Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 192 pages
- Published by: Storey Publishing, LLC January 10, 1999
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 1580171621
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-1580171625
-
Book Dimensions:
10.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
- Weighs: 1.5 pounds
Product Description
Starting a small-scale livestock farm? First, you need this book! Yes, you can have a prosperous farm and achieve the lifestyle of your dreams ; and farming expert Carol Ekarius will show you how. Small farms can pay big dividends, Ekarius explains, but hard work alone isn't enough: Success demands knowledge and effective management. Ekarius's natural, organic approach to livestock management produces healthier animals, reduces feed and healthcare costs, and maximizes your profit. Through case studies of successful farmers, nitty-gritty details on every facet of livestock farming, and fascinating insights for working with nature instead of against it, you'll learn to make your farm thrive. Small-Scale Livestock Farming will help you: * Determine what you want from your farming life (even if your farm is simply a few backyard animals) * Choose suitable livestock * Understand housing, fencing, and feeding requirements of livestock * Learn about reproducing stock and caring for your animals' hea
Back Cover Copy
Starting a small-scale livestock farm? First, you need this book!
Yes, you can have a prosperous farm and achieve the lifestyle of your dreams -- and farming expert Carol Ekarius will show you how. Small farms can pay big dividends, Ekarius explains, but hard work alone isn't enough: Success demands knowledge and effective management.
Ekarius's natural, organic approach to livestock management produces healthier animals, reduces feed and healthcare costs, and maximizes your profit. Through case studies of successful farmers, nitty-gritty details on every facet of livestock farming, and fascinating insights for working with nature instead of against it, you'll learn to make your farm thrive.
Small-Scale Livestock Farming will help you:
* Determine what you want from your farming life (even if your farm is simply a few backyard animals)
* Choose suitable livestock
* Understand housing, fencing, and feeding requirements of livestock
* Learn about reproducing stock and caring for your animals' health
* Investigate conventional and cutting-edge market strategies
* Create a complete financial and biological farm plan
* Make decisions that are good for you, for your animals, and for your land
Reader Reviews"No one plans to fail. Yet so many people, particularly in the agriculture, fail at what they try to do. Beginning farmer and third-generation family farmers often suffer from the same types of failures, and those failures usually lead to jobs in town." We Springers are fifth generation Colorado ranchers. We are trying desperately not to go belly up. We want a sixth generation to know the joys of watching a calf come into this world, drink the product from a cow they milked, smell alfalfa in bloom, herd the cattle to summer pasture and sleep sound after a hard day of solid work Yet, we no longer have a home place. We are living off leases; we are displaced ranchers. We have been muddling along going to seminars (a little disjointed) trying to find out how to stay in this industry. This book put it all together, what we know, what we learned and what we are learning. It put a lot of things in focus for us. We had thought of the beginning farmers as green horns; horning in on our way of life. This sounds a bit corny but I think they might just save us: Save America from corporate agriculture. Our land will be healthier and so will the population that lives off of it. I believe for the beginner this book is a must. We, multi-generation ranchers have our own language-chickens go on strike, (stop laying), breachy cows (ones that jump fences), in heat (estrus cycle)-that don't make apparent sense. Yet, Carol spells it all out for them. She gives a general heads up about normal health problems, giving examples that range for the simple cure to a bit more technical maneuvers. She further dabbles in alternative health practices. The book lays the ground work for understanding resource books like the Stockman's Handbook. Inevitably someday a shot will have to be given, a calve tubed or a lambs tail docked. Reading about all this will alleviate the cluelessness of standing around hopping from foot to foot, waiting for an experienced neighbor, or vet to show up. The big secret revealed, for us is in section three, which focuses on marketing. This one opened our eyes. We read it first, then reread it, went to more seminars, and now are making a working plan. Carol wrote, "To really maximize income, the small-scale framer or rancher needs to develop some alternative marketing strategies." We feel like this dream of a sixth generation can now fall into the arena of attainable goal. We have been sold this ideal that we feed the world with the help of big business. Not all true. We can directly sell our product to the consumer. We supply a healthier product at a reasonable price and we actually get to make a profit, what a novel idea. "On the average, conventional marketing strategies leave the farmer with far less than half the money that the consumer spend on meat and dairy products." Carol wrote. Actually in Colorado the farm and rancher receives about six percent of the amount consumers spend. (Statistic taken from the 2001 Governor's Agricultural Summit). In closing I have to say that the really cool thing about this book is the farmer profiles. The I have done it, so thus you can create a version that works for you too. "The future belongs to those who can give hope to succeeding generations", Vatican II.
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