This beautiful book offers an intimate look at life on a hobby farm. From finding a farm to creating a business, to choosing what to plant to canning fruits, Hobby Farm will teach readers how to reap the benefits of rustic life with sound guidance.

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Farmers from all over Australia explain how they set up profitable small farms.

Hobby Farms Beef Cattle: Keeping a Small-Scale Herd for Pleasure and Profit, written by Ann Larkin Hansen, serves as an excellent introduction to raising cows for food or simply to graze while mowing and fertilizing the pasture. This colorful guide offers experienced hobby farmers and beginners all of the essential information necessary to purchase and maintain a small herd of beef cattle. While managing her own hobby farm in Wisconsin, Hansen shares her expertise in all things farm and has authored numerous books such as Making Hay, The Organic Farming Manual, and Finding Good Farmland. In this comprehensive book, Hansen corrals the hobby farmer into the world of cowboys and cowgirls: she begins, “Beef cattle are as much at home on the hobby farm as they are on the range.” This colorful primer begins with the basics, from biological traits and breeds to behavior and life cycle, and describes exactly what’s required for a hobby farmer to maintain a herd of cattle—the four F’s—fencing, feed, fields, and facilities. Given the expense involved in the purchase and maintenance of beef cattle, all hobby farmers will welcome Hansen’s sound and sensible advice on buying the right cattle, whether steer calves for meat or breeding stock for building up a herd. The buying chapter helps farmers focus on what to look for when selecting cattle; how cows, heifers, and bulls are priced; where to purchase; and how to get cattle to your farm. The feeding and nutrition of cattle is a complicated topic, and Hansen breaks it down into the three basic components that every keeper needs to understand: pasture, hay, and grain. With directness and clarity, she explains the ins and outs of grazing, selecting ideal foodstuffs, using salt and minerals, and maintaining good weight on the herd. The reader can rely on her expert advice to learn the fundamentals of handling cattle, including herding, loading, and transporting cattle, as well as keeping beef cattle healthy through preventive methods, vaccinations, parasite control and veterinary assistance. For hobby farmers planning to breed their livestock, Beef Cattle includes a chapter on pairing cows and heifers, the actual breeding, artificial insemination, the care of pregnant cows, calving, caring for the young, and weaning calves. The final chapter of the book “Marketing and Processing Your Cattle” is geared toward hobby farmers looking to get beef processed, grade meat, and sell the final product. Sidebars of fun trivia, stories from farmers, and useful advice appear throughout the handbook. A glossary of over 100 terms; an appendix of health issues; a resource section of useful websites, books, and periodicals; and a detailed index complete the book.

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Excerpt from Farming for Pleasure and Profit: Dairy-Farming, Management of Cows, Etc Many of these, with a comical air of plaintiveness, have deplored the fact that their attachment to country pursuits and occupations, either when directed into the channel of rearing a little stock, or in growing farm produce, has alike turned out an expensive hobby; so that, instead of gaining, they have lost money by what they have undertaken. In endeavouring to comply with the suggestion, it has occurred to me that it would be as well perhaps if I were to give a short account of all the circum stances which caused me to become a farmer upon a small scale, while carrying on a business in London which, in my case, has resulted both in pleasure and profit. As will be seen in the course of the details I am about to furnish, I did not jump into active operations all at once, but went to work very gradually, and felt my way from time to time in what I undertook, laying down one main principle - that, as far as possible, I would be my own customer for the produce raised. That is to say, that I would supply my household with butter, milk, bacon, fresh pork, eggs, vegetables, fruit, honey, flour for bread; oats, beans, and straw for my horses hay, etc. Selling my surplus. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Jump on the bandwagon with one of the hottest-growing food sources. Goats is an in-depth guide to small-scale goat keeping--for pleasure and profit! The author delivers essential information on choosing, breeding, and tending goats while also offering fascination and fun facts. Comprehensive discussions, full-color, and easy-to-use charts will ensure your success.