Raising Animals for Fiber: Producing Wool from Sheep, Goats, Alpacas, and Rabbits in Your Backyard (CompanionHouse Books) Livestock Health, Grooming, Housing, Breeding, & Shearing, from Angora to Suri

This book is perfect for anyone who would like to raise fiber animals but is unsure which animal would be a good match for them. The author goes into great detail about everything you will need to consider before committing yourself to one particular animal. I was surprised to find that a particular animal we were leaning toward was far from a good choice for our family & our lifestyles, yet a different animal that we never considered before was the perfect fit. This book is well worth the small investment of $19.99 that we paid for it. It has saved us from making a costly mistake and helped us make a better, more informed choice.

This book delivers EXACTLY what it promises: education and guidance in choosing fiber farm animals. The information was detailed enough to be very valuable in my decision-making yet easy enough for someone new to these animals to absorb. Bonus— The photos are SO awesome that the book is on my coffee table for people to just flip through ❤️

I’m so excited about this new book by Chris McLaughlin. I have a stack of her books and I’m already getting into this new one. As experienced a homesteader as you think you might be, there’s always more to learn and Chris is an awesome source of credible information and this book I’m sure will not be an exception.She is always full of practical information that can only come from personal experience and this is one area I can wait to get into. I’m an avid crocheter and I’ve always wanted to raise my own goats and process my own yarn from scratch and I have no doubt this book will be my new go to for how to get started.

Raising Animals for Fiber is a tutorial guide for suburban and rural landowners who want to raise their own animals for fiber. The book is aimed at the hobbyist/smallholder and emphasizes the keeping of fewer animals rather than large production type setups.Released10th Sept. 2019 by Fox Chapel on their CompanionHouse imprint, it's 176 pages and available in paperback format.The book concentrates primarily on 4 different species of fibre animals: sheep, angora goats, alpacas, and angora rabbits. There certainly are (as the author states) other animals (highland cattle, llamas, dogs, cats, musk oxen, etc) which are kept for fibre in addition to their other uses, but they're not primarily fibre animals and aren't kept primarily for their fibre production, so they're somewhat beyond the scope of this book.The book is split into an introduction which covers the basics of sourcing and acquiring good quality animals as well as deciding which animals to keep based on space limitations, practicalities, desired outcome and more. I liked that the author includes some cold hard facts about time and money realities along with the appealing pictures of happy healthy fibre animals. The introduction contains about 10% of the book's content. The following 4 sections (one for each animal: sheep, angora goats, alpacas, angora rabbits) contain an introduction, followed by subchapters covering some of the jargon for each type of animal, a discussion of the fibre they produce, breeds, collecting and processing the fibres, housing/fencing/feeding, breeding, and other important considerations and some troubleshooting.The chapters obviously aren't as comprehensive as a species specific book, but they give a good solid basic general overview and enough information to get started on the quest to acquire basic stock (and hopefully not get taken advantage of).I can honestly say that this is a book I -wish- I had had access to when I started owning sheep (and to a lesser degree rabbits).The photography is mostly stock, but well presented and clear and supports the text well. The author's style is very informal, accessible, and friendly. I enjoyed reading the book, it's one I could see readers keeping as a home resource. This would make a superlative gift for smallholders or fibercrafters wanting/dreaming of expanding into producing their own fibres.Four stars.Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I was waiting for this book to arrive and I was not disappointed! This book, like other books by Chris McLaughlin. It was worth the wait. Raising Animals for Fiber brings the expected chapters on housing, fencing and fiber. The best information is included in the sections for each of the four main fiber animal species. Sheep, goats, alpacas and rabbits are discussed in detail. The information is a gift for not only for the novice fiber farmer, but even those of us considering expanding into a different fiber species on our farms. If you are considering fiber farming, or simply want to learn more about each of these animals, this book belongs on your bookshelf!

My fiber club purchased this book for our library - what a great resource for beginning farmers! I've had sheep for 8 years and read through the whole book. Very informative and well written!

I was so excited to receive my copy of Raising Animals for Fiber! Chris brings such a great voice to the in-depth knowledge that she has amassed on the subject. This book is great for every level of the fiber fanatic, and is a great way to learn about new breeds and/or compare them. So happy for this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in fiber farming, or in just learning where different fiber types come from.

Tons of information and insight. The book guides you to understanding which animals would be most suitable for you to raise and then tells you how to do it from A to Z. Like the rest of her books, this one is not only packed full of information but very enjoyable to read.

Thoughtfully written