The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals

by Damerow, Gail; Bonney, Richard E.; Klober, Kelly; Salsbury, Darrell L.; Sanford, Malcolm T.

• ISBN13: 9781603429696
• ISBN10: 1603429697
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-23
• Publisher: Storey Books

Summary

When the backyard homestead was published in 2009, it found a big audience of DIY-ers who wanted to use whatever space they had to grow and raise their own food. The phenomenal success of that book, with over 125,000 copies in print in less than two years, shows a growing demand for solid information on raising produce and meat for personal consumption. Now, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals goes a step further in filling this need. Targeted to urban and suburban readers who may be new to animal raising, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals is a compendium of information on chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits, goats, sheep, cattle, pigs, and honey bees--all of which are suitable for smallscale backyard food production. Readers will learn exactly how to raise these animals successfully, from selecting the right breeds for the space and resources available to producing delicious cheese, honey, milk, eggs, and meat. Comprehensive and detailed, yet readable and fun, the book includes hundreds of helpful line drawings. It also offers an appealing foldout color section illustrating the breds most suitable for backyard life, along with breed profiles for each animal. Whether readers want to raise animals for self-sufficiency, to save money, or just to enjoy healthier, safer, tastier animal products, they'll get the information and confidence they need in The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals.

Author Biography

Gail Damerow has written extensively on raising chickens and other livestock, growing fruits and vegetables, and related rural know-how in more than a dozen books, including What’s Killing My Chickens? and the best-selling Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, The Chicken Encyclopedia, The Chicken Health Handbook, and Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks. Damerow is a contributor to Chickens and Hobby Farms magazines and a regular blogger for Cackle Hatchery. She lives in Tennessee with her husband, where they operate a family farm with poultry and dairy goats, a sizable garden, and a small orchard. Visit her online at gaildamerow.com.
 

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface
Introducing Backyard Farm Animals
How Many Animals Can You Keep?
Chickens
Turkeys
Ducks & Geese
Rabbits
Honey Bees
Goats
Sheep
Pigs
Dairy Cows & Beef Cattle
Glossary
Resources
Credits
Index