Customer Reviews

The Goat Handbook (Barron's Pet Handbooks)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This reference book on goats is not the best I've seen, but has some very nice points to it. It is out of date in several areas, the most important being the issue of mineral supplementation (the problem with copper being the most glaring.) But that info can be found in other places, like newslists on the Internet and so on.

The book is smaller than most, with only 93 pages, but has some very nice illustrations and photos. The topics covered include: Buying Goats; Housing and Equipment; Feeding; Care and Management; Health Maintenance and Sickness; Breeding and Raising Young; Goat Products; and Goat Breeds of the World.

All in all this is an ok book, but should not be the primary resource for someone entering into raising goats.

The author states "When using mineral feed for goats you must be careful that it is free of copper...mineral feed for sheep also conforms to the requirements for goats" Not true. Sheep must not have copper, but goats do need it.

The New Goat Handbook is only one of many books I've read on caring for goats as pets. This book is by far the best in my opininion because the writer covers all topics in great detail. Many topics are covered more than once as he covers related subjects. It makes for very interesting reading and sucessfully answers even your crazy and small questions. I really recommend this book.If you were only to buy one book on goat keeping, this should be the one.

This book is great if you want to know how to raise goats in Europe, please don't get me wrong, I am from Germany and I have nothing against how things are done there, but the way the book discribes the keeping of goats is not the way it is done in the U.S. There is a big different in how goats are raised for meat versus how people raise them for show/milk or even just a for pets with or without horns. No real serious breeder of a Dairy goat in the U.S. would keep horns on a goat or even let the kids nurse. On the other hand most Meat goat breeder will not dehorn their goat and are upset if they have a goat they have to bottlefeed. There are many different ways to keep goats in the U.S. and they are not adequately discribed in this book.

Even thought there is a part where they discribe the "Goats of the world" the breeds discribed in the "Buying Goats" do not represent the popular goat breeds available in the U.S. For example for the choice of milking goat, they only give a choice of white Saanen and colored Saanen and no other breed is recomended. Yes, one really popular goat breed for milk in the U.S. is the white Saanen goat and in the U.S., the white ones are just called Saanen and the colored Saanen are called Sable, and Sable goats are not that easy to come by in the U.S. The most popular goat breed known for its really good tasting milk, the Anglo Nubian goat (usually just called Nubian goat), is not mentioned in this part of the book. Also in the U.S. the climate can be from tropical to very cold and some goats are better suited for colder or warmer climate and this is also not covered in the "Buying Goats" chapter, since the climate in Germany where this book is written doesn't differ in termperature like it does in the U.S.

In Germany not many different types of medication are available over the counter and there you have to go to the vet to get most medications, and here in the U.S. you can get a lot of things you would need to treat the most common illnesses right in your local feed store.

The same with dehorning and castratin goats, the animal protection laws are a lot stricter in Europe and dehorning and castrating of goats is usually not done by the farmer in Germany, but taken to a veterinarian. Here in the U.S., of course you can take your goat to the vet for this, but most breeders will do it themselves.

There is a lot of good information in this book, that is the same in all countries like how goats will rather eat weeds/trees instead of grass or how they digest their food. But many other things, are just not the same in the U.S.

I could go on and on how things normally done in the U.S. are not discribed, but I would have to write my own book to cover all of it. The bottom line is, I do not think that this is the right book to get for a novice that doesn't know what is available in the feed stores or wants to know about what goat to get if they live in the U.S. But I do think it is a good book to get if you already have goats and would like to know how other countries take care of goats or like to read some information that you look at with a open mind and pick what might work for you.

If you're looking for a livestock giftbook for a child under 15 years of age, buy this book. It is an easy read, full of excellent photos, and, here and there, it has some useful tips.

Otherwise, get Raising Meat Goats For Profit and/or Goat Husbandry.

This is an excellent manual for new owners of goats. Everything is in here from cradle to grave. I have raised goats my entire life and I even learned a couple of things from this wonderful book. While I had some minor disagreements with some things here and there, I felt that the book was 99% accurate in its content. While I don't eat goat meat myself, I am told that the recipes are excellent.

This is the book that prompted my deep interest in goat care practices. From the beautiful illustrations to the insightful text, it demonstrated clearly how to make sure your goat stays healthy. The section on breeding was particularily comprehensive. I reccomend it to anyone with my kind of devotion to his or her goat!

I bought my first goats about a year ago. 1 Female Nubian and 4 pygmy's 2 female and 2 males. When I asked the breeder that I bought them from what reading material she suggested she insisted that I buy this book.

I must say for the price it is definitely more then worth it. I read it all the way through when I first bought my goats and still turn to it today for quick information on how to handle the common situations that arise with having goats.

Great book for the first time owner. Should be on anyone's shelf that is considering buying goats.

I bought my first goats a little over a year ago. This book was a good start up book that covered the basics of goatkeeping. I referred to it many times. One criticism would be that I would like to see more in depth coverage of the individual breeds.

The New Goat Handbook updates and remedies most of the deficiencies of its predecessor, The Old Goat Handbook. While goats' housing, care and feeding needs have changed little since the days of Homer, recent veterinary research has made great strides in the field of goat health and fitness. The special new chapter on using goat milk, meat and hair offers useful and valuable information, but I object to the book's strictly utilitarian approach to goating. Goats are also beautiful, intelligent animals that make loving, loyal companions.