The most complete text and reference on contemporary beef cattle production available. New edition merges current production technology with management and flexible marketing. Text organization reflects the industry: cow-calf (including purebred herds), stocker or growing phase, and the feedlot or finishing phase. Explains scientific basis of beef production. Describes proven management techniques for efficient production.

In the spring of 1996, when numerous reports of bovine spongioform encephalopathy, popularly known as "mad cow disease," coincided with an outbreak of a similar neuropathological disease in humans, a panic spread across Britain, Europe, and subsequently to the United States. Described as "the biggest crisis the European Union ever had," the mad cow controversy raised important issues about the ways in which risks to the public heath are assessed, disseminated, and controlled. Was the "epidemic" merely a failure of management, the lessons of which could be incorporated into a new strategy for dealing with public anxiety? Was it an isolated case of poor decision-making in a highly volatile economic sector, or was it the kind of nightmare that could face any government responsible for public safety? And what role did the media play in exacerbating an already spiraling crisis?

Divided into four major sections-"Scientific/Historical Perspectives"; "Politics as Health"; "Understanding the Crisis"; and "Lessons and Possibilities" - Mad Cow Crisis assembles the perspectives of a range of experts on this strange and frightening phenomenon, with a view to helping us comprehend how and why such crises occur. Both a careful consideration of how we interpret risk and uncertainty and a step-by-step guide to managing public fear, this important book will interest anyone concerned with public health, communication, science, economics, and medicine.

This is the first volume in a series of course books for career students and exam candidates preparing for the Stage 1 exam of the British Horse Society. It includes an examination planner, in-text self-assessment questions, BHS syllabus checklist points throughout the text, and examination tips from BHS examiners including common mistakes made. This book deals with the stable management syllabus and the ridden elements of the test.

This lovable creature is on its way to being the third most popular companion animal after dogs and cats.

As beef and cattle production progressed in nineteenth-century America, the cow emerged as the nation's representative food animal and earned a culturally prominent role in the literature of the day. In Cattle Country Kathryn Cornell Dolan examines the role cattle played in narratives throughout the century to show how the struggles within U.S. food culture mapped onto society's broader struggles with colonization, environmentalism, U.S. identity, ethnicity, and industrialization. Dolan examines diverse texts from Native American, African American, Mexican American, and white authors that showcase the zeitgeist of anxiety surrounding U.S. identity as cattle gradually became an industrialized food source, altering the country's culture while exacting a high cost to humans, animals, and the land. From Henry David Thoreau's descriptions of indigenous cuisines as a challenge to the rising monoculture, to Washington Irving's travel narratives that foreshadow cattle replacing American bison in the West, to Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton's use of cattle to connect race and imperialism in her work, authors' preoccupations with cattle underscored their concern for resource depletion, habitat destruction, and the wasteful overproduction of a single breed of livestock. Cattle Country offers a window into the ways authors worked to negotiate the consequences of the development of this food culture and, by excavating the history of U.S. settler colonialism through the figure of cattle, sheds new ecocritical light on nineteenth-century literature.

Animal welfare issues are becoming increasingly prominent in animal production, for both economic and moral reasons. This book presents a clear understanding of the relationship between the welfare of major food animal species and their physiology, and the direct impact this has on meat quality. This new edition focuses on recent research and developments and also looks into welfare in aquaculture.

Despite all the efforts of development agencies, pastoral communities in Africa are no less vulnerable to drought, famine and environmental degradation than they were during the 1950s. Agencies working with pastoralists have concentrated on technical programmes to combat the threats but Julian Prior argues that their initiatives would be more sustainable if they were supported by social development which strengthened the institutional capacity of pastoral communities. Improved technologies should make a positive contribution to the security of pastoral peoples: food security, political security and the security of rights to land and water. Community development workers, for whom this book is written, have a major role to play in this process.

Dairy herd health is an important and universal topic in large animal veterinary practice and farming, covering both preventive medicine and health promotion. With the move towards large-scale farming, the health of the herd is important as an economic unit and to promote the health of the individuals within it. This book focuses on diseases within herds, herd husbandry practices, youngstock management and environmental issues. Major diseases and conditions are covered, including mastitis, lameness, nutrition, metabolic and common infectious diseases from a herd health perspective. It is an essential resource for veterinary practitioners and students, researchers and dairy industry personnel.

Students in animal science, industry personnel involved in the feeding of animals, and professionals working for feed-mixing companies will all benefit from this current, comprehensive package - a text on the economic and nutritional aspects of feed formulations that optimize nutritional content while minimizing costs. Animal Feed Formulation applies a well-tested, easy-to-use computer program called UFFDA that illustrates the principles of least-cost food formulation. Developed in a cooperative effort by the Departments of Poultry Science and Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Georgia, UFFDA is menu-driven software that has the editing capabilities of a spreadsheet program for altering the ingredient and nutrient matrix. The book begins by solving a simple ration-balancing problem, providing step-by-step instructions with the computer program that any user - even one without computer training - can readily follow. It then discusses specific feed formulation techniques in terms of their practical applications and economic implications. Included are such techniques as sensitivity analysis, parametric cost and nutrient ranging, optimum-density formulation, multi-blending, and risk analysis, among others. Applying these and other techniques using the special features of UFFDA, users can select the proper ingredients, adjust proportions among nutrients, determine which feeds might require scarce ingredients, consider the risks involved in dealing with ingredients with below-average compositions, and ultimately determine the costs and nutritional content of various feed formulations. The program can be applied to determining feed formulations for any animal, including sheep, beef and dairy cattle, swine, turkeys, broilers, catfish, and horses. Practitioners who are growing animals will be able to maximize the nutritional content of their feed while keeping costs down. Professionals working in feed-mixing companies will be able to maximize profits by offering products composed of low-cost ingredients that are also of good nutritional value. Students will gain a firm background in nutritional and economic concepts, insight into how to apply them to practical problems, and an understanding of the way good nutrition and good value can be achieved by applying the latest computer technology.

Archer B. Gilfillan was an anomaly. An Ivy League scholar with a broad knowledge of classical literature and a talent for writing, he nonetheless chose to herd sheep from 1916 to 1934 in a lonely, isolated part of the West. Out of this strange juxtaposition of expertise and experience, Gilfillan produced this classic narrative of American sheepherding.

First published in 1929, "Sheep: Life on the South Dakota Range" provides a personal, informative, and entertaining account of the western sheepherder. From blizzards to predatory wolves, from grass-crazed sheep in the springtime to penny-pinching bosses, Gilfillan misses nothing. He also volunteers his trenchant opinions on modern women, cowboys, and homesteaders--many of whom were his neighbors.
In his introduction, Richard W. Etulain, director of the Center for the American West at the University of New Mexico, describes Gilfillan's life and discusses the appeal of the wide-open West to an urban-industrial nation.

Breeding a Litter: The Complete Book of Prenatal and Postnatal Care is the most up-to-date and inclusive guide to breeding, whelping and placing puppies. There is a focus on making the most of the ""breeding experience"" in order to produce puppies who are physically and emotionally sound and go on to enjoy life and enrich the lives of the humans around them. This book contains the all-important basic knowledge necessary to serve as a foundation for the reality of firsthand experience. A clear and commonsense format shows everyone who is thinking about breeding a litter how to create the best possible environment for dogs, puppies and owners alike.
Beyond the basics, author Beth J. Finder Harris gives detailed information on selecting breeding stock, neonatal care, puppy development, social conditioning, and also fully addresses the aspects of breeders' responsibilities, contracts and puppy care instructions.
A Howell Dog Book of Distinction

This textbook provides an integrated view of beef cattle production with a systems based approach, discussing the interrelationships of a broad range of aspects with the overall goal of optimising cattle production. This book provides the background to allow cattle producers to match their production environments with genetic, management, and marketing opportunities for sustainable beef production globally. This logic and resulting considerations can then be tailored to address specific regional challenges and opportunities worldwide. Considerations and examples for extreme situations will be provided, such as very small herds, very large herds, communal-group situations, and minimal artificial input systems. This practical book will be important reading for upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students in animal and veterinary science, producers, extension workers and veterinarians.

In Praise of A "The Complete Book of Foaling"

"A must read for anybody who has ever thought about breeding a mare." --Judith Forbis, Ansata Arabian Stud

"Brilliantly writtenreads like a novel, yet beautifully organized so that you can flip to a section at a moment's notice if your mare is in trouble." --"Equus"

"This book should be included in every foaling kit. In fact, it should never sit on the bookshelf in the housekeep it in the barn where you can always get to it in a hurry!" --"Modern Horse Breeding"

"Right away the illustrations set this book apart from any other in its class. Dr. Hayes's ability to teach is the other distinctionshe has a knack for explaining things in such a way that you understand and remember, and the learning process is fun. I couldn't put the book down until I had read it cover to cover." --Walter Schimanski, Masada Arabians

The Howell Equestrian Library is a distinguished collection of books on all aspects of horsemanship and horsemastership. The nearly fifty books in print offer readers in all disciplines and at all levels of competition sound instruction and guidance by some of the most celebrated riders, trainers, judges and veterinarians in the horse world today. Whether your interest is dressage, show jumping or Western riding, or whether it's breeding, grooming or health care, Howell has a book to answer your needs. Get to know all the books in the Howell Equestrian Library: many are modern-day classics and have achieved the status of authoritative references in the estimation of those who ride, train and care for horses.
The Howell Equestrian Library

In the past sheep-rearing was the main means of existence for most Bedouin. Today it is developing in a new direction. For some it is as important as ever, for others it has become only a subsidiary source of income and a safeguard against economic instability. This volume looks at the effects social, political and economic change has had upon the traditional livelihood of the Negev Bedouin. The author considers how, despite all the problems encountered - such as the expropriation of land by the authorities and the demolition of authorized dwellings - sheep-rearing is still considered to be essential and worthwhile for almost all households. Co-operation between the owners of flocks, shepherds, food suppliers and government officials is essential in the determination of grazing areas and pastoral arrangements. These varied interest groups ensure that sheep-rearing continues to occupy an important place in the Bedouin's cultural identity and the flock remains a unifying factor for the Bedouin family and Israeli society.

This volume, a study of a transhumant cattle-raising community in Spain, is based on the extensive fieldwork at La Nava de San Miguel, a village in the province of Avila in central Spain. It shows the social and economic factors upon which the continued vitality of this mountain village is based: the use of communal summer pastures; the transhumant groups which walk the cattle to the winter pastures over the mountains; and the system of taking turns for many tasks within the village. The book analyzes the dichotomy between the more rigid organization of life within the village and the organization of life outside the village, in the transhumant group which goes to the winter pastures in Extramadura.

The welfare of egg-producing poultry is a topic of great concern to the poultry industry and to researchers in applied animal behaviour. It is also subject to increased legislation. Issues such as battery cages, space requirements, access to daylight and "free-range" eggs have attracted public interest. This book brings together edited papers from the 27th Poultry Science Symposium of the World's Poultry Science Association (UK Branch), held in Bristol in July 2003. Topics covered include: welfare issues, perception and cognition, behaviour, health and diseases, stockmanship and the environment, handling, slaughter and transport, and perspectives of consumers and producers.

HIS book is not intended as an exhaustive review T of facts. Its aim is rather the presentation of a bio logical approach to the phenomena of social behaviour. This type of approach was revived by Lorenz's pioneer studies. It is characterized by emphasis on the need for renewed and careful observation of the huge variety of social phenomena occurring in nature; by emphasis on a balanced study of the three main biological problems function, causation, evolution; by emphasis on an appro priate sequence of description, qualitative analysis, quanti tative analysis; and finally by emphasis on the need for continuous re-synthesis. The character of this approach, combined with the limitations of space, have determined this book's contents. Limits of space led to the omission of a great deal of de scrip tion. Thus, Deegener's voluminous work on fhe multitude of types of animal aggregations has not been discussed. Also, the highly specialized 'states' of social insects have not been treated in detail, since there are excellent books dealing exclusively with them."

The perfect gift for fans of All Creatures Great and Small, this is a charming collection of classic stories from James Herriot's much-loved books with insights into his life and work from his children Rosie and Jim. With astute observations and boundless humour, country vet Herriot captures the spirit of the Yorkshire Dales and of rural communities on the cusp of change, before tractors and machines had taken over and modern medicines and antibiotics transformed veterinary work. Along the way a beloved cast of characters emerges, from the squabbling brothers Tristan and Siegfried to Herriot's hapless courtship and eventual family life with Helen Anderson. But it's the animals which are at the heart of Herriot's stories. Whether he's dodging a raging bull on a risky artificial insemination assignment, becoming pen pals with Tricki Woo the spoilt Pikingese or the inevitable trials and tribulations of lambing season, there's never a dull moment in Herriot's company. At times moving and often laugh-out-loud funny, The Wonderful World of James Herriot will delight fans old and new.

Outlining the core principles of the subject, this introductory-level textbook covers the production of meat, its structure and chemical composition, meat quality and hygiene, and animal welfare, handling and slaughter. The new edition has been updated to cover significant advances such as the process of conditioning, leading to the tenderization of meat, and new coverage of the use of molecular genetic techniques to try to select animals for improved meat quality. It is an essential text for students and professionals in food science and technology, those working in the meat industry, meat inspectors, and vets.* New larger format in two colors throughout* Fully revised and updated including new coverage of genomics* Carefully selected references and titles for further reading

First published in 1964, Ruth Harrison's book "Animal Machines" had a profound and lasting impact on world agriculture, public opinion and the quality of life of millions of farmed animals. Concerned with welfare standards at a time when animal production was increasing in scale and mechanization, Ruth Harrison set about investigating the situation in a fair and even-handed way. Reporting her findings in this book, Harrison alerted the public to the undeniable suffering of calves living in veal crates and birds in battery cages. Written at the beginning of the intensive farming movement, which promised progress but in reality worsened conditions for domesticated animals, "Animal Machines" provides a fascinating insight into the system we are living with today and must continue with as the global population increases. Harrison's work brought about legal reforms, a greater understanding of farm conditions for animals and increased public awareness. "Animal Machines" is reprinted here in its entirety, accompanied by new chapters by world-renowned experts in animal welfare discussing the legacy and impact of "Animal Machines" 50 years on.

The pig played a key role in the German Democratic Republic's attempts to create a modern, industrial food system built on communist principles. By the mid-1980s, East Germany produced more pork per capita than West Germany and the UK, while also suffering the unintended consequences of manure pollution, animal disease, and rolling food shortages. The pig is a highly adaptive animal, and Thomas Fleischman uncovers three types of pig that played roles in this history: the industrial pig, remade to suit the conditions of factory farming; the wild boar, whose overpopulation was a side effect of agricultural development; and the garden pig, reflective of the regime's growing acceptance of private farming within the planned economy. Fleischman chronicles East Germany's journey from family farms to factory farms, explaining how communist principles shaped the adoption of industrial agriculture practices. More broadly, Fleischman argues that agriculture under communism came to reflect the practices of capitalist agriculture, and that the pork industry provides a clear illustration of this convergence. His analysis sheds light on the causes of the country's environmental and political collapse in 1989 and offers a warning about the high cost of cheap food in the present and future. Communist Pigs was a finalist for the Turku Book Award, European Society for Environmental History.

Stressing the importance of sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming practices, farmer Kelly Klober provides expert advice on making any size hog operation more efficient and profitable in Storey's Guide to Raising Pigs. The most comprehensive book available on the topic, this 4th edition features the most up-to-date practices, illustrated with colour photography. Both beginners and experienced farmers will find all the information they need to select, house, care for, breed, and butcher pigs, along with marketing advice.

"Within a day of receiving this book, I had consumed it... Absorbing, moving, and compulsively readable."-Lydia Davis In this affectionate, heart-warming chronicle, Rosamund Young distills a lifetime of organic farming wisdom, describing the surprising personalities of her cows and other animals At her famous Kite's Nest Farm in Worcestershire, England, the cows (as well as sheep, hens, and pigs) all roam free. They make their own choices about rearing, grazing, and housing. Left to be themselves, the cows exhibit temperaments and interests as diverse as our own. "Fat Hat" prefers men to women; "Chippy Minton" refuses to sleep with muddy legs and always reports to the barn for grooming before bed; "Jake" has a thing for sniffing the carbon monoxide fumes of the Land Rover exhaust pipe; and "Gemima" greets all humans with an angry shake of the head and is fiercely independent. An organic farmer for decades, Young has an unaffected and homely voice. Her prose brims with genuine devotion to the wellbeing of animals. Most of us never apprehend the various inner lives animals possess, least of all those that we might eat. But Young has spent countless hours observing how these creatures love, play games, and form life-long friendships. She imparts hard-won wisdom about the both moral and real-world benefits of organic farming. (If preserving the dignity of animals isn't a good enough reason for you, consider how badly factory farming stunts the growth of animals, producing unhealthy and tasteless food.) This gorgeously-illustrated book, which includes an original introduction by the legendary British playwright Alan Bennett, is the summation of a life's work, and a delightful and moving tribute to the deep richness of animal sentience.