Backyard Dairy Goats by Kate Downham

Backyard Dairy Goats by Kate Downham

I give this book 9 out of 10 acorns.
This is a book for the small scale homesteader who has only a few goats, and wants to raise them naturally, as opposed to most of the goat books I have seen that are for people keeping huge herds of goats and medicating them and feeding them the minimal amount of food they need to stay alive. This is EXACTLY what I have wanted in a goat book!

Topics covered include the basics:
Fencing
Feeding
Basic illnesses
Breeding

But also include things I find more useful:
Dealing with neighbors and landlords
Identifying good goats to buy
Borrowing a buck
Teaching a goat to get on the milking stand
What they are not allowed to eat
Herd dynamics
And how to make cheese!

Definitely an excellent book for the small scale goat keeper, and really worth the read. :D

I also give this book 9 out of 10 acorns! I loved the information in it, and actually shared some of it with my goat-keeping neighbors, and it was stuff they didn't know. I loved learning how to be the head, and the different colored goats need slightly different amounts of different nutrients, and the cheese recipes look really helpful (I'm not at a place right now to start making cheese, but I'm glad I've got a handy reference!).

I do wish that there was a bit more in the book. More about the whys of certain natural treatments, and a list of references (I always loved having those references when doing research--it lead to many more great books to read!).

But, still, this little book is packed with information from about goats from baby to nursing mama and even how to whether a goat, and ailments and how to check for them and prevent them and treat them. I love the holistic look on goat and how they fit into different sized homestead and how to incorporate them into your permaculture system, rather than just keep them isolated.

This is a book to have, to reread, to use as a reference, and to lend to your goat keeping friends and neighbors. I know I'll be lending mine to my neighbors so they, too, can benefit from the knowledge in it. Even if you don't have goats or plan to have goats (I hope to have have sheep--and would LOVE a permaculture sheep book!), this book is a great reference to have, and a great wealth of knowledge to help you when working with other people's goats!

There have been a few more reviews on Amazon now. I thought I would share them here:

Great facts and descriptive tips, loved all the natural suggestions, property tips, care and even yummy recipes to make with goats milk

This book is a great source of information about natural goat raising, and can be read by those who are completely new to raising goats, or by those who already have goats, but want to take a more natural approach.

I do not yet have goats, but thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, as it gave me a very informative insight into what things to expect when raising them. The author addresses common goat keeping issues and offers plenty of advice and natural solutions to simple health problems, which has come from her own experience with natural goat keeping.

I found all of it very useful and easy to read, from learning about herd dynamics, right down to what to look for when purchasing goats. I know this will be a book that I will refer to often.

I look forward to learning milking and trying out the home made cheese recipes!

Great book for beginners! Although she is talking mostly about milk goats, you could use it for any goat! She doesnt talk about all of the type of goat, but the basics in detail. She talks about

Sheltets
Fencing
Bringing your goats home
Cheesemaking and recipies
And much much more!

She talks about how to think when building a paddock. She said that goats dont like to eat food off the ground, Yup! She even covered something that small! So i definitely recommend it!

It's so lovely to have nice feedback!

A new five star review on Amazon:

I love this book, and highly recommend it! It's great comprehensive information, written in a very down to earth, practical style, organized in a way that makes sense. I'm new to goat stewardship, and this book has been a huge help, to me, as well as helping to calm many of my husband's fears, too.

I also give this book 9 out of 10 acorns.

This book was quite refreshing compared to the various other goat books (about 4) that I have read which seem to lack information on feeding and natural parasite control.  

I feel I finally have a book I would feel good giving out to a friend interested in getting into raising goats.  The book covers goat keeping in a more holistic approach and makes it seem manageable - a "Yes you can raise goats and here is how to get started" kind of book. It has great information on the basics of goat keeping, without all of the information on how to treat a goat with shots/needles/medications.

I appreciated seeing in this book:
-The goat's place in the ecosystem.
-A goat herders responsibilities
-Natural prevention for Mastitis
-How to deal with escaped goats
-Goat Health System Checker

Why i am not giving this 10 acorns is the cheese recipes, which account for a large portion of the book(about 65 pages out of 167). I know if you are going to have goats, you might also want to make cheese. So I get why it is there, I just found myself wanting more on goat keeping. Like Nicole, I would have liked to see more about the why of the natural treatments.

Thank you Kate for writing this very down to earth book!

I give this book 10 out of 10 acorns. It's a book I wish I'd had when I was first researching goats.

I admit Kate won me over in the first couple of pages: goats are her favorite animal, she mentions Pat Coleby's book, Natural Goat Care (one of my go-tos), and she makes her cheeses with natural cultures (me too)! Even though it's geared toward folks in the early stages of goat keeping, I'm tracking in the same direction. So I knew I would not only enjoy reading this book, but would glean useful tidbits from Kate's experience and research.

What sets this book apart from most other books about keeping goats, is a keyword in the title, "Backyard." While most other books about goats assume acreage, Kate keeps her goats in her backyard. That makes this book unique, and I would say important in times such as these, when many folks are looking for ways to expand personal food security. More people have backyards than acres, and this book is perfect for them.

The book is divided into five sections: Understanding Goats, The Needs of Backyard Goats, Getting Your Goats, Day to Day Goat Keeping, and Cheesemaking and Recipes.

Understanding Goats begins with "A goat's place in the backyard ecosystem" and provides excellent reasons why keeping your own goats is good for you, the environment, and your property. This section covers goat behavior, herd dynamics, handling goats, introducing goats to the milking stand, introducing new goats to the herd, dealing with escaped goats, and how to herd goats. "Goat health and observation" covers common health issues with goats and how to prevent them.

The Needs of Backyard Goats covers shelter, different kinds of fencing, bedding, and feeding goats, including things you can do and grow yourself. All important water and minerals are covered in detail. You'll also find tips for acquiring a milking stand. This section concludes with everything a prospective goatherd needs to understand before committing to the responsibility of caring for goats.

Getting Your Goats contains information you need to know beforehand. Discusses what to check on before bringing goats to your backyard, and how to deal with potential objections from neighbors! Discusses horned goats versus no horns, dairy goat breeds, and how much milk you can expect. Tells you how to spot a good quality goat and where to look for dairy goats. The author gives you a list of questions to ask as you consider potential purchases, (something I wish I'd had when I got my first goats). Transporting goats is also discussed.

Day to Day Goat Keeping helps you sleuth your way through health observations and questions goatkeepers face, as well as basic natural "cure all remedies" to get the new goatkeeper started. You'll learn how to give an injection, how to check eye membrane color for internal parasites, and what you need to know about breeding, pregnancy, and kidding. The remainder of the section gives excellent details on milking and milk handling.

Cheesemaking and Recipes starts with information about ingredients and equipment. Quick and simple cheese recipes follow, and then you'll find a thorough discussion of how to make cultured and renneted cheeses. All the cultures discussed are natural alternatives to commercial powdered cheese starters. All the cheese recipes in this book use natural cultures. My own favorite cheeses are included, along with a good variety of cheeses I haven't tried. Yet! The recipe section finishes up with recipes for using your cheese. I'm especially looking forward to trying her Chévre pastry crust and cheesecake.

The information in this book to the point, yet personal, and well organized. It brings hope to people who might want their own homegrown source of milk, but thought they needed an actual farm to do so. You don't! This book will give you all the information you need to make a happy, healthy start with goats.

I give this book 8 out of 10 acorns.

This book is a wonderful portable size, and an enjoyable read full of humor and the author’s love of having goats. From the beginning it gives the “insider information” to readers without requiring them to wade through diagrams and statistics to get to it, as in the other big, heavy, glossy books.

The most interesting parts of the book to me were the listing of all those goat breeds for dairying (and I had thought goats were just goats, ha!) with considerations of breeding and kidding; the importance of lots of vitamins and minerals in the food; and especially the reiterated theme of the importance keeping goats' food suspended (off the ground, anyway) to avoid ingesting parasites.  (And the most difficult part of the book was the very brief castration part--I wonder if we will ever need to do that if we get goats, but anyway the info on it is presented here simply and clearly!)  The handful of photographs to demonstrate flourishing goats were charming (and informative!).

Half the book is how to obtain goats and their milk, the other half is how to make use of the milk that you will eventually obtain. So many recipes and instructions, wow! I appreciated all the cautions and tips for cleanliness during the milking procedure and the sterilization of all milking containers. It seems like a lot to do since I have never seen it done, but I expect that it all becomes habit very quickly once a new goat owner gets into the swing of things.

The metric measurements in the book are mercifully translated into "American" and that made it easy for me to visualize the dimensions in various discussions. Very grateful for that! This book gave me confidence in my ability to manage such a project as getting a few dairy goats, and makes it sound fun and worthwhile.