The number of hobby farmers in the United States is steadily rising. At the same time, predators are increasing in number and range. These predators pose a serious threat to both farm animals and the financial well-being of the farmers who raise them. Fortunately, there's a solution that is low cost, nonviolent, and highly effective: livestock guardian animals.

Livestock Guardians, by Jan Dohner, is a comprehensive guide for farmers struggling to reduce predation of sheep, goats, and other livestock. Dohner, who has more than 26 years of experience with guardian animals, helps owners understand the keys to effective livestock protection: careful selection of the right guardian animal, proper guardian livestock bonding, dedicated training, and ongoing problem-solving.

Three chapters address the use of guardian dogs; collectively, these chapters explain how to evaluate, train, understand, and socialize these hardworking canines. A separate chapter provides detailed information on many guardian breeds from around the world. Additional chapters on livestock guardian donkeys and llamas help readers select and train these animals as well. The thorough coverage of livestock guardians includes health care information; breed profiles; case studies of real farmers effectively using guard animals; an appendix with resources, organizations, and Web sites; and a 16-page color photographic insert of guardian breeds.

Using Dohner's comprehensive, practical advice, farmers will be able to reduce predation, decrease the need for corralling be better aware of disturbances in flocks, effectively protect their family and property, and use pastures more efficiently.

Meet the original horse power! Prized for their great endurance, splendid disposition, willingness to work, impressive stature, and versatility, draft horses and mules are making a strong comeback. Today, an estimated 5 to 10 percent of America's 3.5 million horses are draft breeds.

It's no wonder: these powerful animals can accomplish an astounding array of tasks. They pull carriages, assist with heavy logging, serve as a vital educational link to the past, and are increasingly popular for showing and competing. Many small-scale farmers appreciate that these animals offer a clean-energy alternative to modern farm machinery; a team of two draft horses can cultivate several acres of land in a single day, enriching the soil as they work. Unlike mechanical equipment, a good team actually appreciates in value over time.

Draft Horses and Mules, by Gail Damerow and Alina Rice, distills the great tradition of these impressive animals into a definitive guide. Designed for new or intermediate owners, the book shows readers how to choose an ideal team, feed and house them, maintain their health, ensure effective equine–human communication, select and use equipment properly, and employ the animals in a variety of agricultural, logging, and demonstration tasks.

The book is enhanced with color photos, numerous illustrations, and profiles of real-life individuals who work with draft horses and mules. The fresh design makes the information leap off the page and ensures that the book is as fun to read as it is informative.

Promoting the welfare of working animals is important not only for the sake of the animals themselves, but for the livelihoods of their owners. Sharing the Load stimulates collective action among animal-owning communities to improve the health and husbandry of their draught and pack animals by applying the methods of community facilitation and collective action to the pursuit of animal welfare.

Since 2005, the Brooke has been pioneering the integration of animal welfare science with best practice from the international development sector to build communities’ responsibility for sustained improvement in the welfare of their working animals. Sharing the Load documents the outcome of four years’ development of this process and includes field-based participatory methods and tools designed specifically for this purpose, using lively illustrations and text boxes in accessible language on the theory of development practice and animal welfare science. The tools in this manual have been developed and tested with owners of working horses, donkeys and mules and are used daily with animal-owning communities in developing countries. They are also relevant for draught oxen, camels and other working species.

Sharing the Load should be read by anyone who has direct contact with working animals and their owners, including veterinarians, community-based animal health workers, government extension workers and the staff of rural development NGOs.

Stalwart and powerful, oxen are employed as working cattle in nearly every country and on six continents. Stronger, steadier, less expensive, and easier to keep than draft horses, oxen can plow fields, haul stones, assist in logging, improve roads, and showcase traditional farming techniques. Oxen can help smallscale farmers keep costs down and productivity up without expensive machinery. Not surprisingly, these utilitarian animals are growing in appeal.

Oxen: A Teamster's Guide is the definitive resource for selecting, training, feeding, and caring for the mighty ox. Written by Drew Conroy, a professor of dairy science with more than two decades of experience as a trainer and teamster, the book shows readers how to select an ideal team, properly feed and house oxen, train calves and mature cattle, fit a yoke and bows, address common challenges, and maintain a team's overall health. He also explains how to use oxen safely for a variety of farming and logging tasks, and how to train a team for public demonstrations and competitions.

Filled with dozens of photographs and illustrations, including a 16-page color insert, useful reference charts, and a glossary of terms, the book provides all the details a novice needs to select, train, and care for a working team.

Veterinary Disaster Medicine: Working Animals is a comprehensive guide to providing first aid to service dogs and horses. Covering both common and uncommon injuries ranging from exercise-related myopathy to bomb blasts, chemical injury, and biological agents, the book provides information necessary for triage, diagnosing, and treating service animals in the aftermath of a disaster. Presented in an easy-to-use outline format, Veterinary Disaster Medicine offers guidance for the veterinary medical responder prior to and following a disaster.

With chapters including first aid, triage, weapons of mass destruction, radiation injury, pathogens, and euthanasia, the book presents essential information for many potential disaster scenarios. Veterinary Disaster Medicine appeals to veterinarians, veterinary technicians, veterinary students, search and rescue personnel, and emergency response teams.