Offering expert advice on nutrition, proper housing, and routine maintenance, Keeping Livestock Healthy covers all the everyday medical care your horses, cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep are likely to require. From vaccines and artificial insemination to detecting and treating Lyme disease, Potomac fever, and bluetongue, you’ll find everything you need to know to keep your animals healthy and thriving. Stressing preventative methods wherever possible, N. Bruce Haynes helps you reduce veterinary costs, increase your self-sufficiency, and boost the productivity of your livestock operation.
Hobby Farms Beef Cattle: Keeping a Small-Scale Herd for Pleasure and Profit, written by Ann Larkin Hansen, serves as an excellent introduction to raising cows for food or simply to graze while mowing and fertilizing the pasture. This colorful guide offers experienced hobby farmers and beginners all of the essential information necessary to purchase and maintain a small herd of beef cattle. While managing her own hobby farm in Wisconsin, Hansen shares her expertise in all things farm and has authored numerous books such as Making Hay, The Organic Farming Manual, and Finding Good Farmland. In this comprehensive book, Hansen corrals the hobby farmer into the world of cowboys and cowgirls: she begins, “Beef cattle are as much at home on the hobby farm as they are on the range.” This colorful primer begins with the basics, from biological traits and breeds to behavior and life cycle, and describes exactly what’s required for a hobby farmer to maintain a herd of cattle—the four F’s—fencing, feed, fields, and facilities. Given the expense involved in the purchase and maintenance of beef cattle, all hobby farmers will welcome Hansen’s sound and sensible advice on buying the right cattle, whether steer calves for meat or breeding stock for building up a herd. The buying chapter helps farmers focus on what to look for when selecting cattle; how cows, heifers, and bulls are priced; where to purchase; and how to get cattle to your farm. The feeding and nutrition of cattle is a complicated topic, and Hansen breaks it down into the three basic components that every keeper needs to understand: pasture, hay, and grain. With directness and clarity, she explains the ins and outs of grazing, selecting ideal foodstuffs, using salt and minerals, and maintaining good weight on the herd. The reader can rely on her expert advice to learn the fundamentals of handling cattle, including herding, loading, and transporting cattle, as well as keeping beef cattle healthy through preventive methods, vaccinations, parasite control and veterinary assistance. For hobby farmers planning to breed their livestock, Beef Cattle includes a chapter on pairing cows and heifers, the actual breeding, artificial insemination, the care of pregnant cows, calving, caring for the young, and weaning calves. The final chapter of the book “Marketing and Processing Your Cattle” is geared toward hobby farmers looking to get beef processed, grade meat, and sell the final product. Sidebars of fun trivia, stories from farmers, and useful advice appear throughout the handbook. A glossary of over 100 terms; an appendix of health issues; a resource section of useful websites, books, and periodicals; and a detailed index complete the book.
Raise a gaggle of geese, the unsung heroes of the small farm While chickens preen in the spotlight, geese are the historic unsung heroes of small farms and homesteads. Providing weed control, large eggs, and entertainment, and acting as "security" over other animals, geese are the ultimate modern homesteading companion. The Modern Homesteader's Guide to Keeping Geese covers everything you need to know to raise geese, including: Profiles of breeds and how to select the best one for your needs How to "imprint" goslings on a person Feeding, housing, animal health, and cold weather care Using geese for weed control, soil improvement, and as "watch-geese" Cooking with goose eggs and meat Additional coverage includes a look at the rich history of geese on farms in North America and Europe that will enhance any goose keeper's enjoyment of these intelligent and unique birds. This practical guide is a must-have essential for the kitchen table of homesteaders, small farmers, permaculturists, and professional farmers looking to add the power of geese to their land.
The use of drugs in food animal production has resulted in benefits throughout the food industry; however, their use has also raised public health safety concerns. The Use of Drugs in Food Animals provides an overview of why and how drugs are used in the major food-producing animal industriesâ€"poultry, dairy, beef, swine, and aquaculture. The volume discusses the prevalence of human pathogens in foods of animal origin. It also addresses the transfer of resistance in animal microbes to human pathogens and the resulting risk of human disease. The committee offers analysis and insight into these areas: Monitoring of drug residues. The book provides a brief overview of how the FDA and USDA monitor drug residues in foods of animal origin and describes quality assurance programs initiated by the poultry, dairy, beef, and swine industries. Antibiotic resistance. The committee reports what is known about this controversial problem and its potential effect on human health. The volume also looks at how drug use may be minimized with new approaches in genetics, nutrition, and animal management.
Offering expert advice on nutrition, proper housing, and routine maintenance, Keeping Livestock Healthy covers all the everyday medical care your horses, cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep are likely to require. From vaccines and artificial insemination to detecting and treating Lyme disease, Potomac fever, and bluetongue, you’ll find everything you need to know to keep your animals healthy and thriving. Stressing preventative methods wherever possible, N. Bruce Haynes helps you reduce veterinary costs, increase your self-sufficiency, and boost the productivity of your livestock operation.
Every farm needs a cow – open the gates! With an approach built around investing for the long term, Homestead Cows prepares homesteaders and small farmers to open the farm gate to cattle, whether a single milk cow or a small beef herd. Homestead Cows covers the A to Z of husbandry: Cow history, biology, diet, and nutrition Understanding what you want, what's involved, and creating a plan Selecting breeds and determining herd size Housing and facilities, transportation, and equipment Financial management and the dollars and cents of cows Breeding and reproduction Cow health and happiness, including safety, handling, and good husbandry Processing, products, and cooking. Cattle are the most productive, versatile, and low-input sources of food and revenue on the farm and can help regenerate and build soil. The secret to success is excellent management, and Homestead Cows distills decades of hard-won, practical knowledge into an essential guide to successful small-scale cattle farming for every homesteader and farmer.
Discusses how to maintain the day-to-day health of one's cattle, covering symptoms, preventive care, and treatment of common diseases, body system disorders such as digestive and foot problems, and other ailments, accidents, and injuries that can occur, with case histories and anecdotes.
