Small-Scale Livestock Farming

Small-scale livestock farmingSmall-Scale
Livestock Farming
by
Carol Ekarius contains some handy tidbits, but I don’t really recommend
the book for backyard hobbyists.  While Ekarius takes a holistic
approach, she focuses more page-space on making a living than on
understanding the pasture ecosystem, so you’ll have to do a lot of
skimming to find the gems.




I was also turned off by
the way the book was written at a sixth-grade level.  Not only are
the sentences short and choppy, the whole thing reads like a textbook,
rather than like an inspiring and excited rendition of the author’s own
experience.  In addition, Ekarius includes a lot of basic
information, and some of it’s just plain wrong.  For example: “The
beneficial bacteria are known as
saprophytes, and include bacteria that
regularly live in the digestive tract.”  Um, no.  Saprophytes
are fungi that live on decomposing organic matter; that’s not a general
term for beneficial bacteria.




On the other hand, if
you want to start up a farming business raising pastured cows for meat,
this book will probably come in handy.  I could also see it being
useful for high-school-agriculture classes or clubs.  And the
top-notch tables will keep
Small-Scale
Livestock Farming

on my shelf for a while, so all is not lost.  Stay tuned for the
eye-openers I teased out of the book in later posts.



Our chicken waterer is perfect for pastured
operations since it never spills on uneven terrain or fills with mud.

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