A Field Guide to Cows: How to Identify and Appreciate America's 52 Breeds (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The spots usually cover about 50 percent of the cow's body, but actual coverage may range from all to none (i.e., from an all-white cow..." (more)
Key Phrases: dairy traits, beef conformation, breed society, United States, Bull's Average Weight, Butt's Average Weight (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In A Field Guide to Cows, John Pukite provides all the facts--so even the novice can identify and get to know America's fifty-two breeds of cattle. Every entry in this entertaining yet completely usable book features an illustration that highlights each breed's most easily identifiable traits, such as coloration pattern and body shape. The book includes a checklist of breeds so the die-hard cow watcher can keep track of sightings, a list of essential garb and gear for cow watching, a glossary of terms, a listing of breeder associations, and more. Fascinating cow trivia is interspersed throughout. Informative, amazing, and amusing, A Field Guide to Cows is the indispensable companion for would-be cow tippers, farmers, city folk, agriculturalists, interstate drivers, 4-H'ers, vacationing families, and everyone who likes to moo at cows.
Cow Facts
* There are approximately 350 squirts in a gallon of milk
* Old cows in India have their own nursing homes
* From 1866 to 1895 cowboys drove about 10,000,000 cattle out of Texas

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 9th Printing edition (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140273883
• ISBN-13: 978-0140273885
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 7.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,658 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Word of Mouth Advertising Works With Cow Books, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

I live, with four widely spaced neighbors in 20 miles, in the high desert 84 miles east of San Diego. No one in their right mind lives out here unless they are in the coyotes/cows category as we evidently are. Today I had to go into town, and on the lonely road through miles of ranchland I saw a white VW camper like mine stopped alongside the road. I approached it slowly to try to see if it were an intentional or accidental stop. The guy in the driver's seat waived as I passed but looked contented as a cow to be there. In fact, he looked like he was just sitting there watching the cows nearby. Yet nobody out here watches cows, so a couple of miles down the road I started worrying. I turned back and asked him if he needed help. "Just watching cows," he said, and held up..."A Field Guide to Cows." Immediately I made a U-turn to check out this book. WOW!! Right away we found in it a Polled Gray I'd spotted at a Santa Ysabel ranch and was dying of curiously to identify. Had to have this book. (This elderly guy, all alone and recently returned from stargazing at Anza Borrego Desert State Park, had stopped to watch an Angus calf being nursed by a Jersey mom.) This book's a great way to meet great people as well as great cows! And living out here, I know Amazon will get it to me fast without having to burn 8 gallons worth of gas to the nearest store.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for cow-lovers everywhere, September 11, 1998

By A Customer

After reading all those reviews about people who have this book and saying how great it is, I finally have it and I must admit they are all absolutely right. Not only is this indispenseble companion fascinating, but it is also hillarious.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You mean different cows actually have breed names?, August 26, 2001

By	M. Swinney "Marc My Words" (Flower Mound, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I got this lightly entertaining, packed fact chock-full, irreverent little book as a gift from my mother-in-law. Yes, a woman from Southwest Oregon, raised in cattle country on a huge ranch that had been in the family for generations. This was a sympathy gift for me, when playing family trivia pursuit, I responded with surprise when a "Holstein" came out as the answer to a question. First there were blank stares in my direction from around the table, and then came surprise, disbelief, and finally the boisterous and gratuitous laughter, all generated by my unknowledge of the wonderful Holstein. I could see it in their eyes...my esteem took a whack downwards that day in their bovine-wise eyes. The scandal and shame of it, with me being from Texas and all. Now I know a Holstein is a dairy cow with spots. I'm armed and semi-dangerous with this funny book. Did you know that a Piedmont has a big, big beefy butt? A Cow can detect odors up to five miles away (they must despise being a cow then with the way they smell)? How about how many stomachs a cow has? A: 4. You would know all this if you had this book. I wouldn't call this book essential or anything quite that elevated, but it is truly fun. If you get laughed at for not knowing a Guernsey from a Galloway, you might want to get this book. I used to hate cows when I saw what they did to the land, whilst hiking in Idaho. Now that I have the book, I don't hate them quite as much.