The Field Guide to Goats by Cheryl Kimball

I was thinking about getting some goats but went with hair sheep and I will stay with the sheep the males are much better to deal with

This could be due to my expectations? I was looking for a more comprehensive guide on goats. Several known breeds aren't mentioned at all. And of course they are the ones I'm interested in adding to the farm.

Great book a lot of Info Cant wait to use it Thanks

This a a beautifully illustrated book, but lacks in individual breed information. Some breeds have height or weight information but most do not making it very confusing if you are shopping for a goat and need size information. Then they completely left out the Kinder goat which is a Nubian/Pygmy cross and very popular. One last complaint, some of the goats pictured as ADGA breed goats have horns (ADGA does not allow horns.

This goat book is a great reference guide with full color pictures. My son was quite excited to receive this book and has been reading it to help him understand his goats and other breeds.

good book delivered as promised

At only 144 pages, and with more than half of the page space filled with stock photos, this book is VERY short on information, and unfortunately much of the info in this book is incorrect.

While I certainly do not expect all goat breeders to agree on the finer points of feeding, housing, and veterinary care, there are many things we do agree upon -- like breed standards. Kimball, unfortunately gets a lot of basic information incorrect, such as the breed standard for Nigerian dwarves, which she says are supposed to be 17 to 19 inches in height for does. (Fact: Max is 22.5 inches, and there is no minimum.) She also says, "Oberhasli goats are typically raised for meat," although she has them listed in the dairy section. (Fact: They are dairy goats raised for milk production.)

It was especially frustrating that she said, "A benefit to breeding dwarf goats for milk production is that they breed year-round, allowing a breeder to get three kiddings in two years." If a breeder really wants milk, why would they waste 15 months of 24 on pregnancy? Any serious dairy goat person would want goats that milk 10 months or longer. She goes on to say, "This gives the doe about a six-month break between pregnancies, while providing almost year-round milk production." A six-month break from what? How can you have year-round milk production when a goat is pregnant so much? How would anyone ever have a 305-day milk test? It always bothers me when I see it written that a Nigerian can be bred three times in two years, because all she is doing is feeding kids when she is bred that often.

There is also a wealth of contradictory information. In the section on Nigerian dwarf goats, it says they can be registered with AGS, CGS, and IDGR, but in a photo caption 55 pages later, it says that they are one of eight dairy breeds recognized by ADGA. Does she not realize that means that they are registered by ADGA?

Although she says, "Some goat breeds are naturally polled, which means that members of that breed will never have horns," she never tells you which breeds are polled. Fact: Although there are polled goats in a variety of breeds, there are no breeds with exclusively polled goats, because most people believe that breeding polled to polled has a high rate of hermaphrodites. She goes on to say, "Other breeds are hit or miss: Some will grow horns, and some will not." It is very hard to believe that Kimball is a certified veterinary technician, because there is very clear science behind whether or not a goat will be polled. If you breed two horned goats, the kid will grow horns. One parent must be polled to have a polled kid, which will then happen 50 percent of the time.

Some of the advice in the book could lead to a world of headaches, such as, "Goats will respect electric fencing." (Not!) Other advice could lead to needless worry, such as the "Black Walnut" section, which says, "This plant has been known to kill animals even when it accidentally ends up in bedding." Perhaps she is thinking of horses? My goats live in a black walnut grove, and most herbal dewormers for goats include black walnut hulls.

And yet other advice could cause confusion, frustration, and the death of an animal. She says, "Grain is beneficial to male goats for several reasons," but only lists two (breeding season for bucks and weight gain for meat wethers). She says that they should have grain with ammonium chloride in it to avoid urinary calculi. It does not appear that she is aware that too much grain is what actually causes urinary calculi, or that ammonium chloride is available as a supplement.

This is only a small sample of the misinformation in this book. Do not assume that the author's veterinary background means that the veterinary info in the book is correct, because much of it is also inaccurate. If only she had visited the Washington State University web site, she would have at least had correct info on CAE.

It was especially frustrating to me when I learned that the author owns a single Oberhasli wether as a pet. This might be why she never mentions the importance of having more than one goat. As herd animals, they need another goat friend for mental and physical health. I will not sell a single goat to anyone unless they already have goats, because I want my goats to be happy and healthy.

When you look at the acknowledgments in the front of the book, no goat breeder is thanked for proofreading or even being interviewed for this book, and only four books are listed as references. She says she got breed info from the registries, but it's wrong. I really don't know where she found so much of the misinformation, because she says things I have never heard before, and I've been raising, showing, and milk testing goats for eight years. I'm assuming she says Oberhasli are raised primarily for meat because someone told her that wethers are usually sold for meat -- but almost all dairy wethers are sold for meat. That's very different than being BRED for meat. Boers and Kikos are bred for meat. I've never heard an Oberhasli breeder say they were breeding for anything other than milk production and possibly show. They're even one of the smaller dairy breeds.

The author's lack of real-world goat experience would also explain why she does not understand so many things that seem simple to those of us who have goats, such as goat shows. She mentions the USDA as a place to learn goat showmanship, and refers to the "USDA scorecard to get an idea of what the judge looks for in a show animal." (Fact: USDA has nothing to do with goat shows.) The sample scorecard says it is used at ADGA-sanctioned shows but credits the American Dairy Association. Did this book even have an editor to notice such inconsistencies?

Ultimately, the publisher is the one to blame for bringing this book to print. They chose an author who has no more authority to write a goat book than I do to write a book on horses. I have a retired old horse who lives here as a pasture ornament. With so many knowledgeable goat people in the world who know how to write, it is sad that the publisher chose a person with a single pet goat to write a book on the subject.

If you want to learn about goats, you would be better off to simply search the Internet for info, because she has such short sections on each topic -- only a few sentences on some breeds -- and so much of it is just plain wrong.

Obviously Ms. Kimball did not properly do her research. Her breed information is totally incorrect when you view the breed standard on the various breed association websites (African Pygmy & Nigerian Dwarf). I can't believe the editors allowed this book to be published as is.