Living with Goats: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Herd [Hardcover]

Margaret Hathaway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2009

Replete with friendly advice, homespun wisdom, and entertaining anecdotes, Living with Goats offers reassurance of just how easy and rewarding it is to raise goats.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Year of the Goat:

 

Reading Margaret and Karl’s delightful journey reminded me of the ideals that brought many of us at Moosewood together over thirty years ago. Margaret Hathaway’s spirited storytelling and off-beat humor not only reawakened my own memories of adventurous times, but revealed that the dream to go “back to the land” to lead a simpler life is alive and flourishing. And boy did I learn a lot about goats and cheese! --Wynnie Stein, co-owner/author, Moosewood Restaurant

 

“Back-to-the-land fantasies aren’t new, but Hathaway gives theirs a modern twist by emphasizing “terroir,” the idea that “food is rooted in the land,” and of connecting “the palate to the place.” Local-eating, slow-food activists will find much to chew on here.”

—Publishers Weekly

 

"Hathaway's descriptions of the various characters they meet - both human and goat - are funny and vivid. . . . This is a book for anyone who's ever imagined going back in time to a simpler life - or anyone who loves cheese." --Entertainment Weekly

 

"Hathaway pokes fun at her naive notions of rural life with a sly humor that nicely balances the naked earnestness of the endeavor. The details of animal husbandry and cheese production will intrigue those interested in foods origins, and many readers, particularly city dwellers, will also be captured by the personal story of a young couples unusually thoughtful efforts to build a meaningful life together." --Booklist

From the Inside Flap

Ever thought of raising a goat (or two, or twenty)? If you already do, you’re not alone. This age-old practice is enjoying a renewed popularity, and for good reason. The goat is one of nature’s most incredibly versatile creatures. With proper care and attention, a goat can feed, clothe, and comfort you. It can thrive on one acre or one thousand and can adapt to virtually any climate. It can show you immense affection. Other times, it can be the most stubborn, mischievous, and maddening animal in the barnyard or cauliflower patch.

In Living with Goats, author Margaret Hathaway and photographer Karl Schatz show and tell everything you need to know about raising goats. With the same lively prose and charming color photos that marked their widely praised memoir,  The Year of the Goat, they address a wide range of topics—including breed characteristics, raising goats for milk or meat, shelter requirements, how to prevent injury and illness, and goats as pets.

Replete with friendly advice, homespun wisdom, and entertaining anecdotes, Living with Goats offers reassurance of just how easy and rewarding it is to raise goats. Whether you’re an armchair farmer, a hobbyist, a do-it-yourselfer, or already a proud goat-owner, it is the ultimate guide to your own backyard herd.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159921492X
• ISBN-13: 978-1599214924
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book for getting started and for those considering goats, August 4, 2010

By 

Blue Jay (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living with Goats: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Herd (Hardcover)

After reading 'The Year of the Goat', I was anxious to read this book by the same author. She writes with admirable objectivity about everything from culling your goats to the love you may come to feel for them. Everything in between is covered too, such as kidding, feeding, cheese-making, and the question of de-budding. Please see Karl Schatz's response to the very biased and unfair review titled 'not sure what to think?' regarding the controversial horns-or-no-horns issue.

The photography is all color, informative, professional, and extensive. I highly recommend this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for anyone considering owning and rearing goats..., May 24, 2011

By 

Frederick Dunn "The Fellowship Of The Feather" (Rural Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Living with Goats: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Herd (Hardcover)

I read all the reviews here prior to purchasing Living with Goats...
I was not disappointed in the least.

As a long time Urban Sustainable Living practitioner and descendant from three generations of Vermont Dairy Farmers, I found this book to be very helpful in my preparation for a small goat herd.
As with any new venture, I collect knowledge in person and from books prior to taking any practical action. Along with this book, I purchased Pygmy Goats Management and Veterinary Care by Lorrie Boldrick DVM (very thorough on treatment of health and disease) and Hobby Farms GOATS by Sue Weaver (decent introduction to goats).

If I were to distil my goat information library to just one bound resource, I would have to say (for my needs) that this hard bound volume by Margaret Hathaway would be the one...

The author is articulate, well written, hands on and presents thoroughly researched information in every chapter and on all of what I consider to be the most important subjects relevant to the soon to be, or new goat owner. I waited two years for my goats and have visited several breeders and goat superintendents at county fairs during that time. I referred to this book when I found information from goat folks to be in conflict and it certainly helped settle the issues and form my own opinions.

I found the referrals for more information and goat related equipment to be extremely valuable also... the Author's bare bones honesty relevant to mistakes and successes will be very valuable to those who have not yet taken the plunge with goats.

The importance of solid escape proof fencing, housing requirements and level of commitment by the goat herder are critical considerations and have been covered in this book with great clarity, presented in an entertaining way.

Money well spent for 198 pages of very beneficial information and a tip of the lens cap to Karl Schatz for the excellent photographic work!

Quality hard bound book... a good read and excellent resource no matter what breed of goat you are thinking about.

I could find no fault with any of the information presented in this book.

41 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not sure what to think?, September 26, 2009

By 

cooking bear (the center of the USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Living with Goats: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Herd (Hardcover)

I received this book in the mail yesterday and am still not quite sure what to think about it. The book itself is very slick and pretty, the photography and lay out is perfect in every detail. The information presented in the book seems to be pretty factual, but I do have one question. Why do ex-city folks who move to the country for a couple of years always have to write about things as if they've been doing them a lifetime? Personally, I would be more likely to take the advice of someone who has kept goats for 10-20 years over someone who has had them 2-3 years and decided they knew enough to write a book. Case in point, the horned or dehorned issue. The writer goes on at length about how much more beautiful and natural a goat looks with horns, but pretty much glosses over the negative effects of having horned goats in the intensive conditions that most milk goats are kept in. She doesn't mention much about goats dying because they've gotten their horns caught in a fence and then eaten alive by predators. Or the dangers to the goatkeeper when working closely with horned goats in tight spaces. Not to mention how difficult it is to sell high quality horned goats for what they are worth, except on the meat market. Many reputable breeders won't touch a horned goat with a ten foot pole. The author may and probably does have a lot of good solid information to offer in this book, however, I personally would be more likely to take her advice did she have more years of hands on goatkeeping experience. I think this book would have been better done had she written about her experiences with the early years of goatkeeping, a journal type book like her first one, rather than a how-to book.