickens in MY backyard
This is THE book to get for a comprehensive guide to keeping your own chickens. I will have had my flock for two years in a few months and this book has been invaluable.

If you don't know where to start, this book IS IT!!! Fresh eggs in the morning are SOOOO much better than store bought -- and the chickens are great pets too!

So get this book, and start planning to have CHICKENS I YOUR BACKYARD!

Great introduction to keeping chickens
Very sensible and easy to read. All aspects of keeping chickens dealt with. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens
EVERYTHING you would ever want to know about raising a flock of backyard chickens is superbly covered in this book! Once I started reading it, I found I couldn't put it down until 5 hours later as the information in it is so clear, so interesting, so usable. I would recommend this for any person who is just starting to raise chickens or for someone who is taking their chicken 'hobby' to new levels.

A complete guide to Raising Chickens
Finally, a complete reference that covers all the major areas of raising chickens. As a poultry farm and hatchery owner, I always suggest this book first to anyone interested in raising chickens. This is an indepth yet easy to read guide that is sure to educate even the most experienced chicken fancier. This book will help you choose the right breed of chicken, how to care for them, maintain their health, and meet your individual goals for your flock. This is currently the premier guide to raising chickens available.

Not too helpful
Doesn't try to solve your chicken problems, just suggests culling all non-perfect chickens.

Couldn't find a better book on raising chickens.
If you have done your research and found this book then you have done well, there is in my opinion NO better book for the beginner,intermediate or experienced backyard chicken grower.
Ms. Damerow covers all the subjects that you can think off, she even has an extensive section on disease and pests and their prevention.If you buy just one book on Chickens this should be it.

If you buy just one book on chickens - this should be it !
I bought a second book not sure just which I would find to be the most helpful. It was completely plain to see that Storey's was the most comprehensive and informative even for the not so experienced backyard chicken family. If you are going to buy just one book to use as a reference for raising chickens I would recommend Storey's. From the get go, Storey's explains the best breeds of chickens for the use you plan to raise them for, how to build the coop determinded on the size of your brood to doctoring your sick chickens and then showing your best chickens. For the backyard chicken raising family this should be your number one book of choice. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Okay for the under-15 crowd but....
If you're looking for a livestock giftbook for a child under 15 years of age, buy this book. It is an easy read, full of excellent photos, and, here and there, it has some useful tips.

Otherwise, get Raising Meat Goats For Profit and/or Goat Husbandry.

A must for goat owners
This is an excellent manual for new owners of goats. Everything is in here from cradle to grave. I have raised goats my entire life and I even learned a couple of things from this wonderful book. While I had some minor disagreements with some things here and there, I felt that the book was 99% accurate in its content. While I don't eat goat meat myself, I am told that the recipes are excellent.

A nice little reference
The compact size of this book makes it easy to keep handy, and it is full of useful information. Some may (through personal experience) disagree with parts of it, but it will be invaluable to any new owner as it covers such an array of topics. The easily readable style doesn't talk down to you, but is as if you have a friend talking to you. I think it is excellent.

Aces
The New Goat Handbook updates and remedies most of the deficiencies of its predecessor, The Old Goat Handbook. While goats' housing, care and feeding needs have changed little since the days of Homer, recent veterinary research has made great strides in the field of goat health and fitness. The special new chapter on using goat milk, meat and hair offers useful and valuable information, but I object to the book's strictly utilitarian approach to goating. Goats are also beautiful, intelligent animals that make loving, loyal companions.

Top Trumps!
This has been a valuable resource over the years. My first goat was a 125cc model and with the help of this manual, i learnt all about the care and maintenance needed.
I plan, in the summer, to get another 125cc and then take them on a cross country trek through Romford via Stratford. Highly recommended is the section on the uses of the milk, meat and hair and the methods of reconstruction if any bits go missing. ... Read more

Book Description

Packed with relevant information for all breeds and ages, this book covers nutrition, disease, immunity, and anatomy. Written for the chicken fancier and nonspecialist. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

This is an excellent book!!
I have 30 bantam chickens, and I turn to this book all the time whenever I have a proplem. I highly recomend it for anyone that is or is going to raise chickens. Whenever you have a problem you just turn to the diognoses charts, match the symptoms and the age, and find out what it is. You then go the back and find the disease, and then it tells you how to treat it, prevent it, if there's any human health risk and much MUCH more!! It also tell you EVERYTHING else you need to know on how to raise them. I VERY highly recomend this book as well as Storys Guide To Raising Chickens by Gail Dammerow as well.

A great book to have around !!
I will be 13 next month and we have about 30 to 40 full size cickens and 10 bantams and when ever I have a qestion I always rent this book because it is so basic and has so much information !! it has stuff about chicks all the way up to full grown and between .

The Chicken Health Handbook
The book was very well written and will make a good resource book for illnesses.

Best book I've read out of five!!!
This book is VERY well written. The details were helpful in determining what parasite one of my pullets had. I've read five books on chickens in the last month and this was by far the best and most informative of them all!!! It is a very easy to reference to. This book is a must have for any chicken owner or vet.

Very Helpfull Book
This book was well written and very easy to read. A must have for everyone raising chickens. ... Read more

Book Description

A bovine expert, Thomas explains facilities, breeding and genetics, calving, health care, and advice for marketing a cattle business. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Amazing book
If you've read all the other books on how to raise cattle and still have a million questions, reading this book will answer them! I'm so overloaded with information I can't think of any more questions to ask. This book will take weeks of rereading to get half the information to sink in. Very impressive work.

Incredible illustrations and photographs. If you've ever wondered exactly where your hand should be to check a cow's uterus for conception, you'll know after examining the illustrations. If you want to know every detail for visually evaluating a bull for fertility, it's in there. Want to know how to reinforce a fence corner? It's in there. Want to see an excellent corral design? It's in there.

Great book to own, not borrow, because you will be referring to it for years to come.

raising beef cattle
I found this book to be very informative, and very educational. Even for the novice person who might not know much information of cattle this book would be very helpful.

A practical, insightful, Bible for profitable beef.
Heather Smith Thomas has achieved the unachievable - a comprehensive text for aspiring cowboys!

If you've ever visited a friend or family member who is trying to make a living on a small farm you have probably been asked to pitch in. And, if you have tried helping, you probably have felt you could have been more help picking ticks off a dead cow than trying to rustle the calf into its corral. At least I felt so many years ago.

Don't get me wrong, I don't yet feel I am competent with the critters. I merely feel I am no longer the city slicker asking dumb questions!

After reading this excellent book I am excited to start raising beef cattle for profit. I can do this on a small scale without harming the environment and without millions of dollars and without using techniques that alienate me from my animal rights' activist friends, because of common sense advice from Heather Smith Thomas.

Okay, I probably will aggravate my more radical friends and will irritate my vegetarian niece, but, you haven't lived until you've eaten beef!

Buy this book. Read it thoroughly BEFORE you buy those calves. Then keep it handy for frequent reference!

The Perfect Cattle Farming Reference Book
This book covers every aspect involved in a cattle operation. The material is laid out in a user-friendly, clear, concise format, complete with useful graphics. I was looking for a "Cow Encyclopedia" for my husband, and this was it.

The Mrs
Well written, good organization and humorous at times. I now feel confident enough to start a herd and learn the small stuff the hard way but the general knowledge was gained from this book. excellent! ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Excellent Resource
My brother gave this book to me for my birthday, and it has been great. We are new to farming, and it has helped us determine how to move forward, and to plan for our operation. We're retired, but we need this to pay some income, and that is what this book is all about, making money, but doing it so you don't screw up the land. The author has lots of excellent advice not only on caring for your animals, but also on direct marketing to get a bigger share of the consumer's dollar. She writes with a down to earth style that I really appreciate.

Is This High School Biology???
I was looking for a substantial book about small-scale livestock farming, and instead I was treated to a very basic introduction to agriculture. This book would make a great high school agriculture text, but beyond that it falls short of providing any real, useful, institutional knowledge that I was looking for. For example, in the book the author reviews basic high biology concepts such as the water cycle, the food chain, and the energy pyramid. She also reminds readers how to round up or round down. And if that were not insulting enough, she then informs readers that to be a successful farmer, you must dress like a farmer; "clean bib overalls and a straw hat, or a plaid shirt, jeans, and a cowboy hat." Give me a break. Again, if you want a simplistic, new age, farming book of little practical use by an author who has less than a decade of farming experience, this book is for you. If you want a no-frills, no-fluff, useful, dirt under your nails, John Deere farmer kind of a book, I would look elsewhere and I would suggest Gene Logsdon's The Contrary Farmer.

Inspiring .....
I got this book only a few months ago and I must say it has been a wealth of information. I learned about toxic plants, diseases, grazing management, budgeting your opperation effiecently, and also info on different feeding scales of species. Not to mention everything on this book but it has been an eye opening experience to learn from this knowledge and then apply it to my life.

Excellent, interesting discussions but zero photos!
I found the discussion on grass farming and pasturing methods to be first rate advice. Many livestock farmer wannabe's don't realize that they are, or should be, first considered as grass farmers who harvest their crop with animals instead of tractors.

Other welcome advice or comments were:

Her advice to think long and hard before investing in exotics is wise. In many occasions, she is correct when she states it was a pyramid scheme to make the first entrants rich but later followers left holding the bag.

Still, at least some discussion on exotic farming costs and likely returns could have been included for those who persist in such enterprises.

Further, the interviews with other small-scale farmers wasw, by and large, helpful.

How could this book become a five-star?

A - Include photographs of the topics and methods discussed.
B - Include a section of rabbit farming
C - Provide more detail specific to livestock housing, breeding and management practices. The scarcity of information in this section was a disappointment.
D - Prune out some of the new-age, holistic information.
E - Add further real-life examples of income/expense worksheets. Those that are included are a GREAT help.

All in all this is a terrific book in the mode of back-to-the-land books of the 70s, but a bit more mature and business-oriented. Shuttleworth (Mother Earth News) and Belanger (Countryside & Small Stock Journal) would be proud to know this author. I, as publisher of Living Among Nature Daringly am grateful to have purchased this book through Amazon.[com]

Good read
Being a new, new, new, what they call in Texas 'gentleman farmer'. I found this book to be the first to make any type of since!!!! A keeper! ... Read more

Book Description

Unique in focus and cutting-edge in content, this lavishly illustrated introduction to animal science covers the full range of topics—traditional and non-traditional—that reflect the way agriculture is changing today. By exploring animal science from a variety of integrated perspectives—biological, species, industry, society, and global—it reveals the dynamic nature of animal science and the many ways in which it is a piece of a much larger whole of agriculture and agriculture within society (e.g., how animals fit into all of society and how animals contribute to the well-being of man from a worldwide perspective).The Value of Animals to Mankind. Factors Affecting World Agricultural Structure. Worldwide Systems of Agricultural Production. Introduction to Nutrition. The Gastrointestinal Tract and Nutrition. Feedstuffs Classification. Genetics. Animal Breeding. Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. Animal Reproduction. Lactation. Animal Behavior. Animal Health. Vertical Integration: Beef, Pork and Poultry. Beef Cattle. Dairy Cattle. Poultry. Swine. Sheep and Goats. Horses. Aquaculture. Pet and Companion Animals. Llamoids. Rabbits. Careers and Career Preparation in Animal Science. Animals as Consumers of Grain: Asset or Liability? Food Safety and Consumer Concerns. Animal Welfare and Animal Rights. Animals in Sustainable Agriculture. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Convinced me to leave the city and buy a cow!
At the time when I ordered this book, I was living in a trailer park, and researching nutrition carefully. I am a mother of five children, and our family keeps growing, so I want to be sure that our family gets the best nutrition we can. I feel that good nutrition is something every mother should strive to give her children, no matter how rich or poor.

So, after learning that untreated milk (unpasteurized, unhomogenized) is better for your health, I went looking for a legal way to obtain raw milk for my family. I started out at www.westonaprice.org (the Weston A. Price organization is aimed at getting nutrient-dense foods onto America's dinner tables) and could not find any suppliers in my area.

I started looking at the possibility of getting my own cow to milk, and ordered this book. In the first few chapters, Joann explains the value of the cow, and untreated dairy products. Then, she goes on to explain all the how-to's of having a cow. This book alone convinced me that I wanted to leave the city and the trailer park and have some land with a cow!

Since owning the book, I have referred to it often. When my cow got bloat, I quickly referred to the book to find out what to do. I saved my cow's life because Joann's words were right there, even though she lives far away from me. I'm so glad that she wrote this book, and even more glad that I own it. Joann also has an online diary (which I LOVE to read) and an online discussion forum that has been very helpful.

Oh, and one more thing, there is nothing comparable to the taste of food that you've raised yourself, not to mention the superior nutrition and absence of hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and herbicides. It is a wonderful life, and this book helped me to have the confidence to jump in with both feet and do it!

Worth reading just to savor the first couple of chapters.
Why is modern America so dissatisfied with life? We're rolling in wealth to the extent that we can afford vacations to Europe, boats, swimming pools and $100 concert tickets. We don't have to bother raising or even cooking our own food, because multinational corporations continue to discover ways to produce technologically advanced, highly processed food products at lower and lower cost. We don't have to repair our own cars, clean our own houses, or mow our own grass. We own multiple automobiles, televisions, computers and even places to live. We take advantage of a standard of living that exceeds most other countries on the planet. To quote a popular song, "The Future's so Bright, We Gotta Wear Shades." Why then are so many of us taking Prozac, seeing therapists, and finding less and less joy in our daily lives? It's difficult to contemplate, but many of us somehow feel disconnected from our daily existence. Despite being surrounded by incredible riches, we somehow long for a lifestyle that no longer seems attainable. Something important seems to be missing. No only can't we identify what's missing, we don't have a clue on how to restore it to our lives. Joann Grohman's book, Keeping a Family Cow, provides a great deal of insight into this very issue.

Keeping in character with the book's premise, the author provides a detailed guidebook for nurturing and managing a dairy cow while successfully integrating such a creature into a modern lifestyle. Presented in an easy-to-understand, straightforward manner, the book offers up a plethora of information designed to turn the most inexperienced neophyte into a competent dairyman. The book provides details on animal acquisition, feeding, disease prevention, breeding and food hygiene, and is written in such a way to offer enlightened reading to a diverse audience. Joann also maintains a free web site,..., that provides a discussion forum for cow-related issues. If you've ever contemplated adding a bovine member to the family, this book will go a long way toward helping to make this project a success.

Even though these technical topics make the book worth the price of admission, I strongly believe that there is more to this book than initially meets the eye. During my undergraduate years, I stumbled upon a book called The Continuum Concept (authored by Jean Liedloff) that contrasts Western child rearing techniques with those of more primitive cultures. Even though I was not yet married, and had no interest in starting a family, I realized that there was something about her ideas that resonated with my innate sense of right and wrong. I couldn't identify why I could so easily relate to her views on nurturing infants, but it just seemed as if Liedloff had illuminated obvious truths about human nature that no one had previously discussed.

Joann's writings resonate in the same fashion. The first couple of chapters in the book seem to emanate from someone who shares Liedloff's understanding of human nature. Keeping a Family Cow demonstrates a remarkable insight into the cultural, technological and market forces that have produced the frenzied pace that we all take for granted, and demonstrates how the acquisition of a family cow can restore some of the "rightness" that seems to be missing from our daily existence. There's something incredibly satisfying about Joann's arguments to support the family cow concept, and her writings offer a glimmer of hope that we can somehow find our way back to a lifestyle that is more in tune with our expectations, our evolutionary experience as human organisms, and our hopes and dreams for the future. I can't recommend this book enough.

no family cow should be without it
This is an excellent book! It covers all areas of keeping a milk cow for your family practically, clearly, and concisely. It covers caring for your cow, feeding and health concerns, milking, breeding and calving. It also covers caring for your milk, making butter and other home dairy products. My copy is dog-eared and butter-stained, I refer to it often. ... Read more

Book Description

For 17 years readers have turned to Storey Books for advice on raising animals. Our Modern Way series of six books has sold more than 1,000,000 copies. In an effort to provide readers with the best how-to animal books on the market we are completely updating all six Modern Way titles and reintroducing them as part of our Guide to Raising series.

Written by experts, these guides give novice and experienced livestock farmers all they need to know to successfully keep and profit from animals. Each book includes information on selection, housing, space requirements, breeding and birthing techniques, feeding, behavior, and health concerns and remedies for illness. The books also address the business of raising animals -- processing meat, milk, eggs, and more. The authors were chosen not only for their expertise but also for their ability to explain the ins and outs of animal husbandry in an inviting and authoritative manner.

Whether readers are ready to start an entire herd or flock or are considering purchasing their first animal, Storey's Guide to Raising series offers vital information; each book is an indispensable reference.

... Read more

Reviews (9)

Best duck resource I have
This book is at my bedside. I refer to it all the time. Dave know his waterfowl and his book is packed with information. If you buy just one book on ducks this is the one. It is a great book for the beginner to the advanced duck keeper.

A Real Life Saver
I highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely considering raising ducks. It reviews all the basics regarding care, and it has an exceptional section on ailments that has saved the lives of some rescued ducks that we took in.

It is easy to understand and well organized, and I refer to it often--even now that I've become a more experienced owner.

The Best Duck Book Out There!
I highly recommend this book. Dave Holderread really knows his ducks. This book is a must for the duck enthusiast, no matter what breed you're interested in. I would also recommend purchasing your ducks from Dave, especially if you're just starting out, his ducks prove that he knows what he's doing. Check the directory in the back of the book for a whole flock of the best duck breeders out there!

Best of the Storey's guides
Dave Holderread has written a superb book. I am a beginner just getting interested in ducks and this book is perfect. It goes into a great deal of description about the various breeds and talks about everything practical you would want to know, from incubation to hybridizing.

A must for duck raisers!! Tonasket, WA 2002
Absolutely necessary for beginning or long-time duck raisers. This book covers all subjects you'll want to browse before and after buying ducks. Great for resources in other books too, I should know, I mention this book in my new small-farm animal book for raising livestock. You'll surely enjoy all the facts and incredible information from hatching to breeding to raising ducks in this book... ... Read more

Reviews (7)

GREAT BOOK, GREAT DETAIL
I just received this book from my order through Amazon...i have to say:

THE Detailed coverage on the Sheep/Lamb/Wool Industry is AWESOME. it not only teaches you how to raise and take care of sheep, but goes into detail with the BUSINESS side of sheep raising for those small and large time farmers!!

Recommended reading by me for sure.

Another great upgrade by Storey's - worth the cost!
Speaking frankly, I used to smirk at the series of books titled "Raising _______ The Modern Way."

Too few of them were useful. Belanger's Dairy Goats and Simmons's Raising Sheep were the only two exceptions. Of course, that was then, a time when books for folks returning to nature just weren't common. Now, as more books are available, it seems Storey's has decided to improve their entire line.

The result is that Storey's Guides are now really excellent and provide a great deal of useful information. This is especially true with Raising Sheep.

Among the numerous books for prospective sheep ranchers I choose this as the best, most complete useful book for the small farmer.

Storey's guide to raising sheep
My daughter is in an Agriculture class and is also in Future Farmer's of America. We have tried to understand the text book my daughter brought home from school. It was way to difficult to read.

Thank goodness she found this book in her school library. It is easy to read and much more detailed. We will be rasing a lamb for this class and this will be our bible.

Excellent #1 Sheep Book
This book is most excellent and indepth. BUT, be sure to get the new expanded update by Paula Simmons AND Carol Ekarius. The updated book has a lot more info. I originally read this book in the older form at the local library and then bought a copy of the updated version through Amazon.com to have on hand as we got sheep. The updated book is so good that I read the entire thing again cover to cover. Carol Ekarius has added a lot of valuable info, updates and personal stories from shepards to the book.

Great for 4-H and FFA students!
My fifteen year old raised her first sheep for the fair this year and I bought her this book. She did fabulously and it has a lot to do with the indepth guide this book gives...very impressive! ... Read more

Book Description

This contemporary and authoritative survey provides comprehensive coverage of the nutritional and scientific feeding of beef cattle, dairy cattle, poultry, horses, sheep and swine, and offers a detailed treatment of feed composition for use in ration formulation.Topics covered include principles of animal nutrition and physiology, feed stuffs, and livestock and poultry feeding.For those in Animal Nutrition fields. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Yes, friends, Ensminger's books are great sources of info!
Friends have prompted me to review this book.

This is a highly technical gem oriented to the university student. Those of you for whom English is a second language will gain a great deal of referring to your Oxford dictionaries but it will be well worth it if you truly want to understand everything about raising beef cattle.

While your at it, order Stockman's Handbook - somewhat less academic and a bit easier to read. Both books are five star quality!

Is this the beef book for you?
I first learned of this book through Amazon and read the reviews. It is a very technical book but it is very complete.

Excellent - a must fo anyone who raises beef cattle,
A MUST for anyone with 2 head o 50,000 head.Colorado State University textbook.Index is not the best, but it's a MUST HAVE reference bookl.

I also, have his STOCKMAN'S HANDBOOK -- a must for anyone withlivestock.

Author just passed away. I was waiting for the 8thEdition.

Some of the infomation is basic, but it IS a big, heavy book.

The "Bible" of the cattle industry.
When my chldren and I fisrt ventured into our 4-H Club/Calf experience this was the book we found . When we search for other sources of beef cattle information most other books come up short in depth and scope. Theonly other sources we trust are our experienced local cattle breeders andthe vets that are beef specialists and even they tell us to look to thisbook as the final source.

I've given this book 4 stars only because it'sdepht sometimes reaches to the scholarly level. That's why I tell my wifeI'm giving myself a collage education in beef when I read this into thelate hours of the night.

Use this book as the first and last word whenyou need to gain beef cattle experience. It's in your library too. But itwill look good on your own shelf when you need to use it in an emergencylate in the night. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

This is a question.
I would like to know if it is possible to find this book in Spanish. Thank you.

The absolute best source of complete ranching information
This book originally written in the fifties covers everything from feed to pasture to barn and corral design.If you're new to the ranching life or just want to learn about it, this is the "bible".Just excellentresource material !!! ... Read more

Book Description

Effective management requires knowledge, dedication, and a sincere interest in the well-being of horses. In this thoroughly updated second edition of her best-selling classic, Cherry Hill explains how to be a responsible steward of the land while providing horses with the best care possible. Drawing on decades of personal experience and recommendations from hands-on Extension agents throughout North America, Hill provides detailed, practical information designed to help readers develop and refine their “horsekeeping consciousness.”

A thorough understanding of horses is critical to good horsekeeping, so Hill begins by explaining the behavior and the physical and emotional needs of the horse. She encourages readers to choose a management method that fits their lifestyle and locale. She then explains how to maximize efficiency through careful planning of facilities and implementation of diligent management routines that keep horses happy, healthy, and safe.

Well organized and generously illustrated with color photographs and instructive plan drawings, Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage is packed with information that horse owners need. Acreage selection, layout design, and checklists for daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal management routines are just a few of the essential topics covered in this invaluable reference.

Since it was first published in 1991, Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage has sold more than 160,000 copies. This new edition is full-color and has been thoroughly redesigned, revised, expanded, and updated. ... Read more

Book Description

Chickens are hot! There's a chicken-farming boomlet on the rise, with upscale urban and suburban homeowners from every part of the country ordering fancy breeds of chickens, hiring architects to build elegant chicken coops in their backyards, and signing up for classes on how to raise a happy, healthy flock in a small space.

Now Barbara Kilarski, a woman with a passion for poultry, offers a handbook that is as practical and encouraging as it is witty and entertaining. THE TOWN & COUNTRY CHICKEN provides the detailed information every aspiring chickenkeeper needs to know.

Like home-grown vegetables, home-raised chickens put us in touch with our rural past, give us a sense of self-sufficiency, and provide food - eggs! - for the table that is a lot tastier than anything we could find at the supermarket. And chickens are fun! Like dogs, they bond with their owners, and like kids, they do the darnedest things.

Kilarski regales the reader with tales spotlighting the joys of raising chickens, while at the same time explaining the nitty-gritty details of how to be a successful chicken keeper.Any way you look at it, chickens are a star of the domestic household. They are easy and inexpensive to raise, they don't need much living space, and they provide eggs for free. No dog or cat on the planet can make the same claim. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Fantastic!
This has got to be the best books on keeping just a few chickens I've seen. Not only is it full of good advice and information, it has a firm grip on the very personality of chickens. I live in a very rural area where we can have huge flocks of chickens if so desired, so for me keeping chickens in a small area isn't an issue, but for those who have to keep an eye to the laws regarding keeping livestock in urban areas, this book has all the information anyone would need.

I would caution the reader to check out the local ordinances for keeping chickens, though, because the list in the back of the book could be outdated.

This book, along with Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, should be on the bookshelves of everyone who keeps chickens...whether two or three urban chickens, or a small flock of 50 birds or so. (As a warning, if you're keeping chickens for eggs and as pets, skip the processing section in the Guide to Raising Chickens.)

Great book for the small flock owner!
Ok, I have to be honest. I don't own any chickens.... yet. I plan on building a coop this spring and getting some though. I have been reading lots of books on chickens and I recommend this one for the small flock owner along with Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens.

For one thing Keeping Chickens is more warm fuzzy, pro-chicken as pets kind of book than any of the other books I have read. Some of the other books get a little dry especially in the "processing" chapter. I can only have three hens and they are going to be pampered pets so the "processing" parts don't interest me.

It has some nice color pictures in the middle and lots of good chicken advice throughout. I was dissapointed by the lack of more detailed coop design although she gives lots of good tips and advice on building one.

I do have one bone to pick with the author though. The book lists some of the major cities and their chickens laws and it got Juneau's wrong. She listed that there were no rules and cited the animal control ordinances as proof. Actually, there are rules and they are in title 49 of the zoning and planning ordinances. Be warned, check your local laws for yourself. Call Animal Control, the Humane Society or the City and double check!

Keep Chickens!
I just received this wonderful book yesterday and I enjoyed it immensely. It is very thorough, no-nonsense, and detailed aspects of having chickens in the city and the responsibilities of the new chicken owner, the neighbors and the city codes. I would recommend this book first before getting the chickens. This is THE book for city folks who wants to have chickens! It is definately a MUST HAVE for anyone who are interested in chickens. ... Read more