Customer Reviews

Exotics on the Range: The Texas Example (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment)

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This is it. The best resource for exotic livestock, period. Although it focuses on Texas, the information contained herein is applicable to most regions. It goes into great detail regarding land carrying capacity, fencing requirements, nutritional needs and health concerns/diseases/parasites. The history of exotics in Texas is examined, as well as distribution of various species throughout the state. But the real appeal of this book is the depth in which individual species are detailed. The most popular hoofstock are here, of course: axis, fallow, red and sika deer; blackbuck, addax, scimitar, nilgai and eland antelope; ibex, mouflon; markhor and aoudad sheep/goats; and many other species that are either failed experiments or novelties.

Whether you're a student doing research or a farmer/rancher looking for a way to escape the heartache/headache of cattle, this is the best book you could hope to find.

We have read and reread parts of this book. It is an excellent reference. We raise Red Deer, Axis Deer, Blackbuck Antelope, Fallow Deer, Whitetail Deer and Barbado Sheep and all are covered very well by the book. In addition, the book helped me to calculate the carrying capacity of our ranch.

As a student, this book was very helpful for my research paper on Texas mammals. I recommend it to anyone interested in Texas wildlife.

I have Axis, Blackbuck and Fallow on my ranch. Other than brief synopsis on the net its very hard to find in depth detailed info. This is perfect and its provides the historical and biological information I have needed. It's well written, readable and gives all aspects. It far exceeded my expectations. I also appreciate that its hard bound for long term repeated use.

This book is hands down, THE VERY BEST book on this subject. It covers the management, fencing, handling, health, nutrition, hybridization, income options, overall care, and reproduction of numerous exotic species. It also has appendixes dealing with range carry capacity (very interesting), conversions, comparisons, and parasites. The photos are beautiful and the pages are glossy. The information covers common species such as Axis, Blackbuck & Aoudad (to name just a few) to the more exotic species such as Kudu, Eland, Markhor, Sable, and Barasingha (again, just a few). Information on some of these rare antelope species is harder to find then they are. If you are serious about big game ranching, then this is a MUST HAVE!!!!