No buts: discover the addictive joy of raising goats Goats are amazing, multi-talented creatures that have been domesticated for over 10,000 years. As well as being a source of food, clothes, and milk, they're wonderful companions: cute, intelligent, and playful—and often as friendly and attentive as dogs. In addition, they make endearing noises and—according to ancient Ethiopian legend—discovered coffee. So what's holding you back? The new edition of Raising Goats For Dummies rebuts all your excuses, and shows you why having one—or, actually, a few—of these companionable ruminants (cud-chewing animals) in your life will bring you great joy, and, if you choose, unbeatable homemade milk and cheese—and possibly a cozy new sweater. A happy goat aficionado since 1998, Cheryl K. Smith takes you from the grassroots of raising your goat—choosing and buying the breed you want, building and maintaining goat-friendly housing—to more elevated terrain, including how to build your own milk stand, participate in online goat shows (it’s a thing!), and even monetize your goat. You'll also learn the fundamentals of proper care to make sure your goats are fed, kept healthy, and bred in ways that ensure they have the happiest life you can provide. Study the history and breeds of goat, like the Nigerian Dwarf or Pygmy Live sustainably from and even profit from your goat Identify and alleviate common ailments Have fun raising the kids! Whether you're researching buying a goat or learning on the hoof about the ones you have, this book has everything you need to see why getting your goat will bring years and years of joy.

An immersive blend of chicken-keeping memoir and animal welfare reporting by a journalist who accidentally became obsessed with her flock. Since first domesticating the chicken thousands of years ago, humans have become exceptionally adept at raising them for food. Yet most people rarely interact with chickens or know much about them. In Under the Henfluence, Tove Danovich explores the lives of these quirky, mysterious birds who stole her heart the moment her first box of chicks arrived at the post office. From a hatchery in Iowa to a chicken show in Ohio to a rooster rescue in Minnesota, Danovich interviews the people breeding, training, healing and, most importantly, adoring chickens. With more than 60 billion chickens living on industrial farms around the world, they're easy to dismiss as just another dinner ingredient. Yet Danovich's reporting reveals the hidden cleverness, quiet sweetness and irresistible personalities of these birds, as well as the complex human-chicken relationship that has evolved over centuries. This glimpse into the lives of backyard chickens doesn't just help us to understand chickens better - it also casts light back on ourselves and what we've ignored throughout the explosive growth of industrial agriculture. Woven with delightful and sometimes heartbreaking anecdotes from Danovich's own henhouse, Under the Henfluence proves that chickens are so much more than what they bring to the table.

The first edition of The Small-Scale Poultry Flock helped thousands of small-scale farmers and smallholders adopt a practical model for working with chickens and other domestic fowl based on natural systems. In this expanded and thoroughly revised edition, readers will find plenty of all-new material. Author Harvey Ussery introduces readers to his new favorite breed of chicken, Icelandics; describes how he manages his breeding flock using a clan mating system; presents detailed information on the use of trapnests and record-keeping spreadsheets for evaluating breeding hen performance; and provides step-by-step instructions for construction of an ingeniously designed mobile poultry shelter. Readers will also find fully updated information and tips on all aspects of flock management, including: growing (and sourcing) feed on a small scale cultivating earthworms and grubs as high-protein poultry feed brooding (and breeding) at home implementing manure management using electric net fencing for ranging flocks using poultry as insect and weed managers in the garden and orchard enlisting your chickens as garden tillers and compost-makers protecting the flock from predators keeping the flock healthy working with mother hens In The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, Revised Edition Ussery presents a sustainable and ecologically friendly model that can be adapted to a variety of scales. His advice and examples throughout the book will prove invaluable for beginner farmers, growers looking to incorporate poultry into their programme and experienced farmers looking to create a truly sustainable system.

Holistic practitioners have been using contact reflex diagnosis, muscle testing, and dowsing to improve human health for centuries. For lifelong alternative medicine practitioner Carrie Eastman, applying these methods to her goat herd was just common sense. All living things are made up of electrical energy. Learn how to harness this energy to work with your goats in a way that is convenient, inexpensive, and safe for your herd. The Energetic Goat provides step-by-step instruction on the basic techniques, including common variations, as well as guidance on how to adapt other techniques to suit your personal preferences. Newcomers to alternative veterinary medicine will find the many photographs, diagrams, and sample case histories particularly useful, while veteran practitioners will discover new tricks and techniques to add to their repertoire, from the never-before-in-print human reflex point chart (used for surrogate testing) to the cross-reference chart of common goat health problems and popular treatments. This book also includes a timeline for transitioning your animals from conventional to holistic herd management, including tips on minerals, nutrition, and dealing with parasites. If you're ready to see your herd thrive without the use of harmful chemicals, just keep an open mind, examine the success stories of the techniques, and explore how these tests can be used to improve your own herd, right now, with whatever philosophy you follow.

Sepp Holzer farms steep mountainsides in Austria 1,500 meters above sea level. His farm is an intricate network of terraces, raised beds, ponds, waterways and tracks, well covered with productive fruit trees and other vegetation, with the farmhouse neatly nestling amongst them. This is in dramatic contrast to his neighbors' spruce monocultures.In this book, Holzer shares the skill and knowledge acquired over his lifetime. He covers every aspect of his farming methods, not just how to create a holistic system on the farm itself, but how to make a living from it. Holzer writes about everything from the overall concepts, down to the practical details.In Sepp Holzer's Permaculturereaders will learn:

How he sets up a permaculture system

The fruit varieties he has found best for permaculture growing

How to construct terraces, ponds, and waterways

How to build shelters for animals and how to work with them on the land

How to cultivate edible mushrooms in the garden and on the farm

and much more

Holzer offers a wealth of information for the gardener, smallholder or alternative farmer yet the book's greatest value is the attitudes it teaches. He reveals the thinking processes based on principles found in nature that create his productive systems. These can be applied anywhere.

How can we learn from previous food production mistakes and pave a way for producing sustainable, nutritious, local meat? The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of our globalised food system and highlighted the desperate need for local and regional supplies of healthy meat. We must replace industrial feed models, which are responsible for significant climate emissions, nitrogen pollution and animal suffering. Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World outlines a hopeful path out of our broken food system via regional networks of regeneratively produced meat. In 2017, Ridge Shinn and Lynne Pledger went to market with Big Picture Beef, a company that partners with farmers across the northeastern United States to provide high-quality, 100% grass-fed beef. Their model has increased participating farmers' access to wholesale markets, and their holistic grazing management techniques offer multiple benefits for the health and wellbeing of consumers, the environment and livestock. In Grass Fed-Beef for a Post-Pandemic World, you'll find information assembled from the fields of ecology, climate science, nutrition and animal welfare, along with stories from Ridge's travels as a consultant on farms all over the world. You'll discover how regenerative grazing can: restore degraded farmland protect against droughts and floods increase biodiversity combat climate change by reducing emissions and sequestering carbon contribute to regional economic development produce nutrient-dense, healthy meat for consumers Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World is not just for beef producers, but for anyone wondering how our farmers can raise cattle while caring for the local and global environment.

With over 100 colour photographs and illustrations, Raising Resilient Bees is the comprehensive source for new and experienced beekeepers, offering a sustainable, natural and repeatable model of care for hive health and production. Global pests and diseases present an unprecedented challenge for the modern honey bee. Hobby and commercial beekeepers alike continue to experience troubling rates of mortality for their colonies, with potentially deleterious consequences for the stability of our wider ecosystems and overall food security. It is time for a global focus on restoring the health of the shared apiary by naturally rearing genetically diverse and resilient lines of bees. Raising Resilient Bees establishes these parameters and provides guidance for new and experienced beekeepers alike to translate these goals into real practice, thereby safeguarding the honey bee from the unknown threats of the future. Authors Eric and Joy McEwen take two decades worth of beekeeping experience, experiments and professional production to deliver groundbreaking methods in queen-rearing, varroa mite management and Natural Nest hive design. Inside, you’ll discover: Revived and adapted heritage Integrated Pest Management techniques How to naturally rear queens and select for resilient, mite-resistant genetic lines without relying on swarming or grafting Key tenets of apicentric beekeeping Advice for establishing a flourishing and sustainable business with beekeeping at the centre How to naturally rear bees with distinctive characteristics suitable to their locale As in large-scale agriculture, the trend toward genetic homogenization is having long-term implications for bees’ capacity to withstand diverse environmental stressors. With expert advice, enthusiasm and easy-to-follow instructions, Raising Resilient Bees delivers important and timely information for every beekeeper to create a healthier future.

This is the ideal guide for anyone wanting to start beekeeping and a revered reference book for experienced beekeepers. It includes information on all you need to know, including how to avoid swarms, plan requeening, or provide the colony with winter stores. It features key information on Varroa. It is copiously illustrated throughout. Fully revised and updated, this new edition of "Guide to Bees and Honey" also presents expert advice for readers who plan to maintain a few hives for personal recreational use, as well as those who want to expand an existing colony into a commercial venture.

Polly Pullar has had a passion for red squirrels since childhood. As a wildlife rehabilitator, she knows the squirrel on a profoundly personal level and has hand-reared numerous litters of orphan kits, eventually returning them to the wild. In this book she shares her experiences and love for the squirrel and explores how our perceptions have changed. Heavily persecuted until the 1960s, it has since become one of the nation's most adored mammals. But we are now racing against time to ensure its long-term survival in an ever-changing world. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Polly's Perthshire farm, where she works continuously to encourage wildlife great and small, she highlights how nature can, and indeed will, recover if only we give it a chance. In just two decades, her efforts have brought spectacular results, and numerous squirrels and other animals visit her wild farm every day.

Modern beekeeping, influenced by new technologies and breeding methods, has increased honey production but left bee colonies weak and vulnerable to disease. With the alarming decline of the bee population raising concerns about an impending ecological crisis, many beekeepers are seeking a more sustainable way of caring for bees. Biodynamic Beekeeping is the first book to offer practical instruction on caring for bees using biodynamic theories and methods. By considering the influence of the movement of the stars and the planets on the bees' natural habits, biodynamics encourages beekeepers to be more in tune with their bees indicating, for example, the best days on which to inspect colonies or gather honey. This fascinating book offers beekeepers detailed advice and instruction on how to work more holistically, including: -- the challenges and advantages of breeding queen bees -- how to artificially induce swarming to propagate colonies -- how to use biodynamic ashing techniques to combat varroa mites -- instructions for making winter-feed according to current biodynamic thinking

The Sunday Times bestseller following the inspiring story of life as a shepherdess, by the star of Channel 5's Our Yorkshire Farm. Amanda Owen has been seen by millions on ITV's The Dales and Channel 5's Our Yorkshire Farm, living a life that has almost gone in today's modern world, a life ruled by the seasons and her animals. She is a farmer's wife and shepherdess, living alongside her husband Clive and seven children at Ravenseat, a 2000 acre sheep hill farm at the head of Swaledale in North Yorkshire. It's a challenging life but one she loves. In The Yorkshire Shepherdess she describes how the rebellious girl from Huddersfield, who always wanted to be a shepherdess, achieved her dreams. Full of amusing anecdotes and unforgettable characters, the book takes us from fitting in with the locals to fitting in motherhood, from the demands of the livestock to the demands of raising a large family in such a rural backwater. Amanda also evokes the peace of winter, when they can be cut off by snow without electricity or running water, the happiness of spring and the lambing season, and the backbreaking tasks of summertime - haymaking and sheepshearing - inspiring us all to look at the countryside and those who work there with new appreciation. Read more inspiring tales of life as a shepherdess with A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess and Adventures Of The Yorkshire Shepherdess.

Bees continue to fascinate and charm us all - from novice gardeners and nature-lovers to dedicated environmentalists - and today, bees need our help more than ever. Discover the story of these incredible creatures, with The Little Book of Bees. Bees first appeared on Earth an incredible 130 million years ago. Since the time of the dinosaurs, evolution has taken our beloved bees on an incredible journey - and today, there are 20,000 species on the planet. The Little Book of Bees is a lovely, informative book of all things bee - from evolution and communication, to honey, beekeeping, and saving the bees - all in a beautifully illustrated gift book. Contents Chapter One: The Story of Bees The Evolution of the Bee The Bee Life Cycle The Bee Family Tree Bee Anatomy Bee Nesting Behaviours Bee Factoids Chapter Two: Superorganisms Sociality in Bees Bumble Bees Honey Bees Stingless Bees Chapter Three: Honey What is Honey? Types of Honey Practical Uses for Honey Honey Healthcare Chapter Four: Beekeeping Why Keep Bees? An Introduction to Beekeeping Keeping Stingless Bees Chapter Five: Protecting Our Bee Buddies Why Are Bees in Decline? Supporting Our Bees in 10 Easy Steps Providing a Home for Bees

"You’ll be in awe of the work of the American rancher and wildlife alike." — Fox News "... Krantz delivers a true sense of not only the size and scope of Art and Catherine Nicholas’ Wagonhound Ranch, but also the deep sense of stewardship the Nicholas family and their crew bring to ranching every day." — Western Horseman "...Anouk’s photographs tell a visual story of the rancher and his relationship with the land." — The Eye of Photography "A stunning photographic collection that celebrates the reality of ranch life." — Big Sky Journal Wagonhound is a historic working ranch spanning over 300,000 acres in Wyoming, where the elevation ranges from 5,000 feet to 9,000 feet; where talented, strong, and steady quarter horses supplied by the ranch-owned remuda are required to help the cowboys manage the herds in a spectacularly rugged terrain. Catherine and Art Nicholas, who took the reins of the historic ranch in 1999, take the stewardship of the land very seriously — their vision has been to honour tradition, preserve the land, which is steeped in history, and return it to a pristine condition. In Ranchland: Wagonhound, Anouk Krantz’s beautiful photography reveals the daily and seasonal rhythms of the ranch and the daily lives of its men and women cowboys, whose long hard days — starting in the dark and finishing in the dark — involve everything from cattle driving to branding to training the best quarter horses in the country and more. Set in a stunning large-format book, these photographs and the stories offer an inspiring new perspective into today's cowboy/ranching culture and land stewardship of the American West. 

This is the personal journal of a young American woman, living for six months amongst the Dodoth cattle-herdsmen in Northern Uganda. It is also an adventure story, for during this period the Dodoth were caught up in an escalating cycle of violence with their age-old rivals, the Turkana tribe. The animating tension of this feud was the tradition of cattle raiding, but it escalated to unprecedented levels of violence when the new nation states of Uganda and Kenya were drawn in to police these ancient clan frontiers. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas s total immersion in the life of this tribe in 1961 takes us with her, as with clarity and a lyrical eye for detail she brings their whole culture alive. For though she was not an academic herself, she had spent much time in the field with her mother, who was the world s leading authority on the Bushman of the Kalahari. So it was natural for Elizabeth Marshall Thomas to take her own young children on this adventure, where she proves herself such a brave, humane and unshockable witness to the life of the warrior herdsmen.

"I love your ideas, but I only have a few acres. How do I do this at my scale?" Success with domestic livestock does not require large land bases. Joel Salatin and his family's Polyface Farm in Virginia lead the world in animal-friendly and ecologically authentic, commercial, pasture-based livestock production. In Polyface Micro he adapts the ideas and protocols to small holdings (including apartments)! Homesteaders can increase production, enjoy healthy animals, and create aesthetically and aromatically pleasant livestock systems. Whether you're a new or seasoned homesteader, you'll find tips and inspiration as Joel coaches you toward success and abundance.

The most comprehensive beekeeping resource ever published. This ultimate guide covers all the practical essentials and will teach you everything about caring for bees and safe hive management, with clear instructions and step-by-step illustrations. It also contains a wealth of information about the culinary, medicinal, cosmetic and domestic uses of honey, beeswax and pollen. So much more than just a practical handbook, this beautiful almanac is also a fascinating read, overflowing with charming bee trivia, fascinating folklore, an engaging history of beekeeping and much more besides. Discover bees in literature, learn how to craft beeswax candles, preserve fine wood with your own home-made furniture polish, or indulge your skin with lavender and beeswax hand cream. Enjoy over 100 glorious honey recipes for cakes and breads, sauces and marinades, drinks and even flavoured spirits! Fully illustrated with practical photography, stunning illustrations and unique etchings, this is an invaluable handbook as well as a beautiful addition to your coffee table, whether you're an active beekeeper with buzzing hives, or an armchair enthusiast who daydreams about harvesting your own honey. The plight of the honeybee has been widely reported, as numbers fall at an alarming rate. But its vital role in crop pollination and global agricultural means that the survival of the honeybee is essential; if it is to endure into the next century, we must take it seriously now. The Collins Beekeeper's Bible does just that, bestowing readers with all there is to know about bees, in the hope that it will help secure the future of this fascinating insect. CONTENTS INCLUDE o History of honey and beekeeping o Building a beehive & staying safe o Caring for your bees - pests & diseases o Growing flowers for bees o Collecting your honey o Household uses for honey and beeswax o Homeopathic, medicinal and cosmetic uses for honey and pollen o Home crafts o Recipes for home-made food and drinks featuring honey

This book covers nearly all the aspects of duck rearing system with various duck genetic resources of India, their nutritional requirements, care management, diseases and prevention, slaughter, grading, packaging of meat, nutritional importance of meat & egg and integrated farming. To make this book more competent for farmers, enlisted certain drugs for treatment of different diseases of duck and vaccination schedule has also been included in the text. References have been included in this book to refer the interested reader for details understanding of duck rearing system. The language is kept simple and lucid for ease of understanding. This book will find right place in the hands of researchers, veterinary graduates, students of the animal sciences and farmers who are engaged in duck farming.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Exam Board: Pearson BTEC Academic Level: BTEC National Subject: Animal Management First teaching: September 2016 First Exams: Summer 2017 The Revision Guide is accompanied by an ActiveBook (eBook) so that learners have the choice and flexibility to access materials anytime or anywhere. The visually engaging format breaks the content down into easily-digestible sections for students and provides hassle-free instant-access revision for learners. Clear specification fit, with revision activities and annotated sample responses for each unit to show students how to tackle the assessed tasks. Written with students in mind - in an informal voice that talks directly to them. Designed to be used alongside the Workbook with clear unit-by-unit correspondence to make it easy to use the books together.

Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, Second Edition, Four Volume Set the latest update since the 2010 release, builds upon the solid foundation established in the first edition. Updated sections include Host-parasite interactions, Vertebrate social behavior, and the introduction of 'overview essays' that boost the book's comprehensive detail. The structure for the work is modified to accommodate a better grouping of subjects. Some chapters have been reshuffled, with section headings combined or modified.

Queen Victoria was obsessed with it. Socrates' last words were about it. Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur made their scientific breakthroughs using it. Hailed as a messenger of the gods, powerful sex symbol, gambling aid, all-purpose medicine and handy research tool, the humble chicken has been also cast as the epitome of evil, and the star of the world's most famous joke. Beginning with the recent discovery, that the chicken's unlikely ancestor is the T. Rex, How the Chicken Crossed the World tracks the chicken from its original domestication in the jungles of Southeast Asia some 10,000 years ago to today's Western societies, where it became the most engineered of animals, to the uncertain future of what is now humanity's single most important source of protein. In a masterful combination of historical sleuthing and journalistic exploration on four continents, Lawler reframes the way we feel and think about all domesticated animals and even nature itself.