Customer Reviews

Raising a Calf for Beef

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I'm sorry Phyllis, but I'm going to have to slam this book hard against the ground. I bought it at the local Co-Op at a time when I desparately needed important details for raising a small herd of beef calves. But the details just weren't there leaving me feel burned for the.. money.. I spent. Assuming a person is raising one little perfect calf - then the book will maybe get them through. But important information about eye problems, footrot, branding (what if your calf runs off?), giving shots (like, how do you get a calf on the ground to medicate it..not all calves will let you just poke a needle in them), and parasites are omitted or dismissed with the advice to "call the vet." I just couldn't figure out what to do next from reading the book - cover to cover, and that's not what you need for a book like this. It's not a practical guide for the events that actually happen when raising calves. For example, Ms. Hobson goes through the details of blending a delicious grain ration from homegrown gardens for your one calf. Isn't it far more practical and realistic to buy inexpensive pre-mixes from a feed store when you need them? Can you really replace in time and effort the economies of scale of Nebraska grown corn with your little garden? Why waste the time? Similarly, she advises growing hay - but she leaves the reader on their own to figure out how to get it in a bale. Again, for one calf? However, The book is excellent on one topic: slaughtering. Half the book is devoted to it. If you want to heave up a carcass in your driveway (instead of hiring a butcher), you can probably find a way to do it with the excellent instructions in the book. Again, practical tips, like what to do with the hide, aren't included for some reason in the otherwise excellent step-by-step butchering directions. In conclusion, Ms. Hobson's book has too few details for practical application on a living calf...meaning that if you buy this book, you'll probably need to buy another one as soon as you get your hands dirty.

I feel this book left me with more unanswered questioned than answers. What should I expect from the calf? How do I get it from place of purchase to the field? What do I do with the left-over animal parts from butchering? Where do I get the calf? Would it be better to buy a heifer? What are the advantages?

This book is outdated in regards to the current movement towards grass finished beef and was likely printed well before the now well known health benefits of grass finished beef. However, the author totally blows off all grass-fed beef as vastly inferior to grainfed from birth beef. The amount of grain she recommends is not only now very expensive, but also unnecessary and unhealthy. The butchering section is pretty good, however, for such a short book.