Farm Animal Behaviour, is a lovely review of behavior, care, and history of domesticated mammals (horse, swine, rabbit, cattle, sheep, and goats), domesticated birds (domestic fowl, turkey, goose, domestic duck), and non-domesticated farmed animals (fallow, red deer, ostrich, and emu). Each chapter is well-organized with sub-titles and headers for each topic covered. It is full of wonderful photos both black and white and colored.
Being well-researched in behavior there does remain author opinion, and perhaps bias, on certain procedures deemed “mutilations” (i.e., tail docking, castration, other). The authors suggest that most countries could do better with procedures requiring anesthesia and analgesia as they are known to be painful in our day and age. The book does seem to focus on issues from the Europe, United Kingdom, and Australia without mention of how things compare in North America.
Overall, this book is a pleasant go-to for husbandry and a guide of ideal situations and raising practices for common farmed animals. It reviews stereotypic behaviors, common injuries, and disease (usually resulting from improper management) and how they can be remedied. It would be something I would advise for clients if they wanted decent all-round information or if they plan to add to their farm, especially before the purchase of the animals. This would also be good in a mobile veterinarian’s library if you must look at an animal you don’t see quite that often.