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Keep your herd healthy, happy, and profitable with expert, state-of-the-art instruction. For novices or experienced ranchers, Storey's comprehensive guide covers everything from rotational grazing and winter feeding to breeding techniques, calving, and health care. Learn how to care for your land and pasture sustainably; handle cattle safely and humanely; choose or build the right fencing, corrals, and other facilities; raise and wean calves and care for pregnant cows; and select and sell quality animals.
Sommario
Foreword by Baxter Black, DVM
Chapter 1 Breeds and Genetics: An Overview
Choosing Beef Cattle - Breeds and Types of Beef Cattle - Which Type Is Best? - Inheritance of Traits - Crossbreeding and Hybrid Vigor - Selecting for Certain Characteristics
Chapter 2: Handling and Behavior of Beef Cattle
Basic Cow Psychology - Grazing Behavior - Training Cattle - Moving Cattle - Avoiding Injury
Chapter 3: Issues in Buying and Selling
Buying a Weaned Calf to Raise for Beef - Buying Calves at Auction - Buying from a Farmer - Buying a Heifer - What Makes a Good Beef Cow? - Buying Pregnant Heifers or Cows - Buying Open Yearlings - Marketing Cattle - Dealing with Shrink - Getting Cattle Ready for Market
Chapter 4: General Guidelines for Raising Beef Cattle
Understanding Your Calf's Behavior - Care for the Weaned Calf - Winter Care of the New Calf - Summer Care of the Yearling - The End Product: Beef - Feeds and Finishing
Chapter 5: Pasture, Fencing, and Facilities
Pastures: Sizes and Types - Water - Pasture Fencing - Pens and Facilities - Working in Corrals - Feeding Facilities - Equipment and Supplies
Chapter 6: Feeding Cattle
Basic Nutrition - Digestion - Feeding Forages (Roughages) - Nutritional Needs Vary - Winter Feeding
Chapter 7: Keeping Cattle Healthy
Know What a Healthy Animal Looks Like - Vaccinations - Bovine Respiratory Disease - Clostridial Diseases - Rabies - Coccidiosis - Eye Problems - Foot Rot - Lump Jaw - Bony Lump Jaw - Mastitis in Beef Cows - Hardware Disease - Urinary Calculi (Bladder Stones) - Bloat - Acidosis and Laminitis - Poisoning: Toxic Plants - Emphysema - Nitrate Poisoning - Internal Parasites - External Parasites - Skin Problems - Porcupine Quills - Snakebite - Strangulated Teat from Hairy Udder
Chapter 8: Growing and Breeding Heifers
Feeding Weaned Heifers - Age at Puberty - When to Breed - Nutrition for the Pregnant Yearling - Basics of Reproduction in Cattle - Choosing the Bull and Getting the Heifer Bred
Chapter 9: Care of the Pregnant Cow
Nutrition - Disease Prevention - Problems of Pregnancy
Chapter 10: Calving
Create a Safe Environment for Calving - Calving Facilities - Cold-Weather Calving - Handling Cows at Calving Time - Signs of Approaching Parturition - Minimizing Calving Problems: Getting the Calves Born Alive - First Things First: Get the Calf Breathing
Chapter 11: Care of the Newborn Calf
First Breath - Care of the Umbilical Cord - Helping a Calf to Nurse - Importance of Colostrum - Helping in Different Situations
Chapter 12: Calf Health
Calfhood Immunity: The Role of Antibodies - Castration - Dehorning - Detecting Illness in Young Calves - Managing Scours - Treating Diarrhea and Gut Infections in Calves - Pneumonia in Young Calves - Diphtheria in Calves - Navel Infections and Joint Ill - Catching Calves for Doctoring - Using an Esophageal Feeder - Giving Oral Medications - Broken Bones - Birth Defects in Young Calves
Chapter 13: Weaning the Calves
The Importance of When You Wean - Stress of Weaning - Vaccinations - Dehorning
Chapter 14: Rebreeding
Feeding the Cow after Calving - Cow Fertility - Use of Bulls - Reproductive Behavior of Cows and Bulls - Breeding Ability of Bulls - Artificial Insemination
Glossary
Resources
Metric Conversion Charts
Index
Info autore
Heather Smith Thomas has written extensively on animal health care, authoring thousands of articles and 24 books on the subject. Her books include Storey’s Guide to Raising Beef Cattle, Essential Guide to Calving, Getting Started with Beef & Dairy Cattle, The Cattle Health Handbook, The Horse Conformation Handbook, Storey’s Guide to Raising Horses, Storey’s Guide to Training Horses, and Stable Smarts. She raises cattle and horses on her family ranch in Salmon, Idaho.
Riassunto
Whether a farmer is raising one cow or a herd, Storey’s Guide to Raising Beef Cattle is the most reliable reference for ensuring a successful, healthy cattle operation. In this fully updated, full-color fourth edition, long-time cattle rancher and author Heather Smith Thomas explains every aspect of bovine behavior and provides expert guidance on breed selection, calving, feeding, housing, pasture, and health care. Along with in-depth information on raising grass-fed animals, there is also advice on creating a viable business plan and identifying niche markets for selling beef.
Testo aggiuntivo
“Heather Smith Thomas is pure gold, offering understandable wisdom and practical advice that springs from a cherished, successful life of working with cattle. Her sparkling and essential new edition of Storey’s Guide to Raising Beef Cattle will be close at hand on our small ranch.” — Lynn Miller, Editor, Small Farmer’s Journal
“Essential reading for people who are starting out raising beef cattle, with lots of hands-on practical advice.” — Temple Grandin, author of Temple Grandin’s Guide to Working with Farm Animals
“Whether you have been raising cattle for years or are just getting started, this book should be on your shelf.” — Bill Niman, Founder of Niman Ranch, Inc. and BN Ranch
“This is an essential reference manual for anyone raising beef cattle. The breadth of knowledge and countless useful tips offered here are a testament to Heather Smith Thomas’s many decades of experience” — Julius Ruechel, author of Grass-Fed Cattle
