The Small-Scale Dairy: The Complete Guide to Milk Production for the Home and Market
Many an urban or suburban dweller has dreamed about producing milk that comes not from a bottle but from one’s own animal, be it cow, goat, or sheep. Launching such an operation may daunt, but, as Caldwell details, it’s far from an impossible challenge given the proper resources, knowledge, and pluck. Even a few animals can produce enough milk daily to bottle one’s own, or process it into salable secondary products such as cheese or yogurt. Selecting, feeding, and sheltering dairy animals are complex processes to get actual milking underway. Local and national governments closely regulate production and distribution of dairy products with an eye to protecting the public from all manner of transmittable diseases. Learning about these regulations and regional variances is critical to commercial viability. With burgeoning interest in locavorism, this book may prove to have a much larger audience than one might anticipate. --Mark Knoblauch