A couple working six months per year for 50 hours per week on 20 acres can net $25,000-$30,000 per year with an investment equivalent to the price of one new medium-sized tractor. Seldom has agriculture held out such a plum. In a day when main-line farm experts predict the continued demise of the family farm, the pastured poultry opportunity shines like a beacon in the night, guiding the way to a brighter future.

Building Beehives For Dummies (9781119544388) was previously published as Building Beehives For Dummies (9781118312940). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

The easy way to build your own beehives and beekeeping equipment

Building Beehives For Dummies is the follow-up book to the bestselling Beekeeping For Dummies. It provides everything you need to learn how to build some of the world's most popular hives and beekeeping accessories. For each design the book includes a detailed materials list (what lumber, hardware and fasteners you'll need), step-by-step building instructions, and illustrative drawings that show how the components all fit together. There are over a dozen plans in all, including the traditional Langstroth hive, the eight frame garden hive, designs for elevated hive stands, the Warre hive, screened bottom board, the Kenya top-bar hive, four-frame observation hive, hive top feeders, and more. The book contains introductory chapters that teach you the basic carpentry skills necessary to build any of the plans in the book.

Whether you are a new beekeeper or a seasoned ol'timer, Building Beehives for Dummies provides you with the information you need to plan and succeed at building beehives (and other cool accessories). You'll discover what type of hive to build, hints on how to maintain your equipment, what bees need to stay happy and healthy, where to locate your hive, and much more.

• Covers bee space, the critical technical measurement within a beehive that's crucial for easy inspection of your colonies
• Offers guidance on keeping both urban and suburban neighbors happy, getting proper permissions, and understanding regional laws and regulations
• Provides creative ideas for dressing up hives for fun and profit

In today's world of self-sufficiency, back-to-basics and sustainability, building beehives is a fun hobby that both you and your bees will appreciate and benefit from.

Serious poultry farmers and backyard bird raisers have relied on this best-selling reference for more than 20 years. The fourth edition of Gail Damerow's comprehensive handbook is now completely revised and redesigned, making it more accessible and informative than ever. You'll get the most up-to-date details on shelter, food, health care, eggs, chicks, and meat, and recent research into chicken behavior and communication makes the sections on flock management truly authoritative. New color photos and illustrations provide more specificity and information about chicken breeds, anatomy, and health.

Gail Damerow covers everything you need to successfully raise your own farm animals. Even with just a small plot of land, you can become more self-sufficient, save money, and enjoy healthy, delicious animal products.

Also available in this series: The Backyard Homestead, The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects, The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, The Backyard Homestead Book of Kitchen Know-How, and The Backyard Homestead Guide to Growing Organic Food.

Keeping chickens can look almost glamorous online. It's all beautiful chickens, cute baby chicks, and coops that look nice enough to spend the night in. The reality is that keeping chickens is rewarding--but also a lot of work and, well, poop cleanup. If you follow chicken-fluencer Nikki Husted (@purelychickens) online, you already know that she shares the good, the bad, and the ugly of this popular hobby. In her first book, she remains unfiltered while she shares the essential techniques and helpful stories from her own experience with backyard chickens. That's right: you can learn from her own successes and mistakes! Chicken Keeping Pure and Simple addresses:

• Where to start: What are the rules for keeping chickens in your area? What do you need to get started? How many chickens do you need? (Be wary of chicken math!) And more considerations to both stoke and temper your excitement.
• Giving chickens what they need: There are serious things you should consider before you start raising your chickens, from monthly costs to time requirements. Do you have what it takes?
• Eggs, chicks, pullets, and hens Deciding between eggs, chicks, pullets, or hens as your starting point is about more than just cute baby chicks (though don't we all love cute baby chicks?).
• The bonding process: Learn how to raise your chickens and integrate them with your family, including kids!
• What to do with all the eggs: A handful of recipes for making the most of your bounty, including water glass eggs, pickled eggs, and a few family favorites for breakfast and dinner.
• All about the coop: How to set up and maintain a coop, including the process of cleaning.
• Medical needs: Dealing with common injuries, common pests/parasites, respiratory illness, and advice from a vet.

With today's management systems, the cost of making hay far exceeds its value to grazing businesses. Studies have shown that winter feed costs are the largest single factor limiting the profitability for most livestock operations. In virtually every area of the USA, year-around grazing--without hay--is possible, yet many graziers continue making hay.

Kick the Hay Habit: A Practical Guide To Year-Around Grazing by Jim Gerrish will show you how much it really costs to produce a ton of hay. He explains how to use nature as your guide for low-cost winter grazing; how to conduct a pasture inventory; how to select the optimal breeding and birthing seasons; how to custom design your own winter forage system; and how to make the transition from hay feeding to grazing.

Wouldn't you rather spend your time monitoring pastures and moving livestock than making hay?

Both the beginner and the experienced grazier will benefit from Kick the Hay Habit. Gerrish shares his personal experiences as a grazier in Missouri and Idaho as well as insights he gained as a researcher at the University of Missouri's Forage Systems Research Center. As a grazing consultant he has helped farmers and ranchers throughout North and South America.

Wouldn't you rather Kick the Hay Habit, dump the heavy metal, and start collecting the profits?

I like to say that when you buy an acre of land you get 43,500 square feet of solar panel. When you start thinking about your farm in these terms, the importance of having every acre covered with green, growing grass becomes apparent, Jim Gerrish writes.

Gerrish coined the phrase Management-intensive Grazing (MiG), putting the emphasis on management of the growth of the grass. The animals are merely harvesters, like lawnmowers. In Management-intensive Grazing, The Grassroots of Grass Farming, he uses vivid images and detailed explanations to take graziers step-by-step through the MiG system.

Written for those new to MiG grazing, Gerrish's insights and personal experience can help experienced graziers fine tune their grazing operations for added income. He begins from the ground up with the soil and advances through the management of pastures and animals, and covers how to manage the water cycle; how to work with legumes; how to stockpile forages for low cost wintering; how to plan and utilize permanent and perimeter fencing; and how to use pasture weaning for health and weight gain.

Gerrish's lively chapters explain how to make pasture fertility pay; the power of stock density; how to match forage supply with animal demand; how to judge maximum intake of forage; and how using pasture records offers information, not just data.

Best-selling author Melissa Caughey knows that backyard chickens are like any favorite pet -- fun to spend time with and fascinating to observe. Her hours among the flock have resulted in this quirky, irresistible guide packed with firsthand insights into how chickens communicate and interact, use their senses to understand the world around them, and establish pecking order and roles within the flock. Combining her up-close observations with scientific findings and interviews with other chicken enthusiasts, Caughey answers unexpected questions such as Do chickens have names for each other? How do their eyes work? and How do chickens learn?

Foreword INDIES Silver Award Winner

Goats are the hottest animal today to raise for hobby farmers, commercial farmers, and members of both 4-H and FFA.

But using the products from a goat requires special skills, handling, and recipes. Here's The Whole Goat Handbook, chock full of recipes, crafting projects, advice, and more.

Cooking with goat meat requires special, adapted recipes because the meat is so strong in flavor; there's no devoted goat-meat cookbook on the market--until now! Included are recipes for making cheese with goat milk as well as goat-milk soap. And for those raising goats for fiber, here are hard-won recommendations on crafting, knitting, and weaving. This book will shows you how to do all this--and more.

A beginner's guide to ruling the roost and raising happy backyard chickens

The Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens makes it easy to start keeping these surprisingly smart birds right in your own backyard. From constructing coops to rearing chicks, you'll learn everything you need to know to make sure your chickens stay happy and healthy all year round.

Which breed of chicken is right for you? What's the best bedding material? What sort of feed should you use? Expert chicken keeper Anne Kuo answers these questions―and many others―in this fun and friendly reference book that will get you excited to raise your new feathered friends.

This book on raising chickens guides you through:

• Getting from the chicken to the egg―Find out how to raise chicks, keep your birds safe from predators, introduce new birds to the flock, and more.
• Creating a custom coop―Build the perfect home for raising chickens with detailed backyard coop construction guides.
• Expert care advice-Learn how to identify different behaviors in your chicken, help solve egg shortages, and navigate a range of potential surprises with confidence.

Get your first flock started successfully with The Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens.

Voisin's classic is still in great demand, nearly three-quarters of a century after it was first written and published. And with so many books in this area that have completely disappeared

The main point of it, so often forgotten over and over, that grass is more productive when shorn and given time to re-grow. That is the core base of all the current popular works on rotational and mob grazing.

It's not too surprising then, that you can go through Voisin's book and find everything they are saying now as revolutionary. Because he took the time to make a full study of his land, it's cattle, and everything anyone had written on the subject up to that point.

Also not too surprising is that only the really profitable grazers actually find this book and study it. Then re-study it. Because a regular re-study of Voison's work brings new understanding, new ideas, and greater simplicity to anyone's grazing operation. As well as more profitability.

The underlying basic to this work is that through managed grazing, the cows can help the grass be more productive. They help the soil regenerate through their interaction with the grass, very similar to how the vast roaming herds of grazing and browsing animals across the Western plains developed and maintained the prairies. The sheer size of those herds proved the land was capable of supporting massive tonnage of livestock through grazing - and following natural patterns.

But that same land, a few decades later, first was mismanaged into a massive Dust Bowl - and then recovered from it. And that both says a lot about our own human arrogance, and our ability to use humility ot learn from our mistakes.

Grazing cattle, done responsibly, can improve the land beyond what it's produced in decades before. It can start restoring the erosion that plowing nad cultivation have created. That's if we actually study that book and apply it.

In that way, we can first work to make our farming more sustainable and pay its own way, then we can encourage it to save our futures by restoring the land, and producing higher quality beef and forage than it has in centuries.

IF we read, study, and apply now...

- - - -

This is a reproduction of the original 1959 edition, formatted to trade paperback (6x9). Many original tables and formulae have been reproduced as images. Additional essays by James Anderson have been included. This second edition has been cleaned up and reformatted to take advantage of Print On Demand capabilities - so your reading is less interupted, with the tables and photos closest to where they are mentioned.

Scroll Up and Get Your Copy Now.

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.

This one-of-a-kind reference book covers the health problems that plague chickens of all breeds and ages. Practical charts identify common symptoms and causes of infection, while an alphabetic listing of diseases provides advice on treatment. You'll find helpful descriptions of troublesome ailments of all types, from poor egg production to crooked toe syndrome. Practical remedies and gentle preventative care measures will help your beloved flock stay happy, healthy, and safe.

This essential guide to keeping your chickens healthy and productive includes the latest information on:

• Practicing preventive healthcare
• Using natural approaches to enhance the immune system
• Treating and avoiding news-making diseases
• Raising healthy chickens in an urban environment

Written by a backyard homesteader with a small flock of heritage turkeys, An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Raising Backyard Turkeys focuses on eggs, meat, and personal enjoyment. Poultry expert Stacy Benjamin will show you how to:

-Raise your own poults
-Understand turkey behavior and breeding habits
-Provide proper shelter and nutrition

Includes full-color photographs.

The most comprehensive book on how to raise and breed your own poultry flock is now fully updated and expanded

The ultimate book for those who want to know everything there is to know about raising poultry.--Gene Logsdon, author of Letter to a Young Farmer

There's no better introductory reference on the joy of home-raising chickens.--Booklist

The first edition of The Small-Scale Poultry Flock helped thousands of small-scale farmers and homesteaders successfully adopt a practical and integrative model for working with chickens and other domestic fowl based on natural systems. In this expanded and thoroughly revised edition, readers will find plenty of all-new material. Author Harvey Ussery introduces readers to his new favorite breed of chicken, Icelandics; describes how he manages his breeding flock using a clan mating system; presents detailed information on the use of trapnests and record-keeping spreadsheets for evaluating breeding hen performance; and provides step-by-step instructions for construction of an ingeniously designed mobile poultry shelter.

Readers will also find fully updated information and tips on all aspects of flock management, including:

• Growing (and sourcing) feed on a small scale
• Cultivating earthworms and grubs as high-protein poultry feed
• Brooding (and breeding) at home
• Implementing manure management
• Using electric net fencing for ranging flocks
• Using poultry as insect and weed managers in the garden and orchard
• Enlisting your chickens as garden tillers and compost-makers
• Protecting the flock from predators
• Keeping the flock healthy
• Working with mother hens

Ussery presents a sustainable and ecologically friendly model that can be adapted for use at a variety of scales. His advice and examples throughout the book will prove invaluable for beginner homesteaders, growers looking to incorporate poultry into their farm, or experienced flocksters seeking to close their loop.

This comprehensive and award-winning guide provides step-by-step instruction on how to humanely slaughter and expertly butcher locally raised animals for the highest quality meat.

​Providing detailed photography of every step of the process, Adam Danforth shows you everything you need to know to butcher poultry, rabbit, lamb, goat, and pork. Learn how to create the proper slaughtering conditions, break the meat down, and produce flavorful cuts of meat. Stressing proper food safety at all times, Danforth provides expert advice on necessary tools and helpful tips on freezing and packaging.

Winner of the IACP and James Beard Awards.

With this compact portable reference in hand, crafters can quickly and easily look up any of 100 different sheep breeds, the characteristics of their fleece, and the kinds of projects for which their fleece is best suited. Each breed profile includes a photograph of the animal and information about its origin and conservation status, as well as the weight, staple length, fiber diameter, and natural colors of its fleece. This is a great primer for beginners, and a handy guide for anyone who loves working with fleece.

The fifth edition of Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep is now updated with full-color illustrations and photographs throughout, including a gallery of the best breed choices for both meat and fiber. With their small size and gentle dispositions, sheep are one of the easier livestock species to raise and offer varied marketing opportunities, including meat, wool, and milk.

Detailed instructions and graphics lead readers through every essential procedure, including:
*Shearing
*Building a lambing shed
*Breeding and lambing
*Butchering
*Marketing

Practical, well written, and comprehensive. . . . Read this book cover to cover, or keep it handy as a reference for all aspects of goat care.--Sarah Flack, author of The Art and Science of Grazing

Goats have provided humankind with essential products for centuries; indeed, they bear the noble distinction of being the first domesticated farm animal. From providing milk and meat for sustenance and fiber and hides for clothing and shelter to carrying packs and clearing brush, there isn't much that goats cannot do. Managing goats successfully requires an understanding of how nature designed them to thrive, including nutritional and psychological needs, as well as how to identify a problem and intercede before it's too late.

For more than a decade, Gianaclis Caldwell and her family have operated Pholia Farm Creamery, an off-grid, raw milk goat cheese dairy. In Holistic Goat Care, Caldwell offers readers a comprehensive guide to maintaining a healthy herd of goats, whether they are dairy goats, meat goats, fiber goats, or pet goats.

Holistic Goat Care will empower even novice goat owners to confidently diagnose and treat most of the ailments that goats might experience. For the experienced goat farmer, the book offers a depth of insight and approaches to treatment not found in any other book. Caldwell places special emphasis throughout on holistic, natural, and alternative approaches to caring for goats, including information on:

• Handling and managing goats using their natural instincts as an asset
• Developing good farm management practices such as appropriate housing and fencing systems and manure and mortality management
• Making feeding decisions based on understanding goats' ruminant digestive system and their evolutionary needs
• Growing forage and garden crops as feed and utilizing wild browse
• Troubleshooting health problems based on assessing symptoms
• Implementing advanced health procedures such as pain control, fecal testing, and transplanting rumen microbes from healthy to sick goats
• Diagnosing, treating, and preventing more than 75 common goat ailments

Whether your herd is two or two hundred, this first-of-its-kind, comprehensive book will help you keep your goats healthy, safe, and productive and give you a deep and enjoyable insight into the wondrous creature that is the goat.