Imagine a weekend breakfast featuring eggs, bacon, and honey from your own chickens, pigs, and bees. Or a holiday meal with your own heritage-breed turkey as the main attraction. With The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals, even urban and suburban residents can successfully raise chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits, goats, sheep, cows, pigs, and honey bees. It’s easier than you think, and it can be done on small plots of land. This essential guide covers everything from selecting the right breeds to producing delicious fresh milk, cheese, honey, eggs, and meat. Whether you want to be more self-sufficient, save money, or just enjoy safer, healthier, more delicious animal products, you’ll find all the information you need in The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals.
The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals
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From the Back Cover
The Best Breakfast You'll Ever Eat, Courtesy of Your Backyard Animals:
Imagine the satisfaction of feeding your family wholesome eggs, milk, meat, and honey produced by animals raised organically and humanely in your backyard. On as little land as one-tenth of an acre, you can raise healthy, productive barnyard animals and take a big step toward food independence.
Learn how to:
The animal-raising companion to The Backyard Homestead.
- Gather fresh eggs for fluffy omelets.
- Stuff homemade sausages with meat.
- Fill your omelet with tangy, creamy cheese.
- Stir sweet honey into tea or coffee.
- Fry a steak or bacon as a savory side.
- Top off your meal with a cold glass of milk.
Imagine the satisfaction of feeding your family wholesome eggs, milk, meat, and honey produced by animals raised organically and humanely in your backyard. On as little land as one-tenth of an acre, you can raise healthy, productive barnyard animals and take a big step toward food independence.
Learn how to:
- Raise chickens in brooder boxes
- Determine the freshness of eggs hidden in the backyard
- Roast a duck or goose to perfection
- Make goat-milk yogurt
- Interpret everyday sheep behavior
- Harvest honey
- Raise your own Thanksgiving turkey
- Manage your beef cattle to produce the best-tasting meat
The animal-raising companion to The Backyard Homestead.
About the Author
Gail Damerow is the go-to chick gal. Her books have sold over 790,000 copies and include The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, and The Chicken Encyclopedia. Gail is the editor of Rural Heritage magazine and writes regularly for Backyard Poultry magazine and Dairy Goat Journal. She and her husband operate a family farm in Tennessee.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By Kristi C.
Format:Paperback
I am a big supporter of buying local, and while I do not live in an area where I can own most of these animals (except bees, currently), I found this resource to be comprehensive for someone either researching or getting started in small-scale farm animal raising.
Gail Damerow puts together a well-researched book on various farm animals that could be owned by people looking to find raise animals for food, but who do not necessarily have the space for a full farm. Each chapter takes a different animal and discusses what you may want to look for in breeds, housing, feed and basic health care for them. For instance, in the chapter on chickens there is a section on different breeds, how to collect eggs and check if they are good for eating, feeding, watering and housing your chickens, handling chickens in the coop and transporting them, and general health concerns. Additional chapters on other poultry such as turkeys and ducks follow.
Poultry isn't the only meat souce in this book. It includes from the smaller "keep a couple in your garage" rabbits to pigs to cows. Sections on the various cuts from the animals are listed, but no need to worry about the details of butchering. Those are recommended to be left to actual processors or other books. The chapters on milk providers, goats and cows, give general descriptions on breeding and milking the animals.
Beyond the individual animal chapters, I like the extras that are included. Similar to its predecessor, The Backyard Homestead, there are illustrations in the front showing how much you can actually support on one-tenth, one-fourth, or one-half an acre of land. The glossary is extensive but not overwhelming, the black and white line illustrations are descriptive and meaningful to the text, and the resources in the back supplement the strong foundation this reference creates.
The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals is a great source of information on chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits, goats, sheep, cattle, pigs and honey bees, all of which are quite suitable to the suburban, or, if you are fortunate enough to have zoning laws in your favor, urban resident. If you are looking into owning any of these animals, I definitely recommend adding this to your shelf.
Gail Damerow puts together a well-researched book on various farm animals that could be owned by people looking to find raise animals for food, but who do not necessarily have the space for a full farm. Each chapter takes a different animal and discusses what you may want to look for in breeds, housing, feed and basic health care for them. For instance, in the chapter on chickens there is a section on different breeds, how to collect eggs and check if they are good for eating, feeding, watering and housing your chickens, handling chickens in the coop and transporting them, and general health concerns. Additional chapters on other poultry such as turkeys and ducks follow.
Poultry isn't the only meat souce in this book. It includes from the smaller "keep a couple in your garage" rabbits to pigs to cows. Sections on the various cuts from the animals are listed, but no need to worry about the details of butchering. Those are recommended to be left to actual processors or other books. The chapters on milk providers, goats and cows, give general descriptions on breeding and milking the animals.
Beyond the individual animal chapters, I like the extras that are included. Similar to its predecessor, The Backyard Homestead, there are illustrations in the front showing how much you can actually support on one-tenth, one-fourth, or one-half an acre of land. The glossary is extensive but not overwhelming, the black and white line illustrations are descriptive and meaningful to the text, and the resources in the back supplement the strong foundation this reference creates.
The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals is a great source of information on chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits, goats, sheep, cattle, pigs and honey bees, all of which are quite suitable to the suburban, or, if you are fortunate enough to have zoning laws in your favor, urban resident. If you are looking into owning any of these animals, I definitely recommend adding this to your shelf.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By itsjustme
Format:Paperback
The Backyard Homestead is probably the best book available for those who'd like to become more self-sufficient when it comes to food. As you can see from my review of the book (here), most of that volume is dedicated to growing vegetables; there is far less information on raising livestock. However, the same publisher recently released The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals; this is unquestionably the best book on the market for those in the suburbs or country who like the idea of raising animals for eggs, milk, and meat, but aren't sure where to start.
The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals consists of one chapter each covering the topic of chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, rabbits, bees, goats, sheep, pigs, and cows. Each chapter lays out the basics of how to raise the animal, including housing and feeding requirements, and how to keep the critters healthy. There are also tips on choosing an appropriate breed, keeping predators at bay, and general ideas on whether or not you're likely to save money raising your own.
The editor, Gail Damerow, also offers a visual on how much room is needed to raise certain animals through three drawings at the front of the book. Each offers an idea of how a homestead could proceed, showing how properties (each with a typical house and a veggie garden) could be laid out. For example, on the smallest property (1/10th of an acre), bees, rabbits, and chickens are shown. On the largest property (1/2 an acre), bees, rabbits, pigs, waterfowl, poultry, and 1 cow or 2 steers and either 2 goats or 2 lambs, are suggested.
At the center of the book is a folded color chart picturing the most common breeds raised for food; while this is pretty, I didn't find it very useful - although I did like how some small silhouettes at the bottom of the chart give an idea of the size of each breed mentioned. Aside from this, my only real complaint about the book is that it rarely address difficulties urban homesteaders face, like coming up with space, keeping kids safe, and addressing the concerns of neighbors.
But despite certain limitations, this is still is the best book I've found on the topic. It's clearly not meant to be the only book you'll want on how to raise your backyard livestock. You can and should read as many books as possible on how to raise the animals you select. But The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals is an great one stop source for making decisions about which animals you can - in all practicality - raise in the suburbs or country. I recommend it!
Kristina Seleshanko, Proverbs Thirty One Woman
The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals consists of one chapter each covering the topic of chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, rabbits, bees, goats, sheep, pigs, and cows. Each chapter lays out the basics of how to raise the animal, including housing and feeding requirements, and how to keep the critters healthy. There are also tips on choosing an appropriate breed, keeping predators at bay, and general ideas on whether or not you're likely to save money raising your own.
The editor, Gail Damerow, also offers a visual on how much room is needed to raise certain animals through three drawings at the front of the book. Each offers an idea of how a homestead could proceed, showing how properties (each with a typical house and a veggie garden) could be laid out. For example, on the smallest property (1/10th of an acre), bees, rabbits, and chickens are shown. On the largest property (1/2 an acre), bees, rabbits, pigs, waterfowl, poultry, and 1 cow or 2 steers and either 2 goats or 2 lambs, are suggested.
At the center of the book is a folded color chart picturing the most common breeds raised for food; while this is pretty, I didn't find it very useful - although I did like how some small silhouettes at the bottom of the chart give an idea of the size of each breed mentioned. Aside from this, my only real complaint about the book is that it rarely address difficulties urban homesteaders face, like coming up with space, keeping kids safe, and addressing the concerns of neighbors.
But despite certain limitations, this is still is the best book I've found on the topic. It's clearly not meant to be the only book you'll want on how to raise your backyard livestock. You can and should read as many books as possible on how to raise the animals you select. But The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals is an great one stop source for making decisions about which animals you can - in all practicality - raise in the suburbs or country. I recommend it!
Kristina Seleshanko, Proverbs Thirty One Woman
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By happymommi
Format:Paperback
I bought this book with a giftcard and probably would have never bought it had I not - but I'm surprising pleased. It has a nice thourogh overview over several popular backyard animals. The chick care is good although it refers you to Gail's other book on raising chicks for more in-depth stuff (like incubating eggs at home.) I loved the section on goats and learned some new things that I didn't know before - even after owning one, going through kidding with her and now milking her for 4 months, which I think is impresive. There is also a full color pull out poster type chart in the middle of the book which I think is a nice touch - it helps to see and read sometimes. I am very glad I have this book and have learned alot from it. I have had it stacked with my encyclopedia of country living by Carla Emery which says a lot - however, I won't compare those books, it is a good book to add to your library.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wish I had bought this years ago
I have several Country skills books but all have been lacking until this one. I was raised country but needed some REMINDERS on many things. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Bkind
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding Resource Book
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is think about or are raising their own animals. You will have all the critical information you will need right at your finger... Read more
Published 1 month ago by William L. Kennedy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!
I think this book is awesome for someone just looking into homesteading - It's very informative, has pictures so you can better understand, and gives you some good ideas if you're... Read more
Published 1 month ago by FarmerBen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good info!
This is a great book not only for the beginner but also the experienced homesteader. There's always better ways of doing things, and this book is full of them. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jennifer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly Great, but Not Hugely Original
This book is a useful reference, and I have referred to it more than once, That said, It is basically no more than a culling of info from other sources. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jolene
4.0 out of 5 stars
covers alot of material
This book will get you started... it covers alot of material, if you find a particular type(s) of animal you want to raise, I would recommend getting a book more in-depth to that... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Richard
5.0 out of 5 stars
farming
Very readable. Gave to my son and daughter-in-law. principles can be quickly applied as they have just built there first raised bed from cinder blocks and are ready to plant this... Read more
Published 2 months ago by newgranny52
5.0 out of 5 stars
great for people wanting to get animals
This is a fun book, it's got info on all the farm animals and is detailed. I've learned a lot about each animal, but I definitely recommend reading more books or websites about a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by gracie ridenour
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Backyard Guide to Raising Farm animals
Has a lot of general information! Is useful. I will be using this as a general reference book. The Backyard Guide to Raising Farm Animals is a good addition to your library.
Published 3 months ago by dixiemama
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this book!
I have a small farm and wanted to get a comprehensive book on different farm animals. It explains every aspect of raising a multitude of animals in a easy to understand manner... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dianna
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