The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals: Choose the Best Breeds for Small-Space Farming, Produce Your Own Grass-Fed Meat, Gather Fresh ... Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, Pigs, Cattle, & Bees Paperback – March 23, 2011

Has an extensive amount of information.

This book is bigger and much longer than I was expecting. It goes animal by animal, with a few lumped together when it makes sense, and goes over all the basic things you would need or want to know before starting out with that animal. It’s not something that I would use as a reference book or even as a guide once an animal has been acquired but it’s invaluable as a source of information on each animal. It has given me the information I need to make informed decisions as to which animals will be right for our family farm and which might be too much work or wouldn’t thrive on our land.Each section details different breeds, how to acquire them, what to look for in a good animal, what to watch out for in selecting animals, what they eat, how to house them, common diseases and health conditions with their treatments, what types of land they do well and as well as climate considerations per breed, and output as far as power/meat/eggs/milk and other uses like goats used for clearing weeds. It’s very through yet is not written like a textbook. It’s written in an easy to read format where there are blurbs of information separates by pictures and boxes of other info to make the reading anything but monotonous.

Starting to homestead? Don’t know where to start? START BY GETTING THIS BOOK! Literally so many books condensed into this book with easy to understand explanations about everything farm related. Sooo so so good!

We have a smaller (fourteen acre) homestead and have a lot of animals. We used to be city people. This book has helped us transition nicely into homesteading and has been so informative and helpful! When we acquire this knowledge, we are a lot less scared. (ha)

This is a really good book for people who are wanting to start their own little homestead. However, I'll start with the negatives, first of all, while the author does a really good job of explaining the basics I personally would have liked it to be dumbed down a little bit more. I will admit that that may be due to my own personal ignorance of farm animals. I've read the chapters on chickens, turkeys, and pigs so far, and while I gained a lot of information I still have a lot of questions on each topic.Another negative would be that it was a little bit disorganized in my opinion. For instance, the chapter on pigs goes from butchering and bests temps for freezing your meat back to pig illnesses and health. Not a big deal, but just didn't really make a lot of sense to me.She did a great job of answering the question of what to feed? However, I wish it touched a little bit more on organically raised meat/eggs, etc.Finally, the illustrations are a negative (they are also a positive). The illustrations that are in the book are great I just wish that there were more. There were a few places where she discussed building something or making something and I couldn't quite picture it in my head and the author didn't provide a picture for it so it's something that I just can't wrap my head around.Now the positives of the book are that it is really easy to read for the most part. And besides that it is really fun to read. The author also points you toward others books on specific topics that go more in depth (such as butchering at home) and that was very helpful.I loved the pictures that were included as I said before. Also, I liked the fact that she gave some detailed examples (all approximated of course) of the prices for feeds, etc) it is obviously clear that you won't get rich from homesteading :-)In a nutshell, I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, however I would also suggest you get a few others to read and compare to ensure you are getting a well rounded education when it comes to homesteading.

This book has a broad range of useful information and I highly recommend it for someone who needs that. If you are starting a homestead, this book is an excellent place to start.However. If you are only trying to raise rabbits, be advised that this book takes generously from Storeys Guide and you won't get much new information from this if you already have that. If, however, rabbits are just one part of your overall plan, then this book is worth it and covers most of what you'll get from Storeys.

As novice, small-scale farmers, we needed an in-depth book about animals. We already had great books like Storey's Basic Country Skills and The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It, which helped us get going in every other area, but both are short in information about animals. The Backyard Homestead looked good on the sample pages, and the price was good, so we took a chance. It is PERFECT for what we needed.The book gives in-depth, easy to follow information about every aspect of the basic farm animals, from conception to the table. We are very happy with our purchase.

I am loving this book. Each section is very organized and clear to read. The book gives lots of detail but is still easy for a beginner to read. I feel like after reading some of the sections I could just start now without even picking up another book. I think it would also be helpful for someone who already has a base knowledge of some farm animals but would like to freshen their knowledge or have everything in a concise location. Anyway, it is absolutely perfect for a beginner and I have really enjoyed reading it. It is not filled with a lot of technical information that would perhaps make it a boring read, but instead stays lively and interesting. The author even adds in a little humor at times. I have since bought other books by this author, but have yet to read them. I am trying to think of a con, but I really can't!