Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle [Paperback]

Heather Smith Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Series: Getting Started With | Publication Date: July 1, 2005

With nearly every supermarket now featuring an “organic” section, the demand for organically grown meat and dairy products has risen rapidly in recent years. Small farmers have taken note, and many more beginners are considering cattle as a viable farm commodity. Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle is the essential handbook for this growing audience.

Heather Smith Thomas, a lifelong cattle rancher and author of several previous books for more experienced farmers, offers a succinct layperson’s guide to the basics of raising a small herd of cattle, whether for meat or dairy products. She outlines organic and natural farming methods and covers all the information needed to get started and be successful.

Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle encourages new and beginning farmers to start small, and start right. Thomas explains as simply as possible the basics of selecting and raising a calf, along with feeding, shelter, and care guidelines. She also covers breeding and calving, as well as tips for managing a herd throughout the seasons. There’s basic health care information for preventing disease and addressing common ailments. For those raising beef cattle, Thomas offers guidelines for butchering; for those raising dairy cattle, there are step-by-step guidelines on milking.

With a whole new generation returning to the farm who don’t have a family history of farming, Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattleis a much-needed resource. Heather Smith Thomas has devoted her life to passing on the knowledge, understanding, and attitude necessary to become a successful farmer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“…will help inexperienced farmers select the breed that is best-suited for their goals.”

– Angus Journal

 

“With the information in this book you can reap the pleasures and rewards of using your land to raise healthy, happy and productive animals.” – American Small Farm

 

About the Author

Heather Smith Thomas raises cattle and horses on her family ranch in Salmon, Idaho. She is the author of 10 books and thousands of articles on animal health care. Her books include Essential Guide to Calving, Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle, and Storey's Guide to Raising Beef Cattle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580175961
• ISBN-13: 978-1580175968
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Heather Smith Thomas grew up on a ranch near Salmon, Idaho.
She is the author of 20 books and thousands of articles on animal health care. Her books include Essential Guide to Calving, Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle, Storey's Guide to Raising Horses, Storey's Guide to Training Horses, The Horse Conformation Handbook, Care and Management of Horses, Stable Smarts, Understanding Equine Hoof Care, Beyond the Flames--A Family Touched by Fire, The Cattle Health Handbook and Storey's Guide to Raising Beef Cattle.
She began writing stories for children's magazines while still in high school and wrote articles for horse and farm publications to help pay her way through college (University of Puget Sound). She wrote her first book, A Horse in Your Life: A Guide for the New Owner, during the summer between her sophomore and junior year of college. She and her husband Lynn Thomas have been raising beef cattle and a few horses on their ranch in central Idaho since 1967. Most of her books and articles deal with horse or cattle health care, breeding, or handling. Her goal has been to learn all she can about the care of horses and cattle, and to share this with her readers. One of her books, however, discusses an entirely different subject. Beyond the Flames tells about her daughter's severe burn injury and how this changed their lives. For more information about that book, and updates on the Thomas family and their ranch life, see Heather's blogs at http://www.heathersmiththomas.blogspot.com and for short anecdotes about her experiences with some of the horses and cattle she has raised, see her author's blog at http://insidestorey.blogspot.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic--as usual!, December 13, 2006

By 

Sue Weaver - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle (Paperback)

I have a number of Heather Smith Thomas' horse books as well as Storey's Gude to Raising Cattle and I think this is one of Heather's best so far. As is typical of her writing (and Storey books in general), everything is presented in an orderly, interesting, and easily absorbed manner--the great illustrations are icing on the cake! I have only one bovine, a pet steer at that, yet the cattle care information in this volume was as applicable to my one steer as it would be to a herd of farmed beef cattle. This is by far the most useful small-scale cattlekeeping guide I've yet seen. Highly recommended!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, informative book, July 25, 2008

By 

Angela D. Thompson "Angie" (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle (Paperback)

This book was very informative for my neighbor and myself who bought 3 calves each to raise for beef. Feeding specifications were pretty general, but informative. See your local farmers coop for help picking out a good feed for your animals if you don't know what you are quite doing yet. Our local MFA proved to be very helpful.

The book has and EXCELLENT section on the health and wellness of your cow. I learned more than I would of ever imagined in this section of the book. There is a rather extensive section of book pertaining to dairy cows, which I read anyway and it was very informative.

The suggestions that were given in this book were very handy for an amatuer farmer such as myself. Would recommend for anyone buying/owning their cow!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative read--both for raising beef and dairy cattle, March 12, 2009

By 

BookBuff9293 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle (Paperback)

Though I haven't read any other cattle books to compare it to, I found Heather Smith Thomas's Getting Started with Beef and Dairy Cattle informative and surprisingly detailed for its size. Noticing the "Getting Started" part of the title, I expected the scope of this book to be considerably limited and read more like a Dummy's how-to guide. It was, in fact, anything but shallow. The detail put into the medical section was particularly impressive; Heather writes about numerous ailments that can afflict your cattle, including which cattle are the most susceptible, how to prevent it, and how to treat it. The book also includes a brief glossary, and concise descriptions and color photos of beef and dairy breeds.
Personally, I picked up this book for the dairy information, but actually found information within the beef chapters that applied to cattle management in general. (If you buy this book for the dairy or beef information exclusively, be sure to read the book in its entirety, rather than skip around.)
As another customer said, I wish Heather had been more detailed concerning nutrition. She's pretty general, discussing carbs and where they're found, for example, rather than giving you an idea of what cattle's daily diet might look like.
This book definitely has something to offer and is well worth looking into!