The Ultimate Guide to Raising Farm Animals: A Complete Guide to Raising Chickens, Pigs, Cows, and More

by Laura Childs, Jennifer Megyesi, Jessie Shiers

Imagine putting together a big breakfast using the eggs straight from your own chickens, or bacon straight from the pig. This is a sort of ideal that many dream of, but few ever get to experience. Now with The Ultimate Guide to Raising Farm Animals, that dream can be turned into a reality, and also be so much more.
In The Ultimate Guide to Raising Farm Animals, you will learn how to take care of chickens, pigs, sheep, cows, and other livestock. Each chapter will be dedicated to a different animal, and you will not only learn how to take care of them, but also what sort of things you can get from them. If you want to save money, become more self-sufficient, or enjoy healthier locally sourced food, The Ultimate Guide to Raising Farm Animals is the book you need.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2015

About the author

Laura Childs spent many years working in the communications and marketing industry. From desktop publishing for both corporate and socially-minded clients, to programming and creating online Knowledge Management courseware for highly respected authors in their field; Laura has worked in Canada and internationally in a vast array of roles.

In the last 20 years she's provided many of her services and offered consultation from her hobby farm located high in the hills of the Canadian Shield. On the farm, Laura raised her daughter to discover her own talents and interests, be adept at living off the land, and balance it all with compassion, grace, and social responsibility. After 17 years on the farm, mother and daughter now live apart, but near each other, in southern Ontario.

With such diverse interests and life experiences, Laura has turned to utilizing her talents to inspire others, helping each to recognize their potential and rise to their personal best. While Laura has spent many years writing about country living, she now writes and blogs on more personal and accessible topics of health, diet, weight loss and natural foods. She has most recently co-authored a book with her daughter on the weight loss diet they created together, "Low Carb, High Fat, No Hunger Diet" (June, 2014).

Reviews

[Gabriella Bishop-Schiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I breezed through this book, reading more details about the animals I'm interested in.
This book seems like a good place for a person in the "dream" phase of hobby/farming. I appreciate that this book is honest about costs, slaughter (in the case of animals raised for their meat), and the resources these animals require to live happier, healthier lives.

[Sonja Ferrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book as a city raised girl who is now living and raising my kids on a farm. We aren't farmers but John probably wouldn't call us hobby farmers either. Regardless of the definition I have a lot to learn about the animals.

[Kate Hartman · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information was okay but, it was really detailed for some livestock and lacking for others. Thought would be more about the “and more” animals but basically just about chickens, pigs, and cows. Decent starting place for those though.

[Eros Nocturne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book! Easy to read, not terribly boring (unless you don't like the specific animals they cover in certain sections). I wouldn't really call this the "Ultimate Guide", though, to be honest. More so a "Beginner's Guide". As a city boy, this gave me a pretty good feel for animals, their uses, how expensive they might be, the costs that go into taking care of them... All good info! And it's very honest about the fact that you may need to get other more extensive books about specific animals if you want to learn more about them (which I also agree with). There are some resources for websites and whatnot you can find in here, too.

If you're not a beginner to this lifestyle or taking care of animals, I say to skip this book unless you want to review the basics. If you already know what kinds of animals you want, buy books dedicated to those specific animals!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to have as a resource guide. We are in the very beginning of setting up our small sustainable farm and are reading everything we can get our hands on. This will take a prominent place in our resource library.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introductory book to some basic farm animals. Not exhaustive, rather an overview

[jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many interesting facts!