Blueprints for Tropical Dairy Farming provides insight into the logistics, infrastructure and management required for the development of small and large dairy farms in tropical developing countries. Farmers will learn how to improve the welfare, milk quality and productivity of their dairy herds. This book complements author John Moran’s five previous books on the principles of tropical dairy farming. The manual covers a wide range of topics related to ensuring the sustainability of dairy production systems in tropical developing countries, such as South and East Asia, Africa and Central America. It also provides guidelines for the best management practices of large-scale, more intensive dairy systems. While smallholder farms are the major suppliers of milk in the tropics, many larger farms are becoming established throughout the tropics to satisfy the increasing demands for fresh milk. Blueprints for Tropical Dairy Farming will be a valuable resource for farmers and stockpeople who want to improve the productive performance of their dairy herds, farm advisers who can assist farmers to achieve this aim, educators who develop training programs for farmers or who train dairy advisers in the basics of dairy production technology, and other stakeholders in tropical dairy production, such as local agribusiness, policy makers and research scientists. National and international agencies will learn new insights into the required long-term logistics for regional dairy development, while potential investors will acquire knowledge into intensive tropical dairy farming.

The cow is the most productive, efficient creature on earth. She will give you fresh milk, cream, butter, and cheese, build human health and happiness, and even turn a profit for homesteaders and small farmers who seek to offer her bounty to the local market or neighborhood. She will provide rich manure for your garden or land, and will enrich the quality of your life as you benefit from the resources of the natural world. Quite simply, the family that keeps a cow is a healthy family. Originally published in the early 1970s as The Cow Economy and reprinted many times over, Keeping a Family Cow has launched thousands of holistic small-scale dairy farmers and families raising healthy cows in accordance with their true nature. The book offers answers to frequently asked questions like, 'Should I get a cow?' and 'How Much Space do I need?' in addition to extensive information on: • The health benefits of untreated milk; • How to milk a cow effectively and with ease; • Choosing your dairy breed; • Drying off your cow; • Details on calving and breeding; • The importance of hay quality and how to properly feed your cow; • Fencing and pasture management; • Housing, water systems, and other supplies; • Treating milk fever and other diseases and disorders; • Making butter, yogurt, and cheese, and, of course . . . • . . . Everything else the conventional dairy industry doesn’t tell us! Now revised and updated to incorporate new information on the raw milk debate, the conversation about A1 vs. A2 milk, fully grassfed dairies, more practical advice for everyday chores, and updated procedures for cow emergencies. Keeping a Family Cow has not only stood the test of time, it still remains the go-to inspirational manual for raising a family milk cow nearly forty years after its first publication. Joann Grohman has a lifetime of practical experience that has been bound into this one volume and presented in the spirit of fun and learning.

To translate the journey from a living cow to a glass of milk into tangible terms, Kathryn Gillespie set out to follow the moments in the life cycles of individual animals—animals like the cow with ear tag #1389. She explores how the seemingly benign practice of raising animals for milk is just one link in a chain that affects livestock across the agricultural spectrum. Gillespie takes readers to farms, auction yards, slaughterhouses, and even rendering plants to show how living cows become food. The result is an empathetic look at cows and our relationship with them, one that makes both their lives and their suffering real.