The Dairy Goat Handbook: For Backyard, Homestead, and Small Farm

by Ann Starbard

Overview

Get the scoop on starting your own dairy goat farm. This guide combines knowledge, with 15 years of working experience from the author.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780760347317
Publisher:	Harvard Common Press, The
Publication date:	06/05/2015
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Ann Starbard was raised on a dairy cow farm in Pennsylvania and has raised dairy goats on Crystal Brook Farm in Massachusetts for fifteen years. She and her husband, Eric, have built a thriving business with the goat cheese they make on the farm. They sell their cheese at the farm, at farmers' markets, at restaurants, and at more than twenty retail outlets, including two Whole Foods stores (one in Boston and one in Cambridge). Starbard maintains the farm's website (www.crystalbrookfarm.com) and has written previously on dairy goats; most recently she co-authored a chapter in a dairy goat management book being released by Winrock International, an international nonprofit group.

Editorial Reviews

05/04/2015
Readers who have been sucked in by the viral videos of goats balancing on a steel ribbon or screaming like humans may think raising goats would be fun and easy. Starbard, a goat farmer with 15 years’ experience raising dairy goats and making and selling goat cheese, doesn’t lead the reader on with such cuteness. She gives a comprehensive breakdown on goat raising, from selecting them to marketing their products, but also doesn’t ignore all the adorable by-products of goat farming (the climbing, the hopping, the affection, the playful butting). It’s not all fun; goats must be milked twice a day, ten months a year. They need other goats around for socializing, eat through fences, catch cold easily, and must be sheltered. Some kids are spoiled rotten and don’t respect authority. The last books with this much detail may have been the husbandry journals published in the 1950s and ’60s. Those who want to raise “one of the most adaptable and productive domesticated animals on our planet” will find Starbard’s advice invaluable. Color photos provide a trip (a collective noun for goats) of adorable animals. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"...gives a comprehensive breakdown on goat raising, from selecting them to marketing their products, but also doesn't ignore all the adorable by-products of goat farming (the climbing, the hopping, the affection, the playful butting)." - Publishers Weekly

"This book is an excellent guide for anyone interested in raising goats, breeding, milking, and making or marketing products." -FarmBarbie.com

From the Publisher