# Reference Material needed



## Eroc1_1 (Apr 19, 2011)

I would like to learn and read more about sheep. I was hoping that you guys could recommend some books that I could buy for my reference library. 

I have some agricultural background, so I am not totally inept.  I want to know more information for myself and kids. I will be posting this similar message in multiple locations based on the animals/livestock I want to know more about.


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## nsanywhere (Apr 20, 2011)

I have this one and found it really helpful, especially good pictures for birthing:

How to Raise Sheep by Philip Hasheider

http://www.google.com/products/cata...TYTvDOOC0QGDzqy5Cw&ved=0CFYQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers


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## patandchickens (Apr 20, 2011)

Replying once, here, rather than to all your threads:

In general the "Storey's Guide To Raising <insert name of livestock here>" series is the most uniformly-useful series I know of, all of them are somewhere between good and excellent IMHO. (Well, I don't like the one on turkeys, but only becuase it is pretty exclusively focused on semi-industrial-style turkey raising rather than more old-timey backyard-y style).  So I would suggest getting that whole line to read, as a starting point.

The FFA "How To Raise <name of livestock>" series mentioned by the previous poster has some good ones too -- their goat book especially, IMO -- but many of them are a bit longer on photos but a bit thinner on actual practical info than the Storey series.

For sheep books (since that is the category this post is in) I also like Ron Parker's The Sheep Book, it is aimed a bit more at small commercial producers than "I have five sheep" backyarders but contains LOTS of very useful practical-detail type information. 

I also own More sheep, more grass, more money which is interesting reading but not massively useful unless you are a small or large commercial producer with much land; and the Sheep book in the Hobby Farms series, which has some useful practical tidbits not found in other books but is generally way too deficient on information to be a useful guide in and of itself (tho if you are a "I have five sheep" person and like reading it can be a useful adjunct to other books)

There is also a lot of good material on the web, the Sheep101 and Sheep201 pages (from the U of MD small ruminant project) come to mind but there are also others. I know I found a variety of pretty good 'practical guide to lambing time' type pages on various small-flock breeders' webpages, for instance.

IMO your best bet is not to worry about what's the "best" books but rather to read every single thing you can get your hands on. All books/webpages/whatever have a certain amount of "author's bias", and different ones go into more or less detail about different subjects, so by reading as much as possible you can sort of triangulate on what to actually expect from the animals in question, and have a broader base (even if just of book learning) from which to deal with issues that arise or to design and build your facilities. I find this FAR more useful than just adopting one or two sources to closely follow.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat


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## Eroc1_1 (Apr 20, 2011)

patandchickens said:
			
		

> Replying once, here, rather than to all your threads:
> 
> In general the "Storey's Guide To Raising <insert name of livestock here>" series is the most uniformly-useful series I know of, all of them are somewhere between good and excellent IMHO. (Well, I don't like the one on turkeys, but only becuase it is pretty exclusively focused on semi-industrial-style turkey raising rather than more old-timey backyard-y style).  So I would suggest getting that whole line to read, as a starting point.
> 
> ...


Thank you , Pat. I am trying to be informed as much as I can be before jumping into anything. Of course, sometimes the best education is just doing it.


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