Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle

Though I haven't read any other cattle books to compare it to, I found Heather Smith Thomas's Getting Started with Beef and Dairy Cattle informative and surprisingly detailed for its size. Noticing the "Getting Started" part of the title, I expected the scope of this book to be considerably limited and read more like a Dummy's how-to guide. It was, in fact, anything but shallow. The detail put into the medical section was particularly impressive; Heather writes about numerous ailments that can afflict your cattle, including which cattle are the most susceptible, how to prevent it, and how to treat it. The book also includes a brief glossary, and concise descriptions and color photos of beef and dairy breeds. Personally, I picked up this book for the dairy information, but actually found information within the beef chapters that applied to cattle management in general. (If you buy this book for the dairy or beef information exclusively, be sure to read the book in its entirety, rather than skip around.) As another customer said, I wish Heather had been more detailed concerning nutrition. She's pretty general, discussing carbs and where they're found, for example, rather than giving you an idea of what cattle's daily diet might look like. This book definitely has something to offer and is well worth looking into!

This book was very informative for my neighbor and myself who bought 3 calves each to raise for beef. Feeding specifications were pretty general, but informative. See your local farmers coop for help picking out a good feed for your animals if you don't know what you are quite doing yet. Our local MFA proved to be very helpful. The book has and EXCELLENT section on the health and wellness of your cow. I learned more than I would of ever imagined in this section of the book. There is a rather extensive section of book pertaining to dairy cows, which I read anyway and it was very informative. The suggestions that were given in this book were very handy for an amatuer farmer such as myself. Would recommend for anyone buying/owning their cow!

I started reading it right away and realized it was over my head. But then as I continued through it, I knew there was too much information for just a quick read. I gave it to my husband, and he's going through it now. Since he works offshore, he's able to read and reread and even read again those parts that are 'foreign' to us. But once you've eliminated the parts that won't pertain to your cattle, it's a great book. There's almost enough to make it 2 separate books so it would be easier on a novice. It's a book every "wanna be" cattleperson should read.

I have a number of Heather Smith Thomas' horse books as well as Storey's Gude to Raising Cattle and I think this is one of Heather's best so far. As is typical of her writing (and Storey books in general), everything is presented in an orderly, interesting, and easily absorbed manner--the great illustrations are icing on the cake! I have only one bovine, a pet steer at that, yet the cattle care information in this volume was as applicable to my one steer as it would be to a herd of farmed beef cattle. This is by far the most useful small-scale cattlekeeping guide I've yet seen. Highly recommended!