In My Library

[Carl Russell]

Titles of the most important books in my library;

The Draft Horse Primer, by Maurice Telleen. Excellent review of many important aspects of working with horses.

The Work Horse Handbook, by Lynn Miller.

Training the Teamster, by Les Barden. Great little book covering starting and working cattle.

The D-Ring Harness a video by Les Barden. Excellent coverage of the fine details of the functionality of the D-ring Harness.

Natural Horse-Man-Ship by Pat Perrelli.

Youatt on The Structure and the Diseases of the Horse Published 1860

I have a wide collection of Eric Sloane titles.

I will expand with more later, What’s your library look like? Carl

[Patrick]

Was it an unintentional omission to leave out Oxen, A Teamster’s Guide by Drew Conroy? As a novice, I can’t imagine a more clear, thorough explanation, short of an actual in person lesson. It left me confident with the knowledge that I could successfully start a team, or a single, raise and train them to accomplish all of the basics, without needing to refer to any other source. A volume that is so complete is rare for any single book today, on any subject.

[Plowboy]

One book I would recommend that was written around the 1920’s is Biggle’s Horse Book. It is a small paperback and will run about $7 online. It is full of common sense and good horse and mule info including training advice from an era when horses and mules ruled the farms of the USA.
We also have a variety of books on horses and equipment by Maury Telleen, Lynn Miller, Sam Moore, and others but the Biggle’s book is little known and they also have a series for each species of livestock cattle, sheep etc.

[Rod]

I have many books I like and a couple that really standout and have had a great effect on my approach to farming and health issues. These two are “The Albrich Papers II” and the book “Natural Cattle Care” by Pat Colby. Both deal with minerals and thier effect on animal and human health. The Albrich papers from a soil mineral aspect and the Colby book from a symptom and mineral relationship in cattle. Both these are available from Acres USA.

With respect to draft animals I like the little book by Ray Ludwig ” The Pride and Joy of Working Cattle” available from Tillers Int.

[Donn Hewes]

Along with many of the titles above that I use and lend regularly, I would like to add three more that have been of particular use to me.
First, two by Steve Bowers. I found out about Steve a couple of years ago, while I was trying start the animals that would replace my first good team. You know, the one’s that got you your start, helped you learn, and eventually made you think you knew it all. In ‘Farming with Horses’ written with Marlen Steward, and ‘A teamsters view, More and Different’ he explained a new approach to communicating with the lines, that resonated with what I wanted for my future partners. It has been a slow process to retrain my self and my animals, but I am a believer in his basic premis. These books are very clearly written and can help in understanding and correcting such simple problems as The lateral alignment of the working team, and other things like that. Unfortnately Steve Bowers died last year. My ideas about lines communication and line pressure really come from this source.
For mules and donkeys, I like Meridith Hodges ‘Training Mules and Donkeys, a logical approach to Longears’. She talks alot about how they differ from horses, and how they are similar. She works on a lot of ground training that might add a little twist to what you would do with a horse. She does some beautiful work with Dressage and jumping, which isn’t farming but it is fun to see how smart, graceful and athletic these animals can be. I pull it out just to show people the pictures!

[Jean]

I love my books by Steve Bower and refer to them often. Actually wish I had one with me today when I was struggling with the harness. Thought I had something on wrong.

I also have Dr Beth Valentine’s draft book and this time of year I use Susan McBane’s The Horse in Winter. A lot of the pictures in that book are drafts, even some of our own Carl Russell. It’s like he’s famous or something!

I had to build a book shelf just for my horse books. Guess I should stop reading about them and simply get out and do it!

[Anthony]

there are 2 versions of The Draft Horse Primer by Maurice Telleen, a 400 page hardcover from 1977 and a 386 page paperback from 1993. does the 1993 version have updated information making it worth picking up over the ’77 version?

[Carl Russell]

I have both hard and soft cover books. Both of mine have 386 pages. They appear to be exactly the same book. It is an excellent resource. Carl

[Anthony]

Thanks Carl, I have a copy on its way.

Though it certainly can’t compare to owning a physical copy, http://books.google.com/ has many full books no longer under copyright including those by Youatt and Biggles as well as many other ‘earlier’ agricultural books. Good way to check them out or for quick information if nothing else.

[Kristin]

I spent an evening arranging the ‘ag section’ of our bookshelf this week and so these are on my mind:

I second (third?) Donn and Jean’s comment on Steve Bowers. I did not know he passed away, Donn, and that makes me sad. I am currently getting three of our interns started from scratch and Farming With Horses is required reading for each of them.

The Horse in the Furrow. Don’t have it with me right now and I can’t recall the author.

The Family Cow. Great resource for micro-dairies.

Pastured Poultry Profits, by Joel Salatin. Good reference for raising broilers.

Scott Chaskey’s This Common Ground is very pretty writing about farming. Wendell Barry is ever-wise and easy on the ear, too. I like the essays more than the fiction.

Good thread, especially this time of year when there’s actually hope of getting some reading in.

all best,
Kristin

[Carl Russell]

One of our most treasured books is this old leather bound book that my grandparents had in their bookshelf.

The American Home and Farm Cyplopedia is 1033 pages, containing 2000 illustrations about everything you didn’t know you needed to know about in the home and farm. It was published in 1883 by W. H. Thompson of Philidelphia, PA, and authored by Horace R. Allen. It has sections on Agriculture, Improvement in Live Stock, Capital Invested, Horticulture, Gardens, Law and Business, Architecture, Outdoor Pastimes, The Household, and Medicine.

There is some timeless information such as the introduction to the chapter on Manures; When a farmer comes to know that a ton of farm-yard manure properly applied to his soil represents dollars and cents in his pocket, then he is fit to be a farmer, and not before.

There is also a lot of dated information, such as the section on Diseases of Women. There is no section on the diseases of men. It is true that many women were basically enslaved and over worked, but this section shows clearly that one of the many things a man needed to be concerned about, was the health of his woman.

It is fascinating in so many ways, and if there is some way to find one, I think people would enjoy it. Carl

[aaronlee]

Hi all,
A writer that has written many books on all kinds of agricultural subjects and who may be hands down the biggest supporter of the small farm is Gene Logsdon. He has far too many titles to list them all here. But there are a few that come to mind.

The Contrary Farmer

The Contrary Farmer’s Invitation to Gardening

Small-scale Grain Raising

Living at Nature’s Pace

His books and essays read well and he really gives you a sense of hope that the small farm way of life in America is far from gone.

thanks for reading
Aaron Lee

[dominiquer60]

What a great list of resources!
I would like to add my favorite series to the thread, Lippincott’s Farm Manuals. They are a series dating back to the teen, 20’s and 30’s, so they contain a great amount of information about agriculture that can be done small scale without tractors. I started with the Productive Poultry Manual last spring and managed to find the following on ebay this winter: Swine, Dairying, Sheep, Bees, Horses, Diseases of Farm Animals, Feeding of Farm Animals, Meats & Meat Products, Vegetable, Orcharding, Small Friuts, Injurious Insects & Useful Birds, Soils, Farm Crops, Farm Economics, Agricultural Mechanics and the one that I am still searching for The Cooperative Marketing of Farm Products.

The are all published by Lippincott in Philedelphia and edited by K.C Davis of Cornell, each book is written or compiled by experts in their fields from a multitude of different Ag programs in the country. They are very thorough each book being hundreds of pages long with pictures, charts and a detailed index. I enjoy the depth of information that each book gives to the different subjects, it is information that used to be more common that has faded away and been dumbed down. For instance no where else besides other books of this era can you find such fine tuned info on building a proper chicken house with good light and ventilation. An interesting read is the last chapter of the Horse Husbandry book, it is a comparison of motor power vs. horse power.

I have quite a few other antique agricultural books including How To Select The Laying Hen, printed by Orange Judd, it should be a must for county fair judges that think pretty hens are the most productive layers. Other books that I value are of course the Lynn Miller collection, the Primer, and Temple Grandin. Temple is a brilliant woman who has struggled with autism, but has battled it through 2 PhD’s and now sets the standards for humane slaughterhouse animal handling. She wrote Animals In Translation and Thinking in Pictures, great reads for any one that wants to gain awareness of how animals perceive the world, especially for those trying to develop any system that animals are moved through or handled. It helped me think of a way to weigh market lambs in a minute or less each all by myself, weighing day used to be 3 people 3 hours for 60 animals, no longer thanks to Temple.

I look forward to reading about more library favorites soon.
-Erika

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[TinaY]

I’ve gone through several phases of horsemanship, so my library is peppered with books on western riding and reining, lots on dressage, some jumping, some draft/driving, and one on oxen. I do have some that I haven’t read yet, but I’ll get to it…someday!

The ones that are essential in our work with our Percherons (that we ride, drive, and pull) are:

*Farming with Horses – Steve Bowers
*A Teamster’s View – Steve Bowers
*Developing Respect and Control on the Ground (video) – Clinton Anderson
*Horse Owner’s Guide to Natural Hoofcare (book and video) – Jaime Jackson

These are also useful:
*True Unity – Tom Dorrance
*The Faraway Horses – Buck Brannaman
*The Principles of Riding – German Nat’l Equestrian Federation
*Common Sense Dressage – Sally O’Connor
*Dressage in Lightness – Sylvia Loch
*101 Arena Exercises – Cherry Hill
*101 Longeing and Long Lining Exercises – Cherry Hill
*Reining – Bob Loomis
*Centered Riding – Sally Swift

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