Goats: Small-scale Herding for Pleasure And Profit (Hobby Farm)
$7.99
Price: $7.99
(as of Nov 01, 2025 21:38:54 UTC – Details)
Hobby Farms GOATS: Small-Scale Herding, written by hobby farmer and prolific author and columnist Sue Weaver, is an essential guide to the wonderful world of goats. This colorful guide discusses goats of all types, including dairy goats, used for milk and cheese; meat goats; fiber goats, prized for their mohair and cashmere; recreational goats, beloved by children for their great personalities and silliness; and brush goats, the lawnmowers of creative hobby farmers and suburbanites. Weaver offers excellent advice on how to purchase a goat: sensible and direct, she advises newcomers that while goats can be profitable, they should not rush in. Before the reader fills his backyard with a herd of goats, the author warns him or her to consider that while goats are “cute, personable, charming, and imminently entertaining…[they] are also destructive…mischievous, sometimes ornery, and often exasperating.” The book lists the various breeds of goats commonly available as meat and dairy producers, carefully spelling out their advantages and drawbacks. In the chapter on selecting a goat, the author instructs the reader to be aware of the overall health and soundness, and to consider such the animals’ horns and teeth. The book also covers general care for a small herd of goats, including outdoor housing and feeding, general health care, and maintenance. For hobby farmers ready to dive into the world of reproducing their goats, there are chapters on breeding, mating, and “Bringing Kids into the World.” All goat keepers will be enlightened by the information in the chapter on behavior and solving everyday problems with their often capricious caprines. Since the focus of the book is for hobby farmers, Goats also addresses how to make money from the small-scale herd, offering advice on managing, selling, and marketing goat-derived products. The book concludes with an extensive glossary of over 150 terms, an appendix of common goat diseases, and a resource section of useful goat-relevant books, websites, and associations. Fully indexed.
ASIN : B08T6G8DFN
Publisher : CompanionHouse Books
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : May 17, 2011
Language : English
File size : 9.7 MB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Not Enabled
Print length : 318 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-1935484806
Page Flip : Enabled
Part of series : Hobby Farms
Best Sellers Rank: #3,249,534 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #889 in Animal Husbandry (Kindle Store) #4,242 in Animal Husbandry (Books) #5,075 in Biological Science of Animals
Customer Reviews: 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 83 ratings var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
Customers say
Customers find the book provides helpful information, with one mentioning it includes a glossary of goat jargon. They appreciate its readability, with one customer noting it’s easy to understand and not too technical.
Esteban –
Good Goat Reference
A good friend has started raising her own goat herd so I gave her this book for her birthday. She loved it. Nothing too technical, just very usable information to help her manage her fledging goat herd. Her husband also read it cover to cover.
Bethany Fowler –
Good, Basic Information
I think this book is great. It offers basic, solid information for those who are novices to the world of caprines, is well written and has excellent photographs. It’s a great starting place: it will give you an idea where to start and what options you have as far as goat raising goes. Once you choose what kind of goat and for what purpose you want to raise them, you can look for books more tailored to your needs. For instance, I am interested in dairy goats, so the basic information supplied in this book gets me started, but there is a lot more to learn on the subject.For further information on Dairy Goats in particular I can reccomend Gail Luttman’s Raising Milk Goats successfully (yes, I know it’s old, but it really does have great information), Ms. Weaver’s other books which include goats (The Backyard Goat, and Storey’s Guide to Miniature Livestock), and-with reservation–Storey’s Guide to Dairy Goats, ty Jerome Belanger and Sara Thomson Bredesen. (my reservation being that this book offers the truly cringe-worthy suggestion to drown unwanted and inconveient kids—yes, sometimes you have more kids then you can easily deal with when you are using goats for dairy, but that is your responsiblity. Choosing a frightening, horrible death when there are other options is wrong.)In short, my suggestion for this book would be for beginners and even for people who are thinking about getting goats, but aren’t sure. This book will offer enough information to let you know if goats are something you want to pursue or not. It won’t do for more experienced goatherds…I’m hoping that Ms. Weaver will provide a more indepth book on goat care someday—I have a feeling Hobby Farm books like to keep it simple.
Henry Sneed –
great
Very well written and illustrated guide I would recommend to anyone a must have if you thinking about raising goats
Kindle Customer –
informative and enjoyable
Easy to understand. Pictures help to clarify techniques they are referring to.
Thomas Laporte –
Get it before you get goats
Nay. Nay. Not a single person interested in living with goats should miss this book aptly titled, Goats. In the work, Sue Weaver covers the basic, yet crucial, elements involved in raising goats as pets or as a business venture. She clearly loves the little ruminants, and as a consequence she methodically cautions the newcomer from rushing into the wonderful world of goats.Topics covered in the book include food, shelter, breeding, health care and how to go about finding the right species of goat for your purposes and personality. Weaver gives a nice overview of the four major marketable uses of goats, including a very interesting look at ethnic and cultural preferences of goat meat for select holidays and special occasions.The vignettes from the farm that are included in the book tie the text to day-to-day reality. The best of all comes at the back of the book. Here, Weaver lists numerous resources, provides a glossary of goat jargon and presents a fantastic summary of common diseases that plague goats. These appendices are reason enough to purchase Goats and make it a hands-on keeper.
Alana –
Very Well Organized
Beautifully written in layman terms. I liked how it was so organized. The book gave us the confidence and we now are the proud owners of 4 Nigerian Dwarfs! Thanks Sue Weaver!
The Green Witch –
great for a small herdsmen
Loved the book. Very informative forthe small herdsmen that we are here. Loved the pictures.
Shareth Israel –
Informative
Taught me a lot about goats. Has helped us get started in our small goat business. Just wish it were bigger and more in-depth.
M Reader –
This is a great little book – an enjoyable read with informative and easily accessible facts to whet your appetite and show the initial steps needed in planning to keep goats.
The Swan –
I bought about 6 books on goats, and this one is my favorite. Great content!
graham –
Ok
Fauna –
Great book, full of eccentric twirls and a mine of fascinating information.
velcro –
The service was good, arrived in good time, in good condition, however product was disappointing. Did not realise from the extracts available how Americanised the product was. Plant names, medical conditions and food products all have different names – sometimes difficult to translate! Any one recommend a similar English product?