Böcker av Sue Weaver

Useful and lovable, sheep make wonderful backyard pets. Their fleece is fundamental to all sorts of fiber arts; their ultra-rich, high-fat milk produces delicious cheese; and if you raise herding dogs, sheep are a must! Sue Weaver's complete guide to raising two or twelve sheep covers everything from their place in history to their place in your backyard. The essential beginner's guide to:- Choosing a breed. Select the sheep that best suit your climate, facilities, and purpose.- Housing and feeding. You want your sheep to be comfortable, well nourished and safe.- Caring for sheep. Identify and treat illnesses and afflictions, breed your ewes, and see them safely through lambing season.- Producing beautiful fleece. Handspinner-quality fleeces don't just happen; discover how to get the best from your sheep.- Milking. Basic techniques and tips on handling your fresh milk will turn you into a pro in no time.- Making cheese. Sheep-milk cheese and yogurt are two of the finest reasons to keep sheep.

From Feeder Pig to Bacon in 5 Months Pigs don't need a lot of space to thrive, and they're naturally tidy and easy to care for. Pigs are also an efficient choice for the backyard meat producer -- in just five to eight months, your little shoat will reach 250 pounds (depending on the breed you choose) and yield about 100 pounds of succulent pork, ready for curing, smoking, or freezing. Count on Sue Weaver's expert guidance to help you choose a flavorful breed, formulate a proper diet, and provide safe and comfortable backyard living quarters.

Hobby Farms GOATS: Small-Scale Herding, written by hobby farmer and prolific author and columnist Sue Weaver, is an essential guide to the wonderful world of goats. This colorful guide discusses goats of all types, including dairy goats, used for milk and cheese; meat goats; fiber goats, prized for their mohair and cashmere; recreational goats, beloved by children for their great personalities and silliness; and brush goats, the lawnmowers of creative hobby farmers and suburbanites. Weaver offers excellent advice on how to purchase a goat: sensible and direct, she advises newcomers that while goats can be profitable, they should not rush in. Before the reader fills his backyard with a herd of goats, the author warns him or her to consider that while goats are "cute, personable, charming, and imminently entertaining...[they] are also destructive...mischievous, sometimes ornery, and often exasperating." The book lists the various breeds of goats commonly available as meat and dairy producers, carefully spelling out their advantages and drawbacks. In the chapter on selecting a goat, the author instructs the reader to be aware of the overall health and soundness, and to consider such the animals'' horns and teeth. The book also covers general care for a small herd of goats, including outdoor housing and feeding, general health care, and maintenance. For hobby farmers ready to dive into the world of reproducing their goats, there are chapters on breeding, mating, and "Bringing Kids into the World." All goat keepers will be enlightened by the information in the chapter on behavior and solving everyday problems with their often capricious caprines. Since the focus of the book is for hobby farmers, Goats also addresses how to make money from the small-scale herd, offering advice on managing, selling, and marketing goat-derived products. The book concludes with an extensive glossary of over 150 terms, an appendix of common goat diseases, and a resource section of useful goat-relevant books, websites, and associations. Fully indexed.

Covers what small farmers and backyard homesteaders need to know to keep a single cow or a small dairy herd as a productive part of their food supply - from selecting a breed, maintaining animal health, feeding, and providing shelter to milking and making homemade dairy products.