Customer Reviews:
An Excellent Book.......2006-09-09
This book starts with the framework for grass finished cattle production, then looks at day to day operation, followed by some more detailed points and problem shooting, before closing with marketing. This is a great guide and an enjoyable read. I liked it better than Pastured Poultry, but both are great books for those interested in the future of the farm buisness.
Ryan
Great Book.......2006-07-05
This is a great book with a lot of ideas. He is a little extreme for me, but all of his points are quite valid. I love his experience and his families experience and how he gives such great advice based on experience.
An Excellant Choice.......2000-02-04
This was a wonderful book. Not only was it extremely informative, but it was also very enjoyable to read. I recommend it highly!
Good How-to on raising beef on shoestring for direct market.......1997-12-26
Joel Salatin brings optimism and energy to this series of essays on how he raises beef (and other livestock ) on grass for direct market to urban consumers. He reveals his tricks in great detail, such as the egg-mobile, the pig-aerator, electric fencing, the warm winter hay shed, and how to promote the meat. A must for anyone looking for new ideas on raising livestock
Book Description
With grass-fed beef popping up on menus across North America, and more small-farm owners venturing into this growth area, the time is right for a comprehensive book on how to raise, manage, and market grass-fed cattle.
Grass-Fed Cattle, the newest addition to Storey’s library of best-selling livestock books, covers every aspect of raising and care, including herd selection, breeding, yearly cycles, cultivating and maintaining healthy soil and grass, fencing and pasture rotation, winter grazing, pests and diseases, and necessary equipment.
Author Julius Ruechel, who has been raising beef cattle on his family’s farm since his start as a 4-H member, packs this handbook with everything a farmer needs to know, regardless of herd size and acreage. His advice and systems are applicable to the smallest backyard hobby farms as well as the largest commercial herds and ranches.
In addition to essential farming information, Ruechel devotes a major section of the book to marketing. He discusses niche market opportunities, scheduling the selling and buying of cattle for the greatest profit, finishing the beef and arranging for slaughter, labeling, dynamic marketing, and financial planning and record keeping. He also includes chapters specially addressed to the conventional farmer who is transitioning to natural production, the farmer who is considering leasing or buying land, and the farmer who wishes to pursue organic certification.
The first book of its kind,
Grass-Fed Cattle is an indispensable, authoritative reference for anyone interested in raising cattle or looking for a profitable farm venture.
Customer Reviews:
If you only have one book on raising grass-feed cattle this is the one to have.......2007-07-18
I've read everything on raising grass-fed cattle from Allan Nation and Jim Garrish to Joel Salatin and I have to say, this is the most comprehensive guide to setting up a grass-fed beef business I've found.
You can only fully appreciate this book if you are actually trying to raise grass-fed animals. Each time I run into a difficulty with my herd or the land my cattle are grazing, I find sound guidance to the problem in this book. For instance, the section on managing the calving season on pasture (a topic I haven't seen mentioned in other books) seems particularly brilliant to me after having spent a day looking for a hidden calf.
If you are just setting up a grass-fed business this is the book to have. Julius Ruechel guides you in putting the pieces of land, vegetation, water, animals, and seasons together with human management to create a system that reflects and capitalizes on the synergistic complexity of nature while fully respecting all of her living components.
The only caution I would add is that it is a big continent, and no book can fully reflect the variations in climate, terrain, and scale found here. So you will need to adapt some of the advice to reflect your local conditions.
I have been reading these reader reviews for years, but this is the first book that has inspired me enough to write a review, so if you are reading Mr. Ruechel, please accept my thanks. I only wish your book had been out when I first entered this business.
OMG.......2007-07-07
This book sat way to long on my shelf. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Sometimes it takes someone outside of the industry to be able to step back and see what's wrong. Put your farm back in synch with nature and see your problems reduced and your profit increase. This book is the most well rounded book on every subject I've found. Also great worksheets to make your business plan.
Book Description
This widely used reference has been updated and revamped to reflect the changing face of the dairy industry. New features allow users to pinpoint nutrient requirements more accurately for individual animals. The committee also provides guidance on how nutrient analysis of feed ingredients, insights into nutrient utilization by the animal, and formulation of diets to reduce environmental impacts can be applied to productive management decisions.
The book includes a user-friendly computer program on a compact disk, accompanied by extensive context-sensitive "Help" options, to simulate the dynamic state of animals.
The committee addresses important issues unique to dairy science-the dry or transition cow, udder edema, milk fever, low-fat milk, calf dehydration, and more.
Book Description
Four years ago, journalist Peter Lovenheim was standing in a long line at McDonald’s to buy a Happy Meal for his little daughter, which would come with a much-desired Teenie Beanie Baby—either a black-and-white cow named “Daisy” or an adorable red bull named “Snort.” Finding it rather strange that young children were being offered cuddly toy cows one minute and eating the grilled remains of real ones the next, Lovenheim suddenly saw clearly the great disconnect between what we eat and our knowledge of where it comes from. Determined to understand the process by which living animals become food, Lovenheim did the only thing he could think of: He bought a calf—make that twin calves, number 7 and number 8—from the dairy farm where they were born and asked for permission to spend as much time as necessary hanging around and observing everything that happened in the lives of these farm animals.
Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf is the provocative true story of Peter Lovenheim’s hands-on journey into the dairy and beef industries as he follows his calves from conception to possible consumption. In the process, he gets to know the good, hard-working people who raise our cattle and make milk products, beef, and veal available to consumers like you and me. He supplies us with a “fly on the wall” view of how these animals are used to put food on America’s very abundant tables.
Constantly vigilant about wanting to be an observer who never interferes, Lovenheim allows the reader to see every aspect of a cow’s life, without passing judgment. Reading this book will forever change the way you think about food and the people and animals who provide it for us.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Another reason to give up meat.......2007-05-07
Author Peter Lovenheim provides a rare glimpse into the life trajectory of an animal in today's modern agribusiness industry. Intended as a dispassionate chronicle of a calf from birth to slaughter, I found it one of the saddest books I've read. The animal farmers we meet are normal, basically decent people. Yet because of the economic priorities and inertia of how the business is done, the animals suffer mightily at their hands. Removed from their mothers at birth, they're deprived of her protective milk, and many sicken. Tethered by the neck, shivering in wooden hutches with no opportunity to play and minimal protection from the bitter winter weather, it's little wonder that only nine of 15 calves survive their first two months. And these are the ones not sent at once to slaughter. Cows are cycled through artificially inseminated pregnancies, milked (literally and metaphorically) through a string of calves until their production drops below quota. Then, as a final gesture of thanks for their service, they're put to death. That is if they don't first become "downers," when they are winched and dragged to the dead/dying pile to await the renderer's bullets.
This book should be on the reading list of all who continue to eat meat.
A rational, unbiased, informative, yet heart rendering saga..........2005-12-10
This book is not for the faint of heart where animals are concerned, but it IS for those who want to know what life is like for an American calf, as told by someone who simply wondered about this hidden reality. The story is not biased toward animal rights or vegetarianism; rather, it is the factual and firsthand account of someone who chose to be informed rather than not.
For those of us who dare to wonder about the food we eat, where it comes from, and who is affected by our decisions, this is a book that will open our eyes and hearts. It is a well told story in an easily readable style, and although it may not tell you about a world you want to belong in, it will tell you about a world we have chosen to create.
From Conception to Consumption.......2003-05-09
Imagine that you are walking into a McDonalds restaurant with your child, who is all, excited because with every happy meal you get a teanie beanie baby. This is part of the Ty Beanie Baby promotion that is done every year, with different beanies to choose from each year. As you are standing in line you glance over at the toy display on the counter and notice that one of the beanies is a red bull named "snort" and another is a black and white cow named "Daisy". Do you think that when you saw this you would immediately think of the irony of it all? Standing in a restaurant that sold cow patties on a bun to, probably millions daily all over the world and here they are selling cute little stuffed cows with names.
This is how Peter Lovenheim came up with the idea for his book about watching a cow go from "conception to consumption." "
"It struck me as odd that a company selling ground beef would offer toys in the shape of cattle. Were children really expected to hug and play with a toy cow while eating the remains of a real one?"
In the process of producing this book Lovenheim meets many interesting people on his journey through farms, meat auctions, and a stud center in Ithaca, New York where the journey began.
In Ithaca there is an artificial insemination factory where they keep prime bulls for semen collection to sell to farms across the country. Lovenheim watches one bull in particular, Bonanza, as they collect semen from him and package it in a straw sized tube. It is then put into a container filled with liquid nitrogen to freeze it for shipping. This shipment is being sent to Lawnel Farm in York, New York. This farm is owned and run by Andrew and Sue Smith who raise dairy and beef cattle.
On their farm the cows are assigned numbers instead of names. One in particular is of interest to the journalist and that cow is number 4923. This is the cow that was artificially inseminated with the frozen semen from Bonanza. She gave birth to twins, a heifer and a steer, numbers seven and eight, both of which Lovenheim saw birthed and bought to raise and follow through the beef process.
Another farming family he meets is Shelly and Peter Vonglis who lived just five miles south of the Smith's. At this farm he boards his two calves, and gives strict instructions to Peter to raise the bull, number eight, as he would any other beef critter. Lovenheim visits each farm on a weekly basis, traveling half an hour from his home to the farms. On his visits he observes the cows, watches the milking process, accompanies Andrew on his harvester machine in the fields, and overall has basically free run of the Lawnel farm. At the Vonglis's he watches his calves grow bigger, and talks with Shelly and Peter about their daily lives and what goes on.
Throughout this book he goes over the ethics of raising cattle on farms, and gives descriptions on the various diseases and health problems that dairy cows face because of the standing and the overly large udders that are genetically bred into their genes for higher milk production. The cows that are not producing enough milk daily, below the percentage line of the daily milk productions are culled out of the herd and shipped away to the Pavilion where they are auctioned off as beef. After arrival the cows and calves are separated and then divided into "good cows" which are healthy, "slow cows" which are weak and somewhat sickly, and the "double-exes" which are the cows who are about to die anyway. Here big companies and some small businesses buy beef. This is the place where his calves will be auctioned off and bought either by Taylor Packing who buys, slaughters, and sells the meat for McDonalds food, where this all started.
As the ending of the book draws near Lovenheim is having second thoughts about selling his two calves for beef at the pavilion. He has done just what he didn't want to do in the first place and that was get attached to them.
I found this book to be a very interesting read. Before this class I never really gave any second thought about where my food came from. I knew it came from farms and slaughterhouses but I never had so much detail about what goes into the process raising beef and dairy cattle. As I read through the book it was easy to see the struggle that some farms go through while others are somewhat well off. It shows this in the difference between the Smith's farm and the Vonglis's farm. The Smith farm is a small farm that raises cattle to sell locally and for the family with Peter working full time at a larger farm, and Shelly is going to school to become a nurse. Sue and Andrew run their farm and have employees who help with the milking shifts and the cows.
I think that it is rough what these animals have to go through but it is also rough for the farmers who raise the animals and put them through "conception to consumption."
Thorough, scholarship, thought provoking, spiritual.......2002-11-21
When I started this book I imagined another informative expose reinforcing my concerns about the eating of beef. However, what I found was a thorough, thoughtful, and engaging study of the dairy and beef industries, in which the author went to painful lengths to give fair consideration to all sides on the issue.
Lovenheim's book is not sensationalist muckracking. While I think his observations would reinforce many of the worries of those concerned about eating beef, or drinking milk induced by bovine growth hormone, the most striking part of this work is the otherwise overlooked consideration of cows as living creatures. I was struck by his descriptions of the cows' actual sense of community, their adaption and response (or seeming lack thereof) in the face of continual danger; that in fact they aren't quite the dumb animals we have been raised to believe they are. Lovenheim makes you consider that these animals are different than plants, and that you are making a conscious decision to take a living feeling creature and choosing to process it as a commodity entirely out of your own dietary choice and convenience.
The author's sensitivity, compassion, and admiration for those engaged in the various aspects of the dairy and beef industries is admirable. He also gives ample consideration to the historical place of beef in our diets, frequently alluding to his own Jewish spiritual tradition.
This is a substantive, worthwhile, and quite "readable" work. I highly recommend it; I was pleased to have picked it up, and felt I had both learned and acquired greater sensitivity as a result of completing it.
A book which helped me decide to give up meat.......2002-11-12
This book first caught my eye when it was featured on BookTV, what struck me the most was that the author was not a vegetarian. Although at first glance this book might appear as a story of the dirty meat industry, it is instead unbiased truth. Yes, the meat industry is dirty and farmers don't have it easy, but it allows one to not feel pressed to give up meat, but presents the facts, or the story which allows the reader to become informed and go from there. From this story which I could hardly ever put down, I realized that I could not eat a cow. Furthermore, it also showed me that there was a lot more about the food I eat than I realized, which led me to other books. I encourage anyone and everyone to read this book and to understand where their meat comes from, and how they should go from there.
Average customer rating:
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Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle (Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals (Unnumbered).)
National Research Council
Manufacturer: Natl Academy Pr
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ASIN: 0309054265 |
Book Description
This is a prodigiously documented textbook of scientific information concerning every aspect of management 'where the cow and grass meet'. Voisin's 'rational grazing' method maximizes productivity in both grass and cattle operations.
Customer Reviews:
Grazing Dairy Cattle.......2007-03-16
An excellent source of information for anyone interested in grazing dairy cows. Best suited for the beginner but valuable observations that everyone grazing cows can benefit from.
Customer Reviews:
historical account of the Texas cattle feeding industry.......1999-03-18
An a amazing account of the birth to present day state of the Texas cattle feeding industry. This book is written by a very astute man who is also a cattle feeder, and offers proof that some things will never change in this industry that goes from boom to bust over and over through time. A must read for anyone in the in business or any hardy business person who enjoys challenges.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent for information on breeding & showing cattle.
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Beef Cattle Breeding, Feeding and Showing (Practical Farming)
Lucy Nnewham
Manufacturer: Inkata Press
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Storey's Guide to Raising Beef Cattle: Health/Handling/Breeding
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Small Scale Livestock Farming: A Grass-Based Approach for Health, Sustainability, and Profit
ASIN: 0750689021 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent for information on breeding & showing cattle........2000-07-02
"Beef Cattle Breeding,Feeding and Showing" is exactly what the title portrays.A well written and very informative book covering most aspects of Beef Cattle production. Easily understood by the novice it also has valuable information for the more experienced. This book covers other topics such as conformation,and touches on genetics.It also has a helpful section on Health. The section on Showing is great,as there is not a lot of information available on show ring protocol and preparing animals for the show ring. I would recommend this book to all Beef Breeders especially beginners.
Average customer rating:
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Bitter Harvest
Frederic Halbert , and
Sandra Halbert
Manufacturer: Eerdmans Pub Co
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ASIN: 0802870392 |
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