Grass-Fed Cattle: How to Produce and Market Natural Beef
by Julius Ruechel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Julius RuechelEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-07-01
ISBN: 1580176054
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Book Reviews of Grass-Fed Cattle: How to Produce and Market Natural Beef
Book Review: Great Resource, Almost Complete
Summary: 4 Stars
I really really like this book. It has lots of useful information neatly presented. If you're in grass-fed beef, or contemplating it (as I am), this is surely a great read and resource to have on hand. This review will focus on a couple shortcomings, as I feel the other reviews already present a good picture of what it does well. This is not nit-picking for the sake of it; I think that some of these shortcomings are real and should be borne in mind by the reader.
I only give it 4/5 stars because Ruechel does not always do a good job backing up his arguments with citations, or making clear what he is saying from his own experience or collective experience versus what is likely to be speculation and not necessarily universally valid. Furthermore, it is clear throughout that he is very influenced by Holistic Management (Allan Savory's work), but there is not a single reference to Savory or HM (or even Andre Voison, as far as I can recall). In fact, the absence of mentioning these folks seems quite strange, and makes it seem like Ruechel re-invented the wheel on all this stuff, when in fact he clearly did not.
Ruechel is also adamant that year-around grazing is possible just about everywhere, but confines his discussion to implementation in *Western* environments, and comes off as a touch glib about how practicable this really is, particularly if you're environment differs from his. Some case studies of this, outside of Ruechel's authoritative affirmation, would have been helpful. Likewise, his discussion of soil fertility is clearly coming from the Albrecht school of cation base saturation ratio balancing, a perspective which is *not* universally accepted and has *not* been demonstrated to be universally valid, yet Ruechel declines to mention any of these subtleties, and suggests that disaster is lurking for those who do not pay attention to balance their cation ratios.
Finally, Ruechel is quite opaque about his own farm and operation. There is also no website, and really, no way to gauge for yourself how successful he actually is in practice (unless you happen to know him personally). This would be no problem at all, except that rather than relying on citation and reference to general experience and case studies, he frequently relies on his personal authority to tacitly back up his reasoning.
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Summary of Grass-Fed Cattle: How to Produce and Market Natural Beef
Julius Ruechel covers every aspect of raising grass-fed cattle, including herd selection, breeding, yearly cycles, cultivating and maintaining healthy soil and grass, fencing and pasture rotation, winter grazing, pests and diseases, and necessary equipment. He also provides everything you need to know about marketing your product, from niche market opportunities to scheduling the selling and buying of cattle for the greatest profit, finishing the beef and arranging for slaughter, labeling, marketing, and financial planning and record keeping. He even includes chapters for conventional farmers who are transitioning to natural production, farmers who are considering leasing or buying land, and farmers who want to pursue organic certification. Whether you're running a small backyard hobby farm or a large commercial ranch, this is the information you need to successfully raise and market grass-fed beef.Animal Husbandry Books
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