Goats: Small-Scale Herding for Pleasure and Profit (CompanionHouse Books) Farming Goats for Milk, Meat, Fiber, Clearing Land, and Recreation - Housing, Feeding, Health Care, and More (Hobby Farm) Paperback – May 5, 2006

A good friend has started raising her own goat herd so I gave her this book for her birthday. She loved it. Nothing too technical, just very usable information to help her manage her fledging goat herd. Her husband also read it cover to cover.

I think this book is great. It offers basic, solid information for those who are novices to the world of caprines, is well written and has excellent photographs. It's a great starting place: it will give you an idea where to start and what options you have as far as goat raising goes. Once you choose what kind of goat and for what purpose you want to raise them, you can look for books more tailored to your needs. For instance, I am interested in dairy goats, so the basic information supplied in this book gets me started, but there is a lot more to learn on the subject.For further information on Dairy Goats in particular I can reccomend Gail Luttman's Raising Milk Goats successfully (yes, I know it's old, but it really does have great information), Ms. Weaver's other books which include goats (The Backyard Goat, and Storey's Guide to Miniature Livestock), and-with reservation--Storey's Guide to Dairy Goats, ty Jerome Belanger and Sara Thomson Bredesen. (my reservation being that this book offers the truly cringe-worthy suggestion to drown unwanted and inconveient kids---yes, sometimes you have more kids then you can easily deal with when you are using goats for dairy, but that is your responsiblity. Choosing a frightening, horrible death when there are other options is wrong.)In short, my suggestion for this book would be for beginners and even for people who are thinking about getting goats, but aren't sure. This book will offer enough information to let you know if goats are something you want to pursue or not. It won't do for more experienced goatherds...I'm hoping that Ms. Weaver will provide a more indepth book on goat care someday---I have a feeling Hobby Farm books like to keep it simple.

Easy to understand. Pictures help to clarify techniques they are referring to.

Loved the book. Very informative forthe small herdsmen that we are here. Loved the pictures.

Nay. Nay. Not a single person interested in living with goats should miss this book aptly titled, Goats. In the work, Sue Weaver covers the basic, yet crucial, elements involved in raising goats as pets or as a business venture. She clearly loves the little ruminants, and as a consequence she methodically cautions the newcomer from rushing into the wonderful world of goats.Topics covered in the book include food, shelter, breeding, health care and how to go about finding the right species of goat for your purposes and personality. Weaver gives a nice overview of the four major marketable uses of goats, including a very interesting look at ethnic and cultural preferences of goat meat for select holidays and special occasions.The vignettes from the farm that are included in the book tie the text to day-to-day reality. The best of all comes at the back of the book. Here, Weaver lists numerous resources, provides a glossary of goat jargon and presents a fantastic summary of common diseases that plague goats. These appendices are reason enough to purchase Goats and make it a hands-on keeper.

Beautifully written in layman terms. I liked how it was so organized. The book gave us the confidence and we now are the proud owners of 4 Nigerian Dwarfs! Thanks Sue Weaver!

I have just become the goat leader for our 4H group so I have had to read up and refresh my memory on goats. this and a couple others books have really helped.

Taught me a lot about goats. Has helped us get started in our small goat business. Just wish it were bigger and more in-depth.