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Category: Cows-Cattle
All about cows and cattle, both meat and dairy
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Keeping a Family Cow: The Complete Guide for Home-Scale, Holistic Dairy Producers
The cow is the most productive, efficient creature on earth. She will give you fresh milk, cream, butter, and cheese, build human health and happiness, and even turn a profit for homesteaders and small farmers who seek to offer her bounty to the local market or neighborhood. She will provide rich manure for your garden…;
Chelsea Green PublishingPrice:
$19.95$19.84 Free Shipping
The cow is the most productive, efficient creature on earth. She will give you fresh milk, cream, butter, and cheese, build human health and happiness, and even turn a profit for homesteaders and small farmers who seek to offer her bounty to the local market or neighborhood. She will provide rich manure for your garden or land, and will enrich the quality of your life as you benefit from the resources of the natural world. Quite simply, the family that keeps a cow is a healthy family.
Originally published in the early 1970s as The Cow Economy and reprinted many times over, Keeping a Family Cow has launched thousands of holistic small-scale dairy farmers and families raising healthy cows in accordance with their true nature. The book offers answers to frequently asked questions like, ‘Should I get a cow?’ and ‘How Much Space do I need?’ in addition to extensive information on:
• The health benefits of untreated milk;
• How to milk a cow effectively and with ease;
• Choosing your dairy breed;
• Drying off your cow;
• Details on calving and breeding;
• The importance of hay quality and how to properly feed your cow;
• Fencing and pasture management;
• Housing, water systems, and other supplies;
• Treating milk fever and other diseases and disorders;
• Making butter, yogurt, and cheese, and, of course . . .
• . . . Everything else the conventional dairy industry doesn’t tell us!Now revised and updated to incorporate new information on the raw milk debate, the conversation about A1 vs. A2 milk, fully grassfed dairies, more practical advice for everyday chores, and updated procedures for cow emergencies.
Keeping a Family Cow has not only stood the test of time, it still remains the go-to inspirational manual for raising a family milk cow nearly forty years after its first publication. Joann Grohman has a lifetime of practical experience that has been bound into this one volume and presented in the spirit of fun and learning.
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The Small-Scale Dairy: The Complete Guide to Milk Production for the Home and Market
The Small-Scale Dairy includes everything you need to know in order to successfully produce nourishing, healthy, farm-fresh milk. Whether for home use, direct sale to the consumer, or sale to an artisanal cheesemaker, high-quality raw milk is a delicate, desirable product. Successful and sustainable production requires the producer to consider and tackle many details, ranging…;
Chelsea Green PublishingPrice:
$34.95$26.04 Free Shipping
The Small-Scale Dairy includes everything you need to know in order to successfully produce nourishing, healthy, farm-fresh milk. Whether for home use, direct sale to the consumer, or sale to an artisanal cheesemaker, high-quality raw milk is a delicate, desirable product. Successful and sustainable production requires the producer to consider and tackle many details, ranging from animal care to microbiology to good hygienic practices–and, for those with commercial aspirations, business plans, market savvy, and knowledge of the regulations.
Applicable to keepers of cows, goats, or sheep, The Small-Scale Dairy offers a holistic approach that explores the relationships between careful, conscientious management and the production of safe, healthy, and delicious milk. A historical overview offers readers a balanced perspective on the current regulatory environment in which raw milk lovers find themselves.
Included are options for designing a well-functioning small dairy, choosing equipment, and understanding myriad processes―such as the use of low-temperature pasteurization where raw milk sales are prohibited. Whether you have a one-cow home dairy, a fifty-goat operation, or are simply a curious consumer, The Small-Scale Dairy is an accessible and invaluable resource for achieving your goals.
Ships from Vermont
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Pasture Basics: How to Keep the Grass Green and Your Chickens Happy (Permaculture Chicken Book 2)
Do you want to enjoy healthy eggs and meat from chickens raised on pasture?Pasture Basics starts at the beginning to help you design the best pasturing setup for your flock and for your homestead. Great grazing for chickens won’t be found in the perfect pasture for sheep or cows — you need to tweak your…;
Wetknee BooksPrice: Free
Do you want to enjoy healthy eggs and meat from chickens raised on pasture?
Pasture Basics starts at the beginning to help you design the best pasturing setup for your flock and for your homestead. Great grazing for chickens won’t be found in the perfect pasture for sheep or cows — you need to tweak your design to match a chicken’s unique behavior and stomach.
Included in this volume are an explanation of chicken digestion and behavior, pasture specifics like size and shape, a rundown on which traditional pasture plants chickens enjoy, tips on maximizing plant growth during rotation, and an explanation of how to establish new pastures and maintain existing grazing areas.
Cut your feed costs with pastured chickens!
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The New Livestock Farmer: The Business of Raising and Selling Ethical Meat
Including information on cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep, and goats, and exotics like bison, rabbits, elk, and deer How can anyone from a backyard hobbyist to a large-scale rancher go about raising and selling ethically produced meats directly to consumers, restaurants, and butcher shops? With the rising consumer interest in grass-fed, pasture-raised, and antibiotic-free meats, how…;
Chelsea Green PublishingPrice:
$29.95$24.25 Free Shipping
Including information on cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep, and goats, and exotics like bison, rabbits, elk, and deer
How can anyone from a backyard hobbyist to a large-scale rancher go about raising and selling ethically produced meats directly to consumers, restaurants, and butcher shops? With the rising consumer interest in grass-fed, pasture-raised, and antibiotic-free meats, how can farmers most effectively tap into those markets and become more profitable? The regulations and logistics can be daunting enough to turn away most would-be livestock farmers, and finding and keeping their customers challenges the rest.
Farmer, consultant, and author Rebecca Thistlethwaite (Farms with a Future) and her husband and coauthor, Jim Dunlop, both have extensive experience raising a variety of pastured livestock in California and now on their homestead farm in Oregon. The New Livestock Farmer provides pasture-based production essentials for a wide range of animals, from common farm animals (cattle, poultry, pigs, sheep, and goats) to more exotic species (bison, rabbits, elk, and deer).
Each species chapter discusses the unique requirements of that animal, then delves into the steps it takes to prepare and get them to market. Profiles of more than fifteen meat producers highlight some of the creative ways these innovative farmers are raising animals and direct-marketing superior-quality meats.
In addition, the book contains information on a variety of vital topics:
• Governmental regulations and how they differ from state to state;
• Slaughtering and butchering logistics, including on-farm and mobile processing options and sample cutting sheets;
• Packaging, labeling, and cold-storage considerations;
• Principled marketing practices; and
• Financial management, pricing, and other business essentials.
This book is must reading for anyone who is serious about raising meat animals ethically, outside of the current consolidated, unsustainable CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) system. It offers a clear, thorough, well-organized guide to a subject that will become increasingly important as the market demand for pasture-raised meat grows stronger.
Ships from Vermont
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Raising Dairy Cattle for Beginners: A Simple Guide to Dairy Cattle for Milk and Eventually Meat (Homesteading Freedom)
Raising Dairy Cattle for Beginners A Simple Guide to Dairy Cattle for Milk & Eventually Meat Do you want to produce your own milk? Are you looking to start a small dairy farm? Do you want to know how to keep dairy cattle? Then this book is for you! This book will teach you everything…;
CreateSpace Independent Publishing PlatformPrice: $12.99 Free Shipping
Raising Dairy Cattle for Beginners
A Simple Guide to Dairy Cattle for Milk & Eventually Meat
Do you want to produce your own milk?
Are you looking to start a small dairy farm?
Do you want to know how to keep dairy cattle?
Then this book is for you!
This book will teach you everything that you need to know about how to start a small dairy farm or just keep one dairy cow. It’s completely up to you, and you’ll learn how to not only care for your cows but to pick the best breed for what you want. This book will take you through everything from figuring out how much land to get, picking your breed, how to store your milk, common health problems, birthing calves and more!
There is no reason to second guess your decision. It can be easy to raise a dairy cow as long as you know the common risks and problems that may occur, and this book makes sure to cover them all. This book will even take you through a few recipes that you can make with the milk that your dairy cows produce.
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Keeping a Family Cow 101 – Reformation Acres
When you begin to research the ins and outs of owning a family cow, there is a ton of information you will need to sift through and learn. Since you are going to want to give your new dairy gal the best life you can provide, that means understanding what part you will need to play in the relationship and what care she will require from you. You’ll also need to know things like how much acreage you will need, what the calving year looks like, how to safely handle the milk, and how much it’s going to cost to buy her in the first place and maintain her every year.
From costs, to how to pick the right breed of cow, how to get her bred, what to do at calving time, how to milk her, and more I’m going to walk you through the basics of cow ownership. That way you can get an idea of what it entails and whether it is a commitment you and your family willing to take on. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s a lot of work but for some of us it is totally worth every ounce of energy we give her!
And if in the end, you still find yourself dreaming of the day you can bring your own dairy cow home and finally put that first glass of creamy cold raw milk to your lips then it is time for you to dive in deeper to find out more about the blessings, details, and challenges of cow ownership.
Visit Homesteader’s of America to Learn about Family Milk Cow 101
Check Out These Other Resources for Keeping a Family Cow
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http://www.reformationacres.com/2017/09/keeping-family-cow-101.html
On – 05 Sep, 2017 By Quinn
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How To Raise A Homestead Dairy Cow – The Good Survivalist
A lot of homesteading prepper families choose to invest in a homestead dairy cow for their property. This will provide a lot of milk for your family – and possibly some extra for your pigs, if you’re raising those as well.
You can consume the milk, or create yogurt, ice cream and other items from her milk. Each type of cow and size will produce different amounts of milk, so you may want to consider a smaller option such as a goat (see video below) if your family doesn’t use much milk.
Or, if you live in a prepper community, you could share the milk with others in the community – along with the chores of raising it. It’s critical that you milk your cow at the same time each and every day, so scheduling is important.
Some people have questions about the safety of drinking raw milk, but you can also buy a pasteurizer for your family to use. They’re not expensive and it will provide you with the same safety that you get off the grocery shelves.
It can get expensive to raise a dairy cow if you’re having to buy all of your hay, but many prepper families grow their own, so that cuts down on the cost of raising your dairy cow quite a bit.
You can visit a dairy farm and ask if they have any lower milk producing cows they want to get rid of. If the volume isn’t enough for a dairy farm, they’ll often sell off the cows to a family that requires a much lower volume of milk.
Most experts recommend that you get a Jersey dairy cow, but there are many choices. You want one that’s gentle and won’t be hostile to you or your small children in a farming situation.
You have to make sure that your property has room for her to graze and roam around. If you get a Brown Swiss or Dexter cow, then you can allow for more grass grazing than hay feed, which saves you money in the long run.
Your dairy cow will produce milk twice a day for about a year. After about 10 months, give her some time off for a few months and then let her produce another calf to begin milk production again.
Remember that your water supply has to be enough to provide for a dairy cow’s needs. They can drink anywhere from 25-40 gallons of water each day. Be sure you have enough water for her and the needs of your family.
Your homestead dairy cow might produce anywhere from 2-8 gallons of milk per day, so make sure you don’t over-invest in something that’s going to make all of the milk production go to waste.
http://www.thegoodsurvivalist.com/how-to-raise-a-homestead-dairy-cow/
On – 02 Sep, 2017 By Good Survivalist
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One hundred Days of Handy Homesteading Techniques: Working day 4 – Milking – Good Animals
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The amount one particular purpose why persons start off homesteading is so that they can grow to be much more self-ample and count on the food items business fewer. Milk and dairy are one particular of the greatest of these merchandise, significantly for people who have little ones.The most popular animal US shoppers consider of when they consider of dairy is the cow. Even so, there are a lot of some others to pick from. The goat and the sheep are also used for this function and, not too long ago, we have listened to of specialized niche homesteaders trying to keep camels, yaks, buffalo, even horses, and donkeys!
As you possibly discovered milk animals can be meat animals, beasts of burden, companions, or fiber animals. They are among the most multi-function animals on the homestead.
Milk and other dairy merchandise are not the only points that dairy animals can supply for you, there are a amount of other positive aspects. They can enable you develop the land by producing pasture or thinning brush, supply meat by birthing excess livestock, make fiber for private use or sale, develop hides or leather, develop a boundless provide of compost for your back garden, and bring in excess income from the sale of their merchandise.
For some persons, a cow or other pasture animal is correct simply because they have loads of grasslands. For some others, dwelling in a mountainous, shrubby or woody terrain, as we do, goats may possibly be much more correct. In some international locations, horses and donkeys are used simply because it tends to make minor feeling to have an excess animal just for milk when your plow animal offers milk just about every yr soon after offering start.
When you have identified which dairy animal is correct for your homestead, the following action is determining the breed and studying anything you can about how to treatment for that animal, which includes how to milk it and cope with the milk safely.
This can be realized, in concept, on line as a result of watching films but there is practically nothing like really milking an animal to get the hold of it. When milking goats, we realized that some are incredibly relaxed and organic at remaining milked the to start with time. Some others, not so considerably.
Our younger Nubian and Nubian cross mothers approximately jumped into the milking bucket the to start with time and one particular of them would squat so lower we had to have a man or woman pull her again legs again up to avoid her from sitting and dipping her udder all the way into the bucket.
A lot of of our new Does kicked, typically placing hooves in the milk or kicking it around. If you’ve at any time listened to the phrase “crying around spilled milk” you’ll truly know what that suggests by the time you are finished milking for the to start with time.
It will consider time to get the hold of it and your arms will damage at to start with. Specifically if you have several animals to milk by hand. We advise studying how to do it right before you at any time invest in an animal.
When we to start with commenced it took us an hour to milk a goat that was offering us shut to a gallon of milk a working day at the time (1/2 gallon in the morning and another 1/2 gallon in the evening). Now it takes about 15 minutes even with distractions and we’re absolutely sure we’re finding all of it.
You can obtain the talent of milking a goat by likely to farms when they are educating classes, having farm holidays and providing to enable with morning chores, inquiring your homesteading friends to educate you, or attending fairs and inquiring people at the animal pens to show you. They may possibly consider you are weird at to start with for inquiring but if you make clear that you are setting up on paying for a milk animal and you want to see how challenging it is to do, they will possibly have an understanding of.
Milk animals do not only appear with the rewards of milk, cheese, yogurt, product, butter, and ice product but there are a lot of merchandise that your animal can supply to enable make your homestead much more productive and successful. Acquire you your time in choosing the correct animal for your condition, study the breeds readily available, and find out anything you can right before building your to start with invest in.
On – 02 Oct, 2017 By Good Animals
