These are the herbal books I use. I’m including links (affiliate links, I’ll get a commission if you buy through them) of the ones I feel are really useful and practical for herbal/holistic herds.
Goat Care Books
Listed in order of how much I use and refer to them, these are the books I wouldn’t want to be without. Click on the title to be taken to the page for that book.
Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable by Juliette de Bairacli Levy
This book has been the single most influential book in guiding my philosophies and care for my goats. I absolutely love how Juliette told it like she saw it and how vast her experience was.
The Accessible Pet, Equine and Livestock Herbal by Katherine Drovdahl
This is a comprehensive guide on using herbs and remedies by the owner of Fir Meadow, the herb company I recommend most highly for goat care blends. She incorporates essential oils and other remedies as well and it is always my #2 reference behind Juliette’s.
Holistic Goat Care by Gianaclis Caldwell
I like that this book contains a pretty thorough A-Z of goat care. Be aware that she does use conventional remedies as well, but the overall information in the book makes it the single best new goat owner resource. I like it so much for new owners that I’ve contemplated handing out copies in the goat care bags I send with my customers.
Natural Goat Care by Pat Coleby
It is from Pat that we learn a connection between nutritional deficiencies and disease. This is a very no nonsense book that gets more into the why rather than the how and I think it’s absolutely essential to read when getting started with goats.
These four make up the goat section in my library that I consider essential. Now, let’s move on to general herbals that I reference most often.
Herbal Care Books
A lot of basic herbal information can be found online, but for reliable information always available, these are the books I keep on hand and reference frequently.
The Herb Book by John Lust
This is an excellent and comprehensive herbal that takes you through a large variety of herbs and what to do with them. I have a number of herbal books but this one really keeps things concise, correct and complete. A must have for anyone looking into herbs for humans or animals.
Prescription for Herbal Healing by Phyllis Balch
I LOVE this book so much! It includes the herbs and their uses, but its greatest value is that it also includes relevant studies to really help you dig deep into learning about each herb. This is the only other herbal I reference.
You can take a look at the other books on my shelf but if you were to pick up these 6, you’d pretty much have everything you need to make day to day herbal health decisions for your herd…and your family.
Textbooks and Scholarly Reference Books for Holistic Goat Care
These are the real meat of what I source when I am researching. I also purchase research articles and keep a comprehensive library of online papers, but for the most part, when I’m nose-deep in studying a goat health topic, these are the books I’m keeping close:
- Animal Desk Reference II – dosing and guidance for essential oils, written by a veterinarian (in case you need to back up your claims to someone who wants an authority figure)
- Essential Oil Safety, a must-have when you’re formulating topical or internal essential oil formulas
- Veterinary Herbal Medicine, another authoritative but highly informative book always within reach
- Medicinal Essential Oils is excellent if you want to really deep dive in essential oils, their constituents and relevant research
- Nutritional Herbology (not pictured here) is a brilliant insight into the nutritional impact of various herbs as studied
- Herbal Formularies for Health Professionals (also not pictured) is a 5-volume set intended for human health but it contains a wealth of information on formulating herbal blends
As my own herbal education has progressed, I no longer reference the books in the first two sections of this post. The textbooks contain what I would venture is a beyond college level education on how herbs and essential oils synergize into nutrition and medicine and those are where the real gold is if you are interested in deepening your herbal learning.
Not listed here, but my personal recommendation for you if you’re getting started with herbal goat medicine is my Holistic Goat Binder, where I’ve taken 17 years of goat raising experience combined with a decade of deep research on herbs, essential oils, natural medicine and natural goat care, and combined them into a single, action-packed printable binder you can reference again and again in your goat journey. You can check it out here.
