Part 4
To raise Angora goats most profitably one should really be provided with sheds. These sheds should be about the same as those which are provided for sheep in the same locality. For years southern and western breeders have made a success of the Angora industry, and very few of them have had any artificial protection for their goats. But even these breeders find that they can raise a larger percentage of increase, and get through the year with a smaller percentage of loss if they have sheds. Grown goats rarely need much shelter, even in the winter, if the weather is dry, but during cold, damp storms the fleece wets through and the animal chills. Just after shearing, or just before kidding season, one is liable to lose some grown animals, or to have many kids slunk, if the goats are not protected from cold storms. Young kids also require attention, and proper sheds more than pay for themselves by preventing excessive mortality. Whether the shed should be closed on all sides, or whether it may be left open, depends upon the locality. Do as one would for sheep, under the same conditions, will be a fairly safe rule to follow. Allow at least four or five square feet of shed room to each mature animal, and the danger of the goats crowding together in the corners and smothering the animals on the underside of the pile, should never be forgotten. On very cold nights large numbers, especially of the kids, may be killed by smothering, if they are not carefully watched.
FENCES.
The question of fencing for the Angora goat is not such a serious matter as the beginner would imagine. If the goats have not been raised as pets and taught to jump, there will be little trouble with the animals going over a perpendicular fence of ordinary height. They will, however, go through or under the fence, if it is possible. They are natural climbers, and if the fence offers projecting steps, upon which they can climb, they will soon find their way to the outside of the enclosure. Some of the old stone and rail fences will not hold goats. Any perpendicular fence, three feet high, with transverse spaces not wider than three or four inches for the lower two feet, and not wider than six inches for the upper foot, will hold goats. If the spaces in the fence are perpendicular, they will necessarily have to be narrower, as small kids will crawl through the spaces. A woven-wire fence, two feet high, with a perpendicular stay, at least twelve inches apart, so that the goats will not get their heads caught in the fence, surmounted by a couple of plain or barbed wires, six inches apart, will hold goats, and if barbed wire is used, will prevent cattle from breaking the fence. If plain or barbed wire is used, the first three wires nearest the ground should be placed not more than three inches apart, and close enough to the ground to prevent kids from crawling under the lowest wire. The space between the next wires may be increased to four, five and six inches, and so on to the desired height of the fence. A board fence composed of three boards four inches wide, with a space between the ground and the first board of about three inches, and a three or four inch space between the boards, the whole being surmounted by a barbed or plain wire or two makes a very satisfactory goat fence. If pickets or posts are used, they should be set closely enough together, say about two inches apart, to prevent small kids from crawling between them. An objection has been raised to barbed wire, on account of the mohair which the barbs pull out. The amount of mohair lost in this way is inconsiderable. As has been stated, it hurts the goat to pull the mohair, and the goat soon learns to avoid the barbs. Many breeders use barbed wire corrals and find them satisfactory. Probably woven wire is the best fence under ordinary conditions.
HERDING.
In mountainous countries, where it is not practical to fence the range, the flocks should be watched by herders. The Angora has a natural tendency to return home, or to a known camping ground at night, and in some places this tendency is relied upon to bring the flock home, and they are not herded. Of course, in countries where there is no danger from loss by depredations of wild animals, and where food is so plentiful that the goats must find a sufficient amount, the flock may be turned loose.
One shepherd should tend from one to two thousand head, as goats flock together well. Of course, during kidding season the flocks will have to be more closely watched. Goats travel rapidly and cover a considerable amount of territory in a day. A flock may travel from ten to twelve miles from the time they leave camp in the morning until they return to camp in the evening. The herder should walk ahead of the leaders of the flock, so that they will not travel too fast, or he may walk upon a nearby elevation, so that he can see that the flock does not separate. A flock will sometimes string out over a mile. The goats should be given freedom. Too often a zealous herder overworks himself and keeps his flock poor by crowding them together. A good sheep herder soon learns the nature of the goat, and when he understands the animal he would rather herd goats than sheep.
DOGS.
In some sections of the country sheep-killing dogs have proven a great nuisance to sheep-breeders. To say that the Angora goat will prevent dogs from killing sheep, and that they will drive the dogs away, would be a misstatement. Bucks and grown goats will protect themselves to some extent. If a strange dog attacks a flock in a field, the goats will usually huddle together and the bucks and grown animals will keep the dog at bay. A mother will fight bravely to protect her kid.
KIDDING ANGORAS.
An experience of years has taught the Turk that if he wishes to save many kids, he must have them come late in the season. The changeable weather of the Turkish spring, the frequent cold rains and the lack of proper shed accommodations, have more than once not only destroyed the increase, but also killed the grown goats. The Turkish methods of handling kids are of little practical value. They know how delicate the kids are when they are born, and they usually bring the kid and its mother to the house as soon as it is dropped.
The Turkish Angora goat men usually range small flocks, and they also have a surplus of help, so that this is a comparatively easy method. The kids are allowed to go with the flocks as soon as they are old enough to travel. The principal objection to letting young kids go with the flock is that the kids go to sleep, and sleep so soundly that the flock feed away from them. When the youngsters awake they are lost. If there be wild animals about, the kids may be killed, or they may starve before they are found. The Turk, however, has so many herders with one flock that they usually discover the kids before the flock has strayed.
In America the kidding season is the most important time of the year for the Angora breeder. If he would raise a large increase, he must be properly prepared, and he must be constantly alert. If the weather be fair, with bright sunshiny days and temperate nights, the kids will do well without much care, but if it be cold, stormy and muddy, some of the kids will be lost in spite of all care. After the kids are born the mothers should have such food as will produce the greatest amount of milk. Well-fed mothers make strong healthy kids. Green feed is desirable.
The proper season, then, for the kids to come will depend upon the climate and range conditions. Allowing for the period of gestation, which is about five months, the bucks can run with the does as early or as late as one wishes. One can be guided somewhat by the time sheep men allow ewes to lamb. When the first warm weather comes the goats usually commence to shed their mohair, and as it is too early in the season for the kids to be dropped, the does must be shorn before kidding or the mohair lost. Care should be exercised in handling the does heavy with kid. For the first few days after shearing the doe should not be allowed to chill, as she may abort. In some countries it is possible to kid before shearing, but there is no practical objection to shearing before kidding, provided proper care be exercised.
HANDLING OF KIDS.
There are various methods in use of handling the young kids, and all of them are intended to save as large a percentage of increase as possible with the least possible expense. Almost every man who has handled goats has some individual idea which experience has taught him. The locality and surroundings of the flock make a vast difference in the way they should be kidded. The method which works best with fifty or one hundred does in a fenced brush pasture in Oregon or Iowa, would be useless with a flock of a thousand or fifteen hundred in the mountains of Nevada or New Mexico, where there is often no corral to hold the goats.
With a bunch of from fifty, to two hundred and fifty, and a shed big enough to hold the entire lot, it is not difficult to raise a very large percentage of kids. If the does are kept in a ten or twenty-acre pasture, they should be allowed to run out and take care of themselves as much as possible. The doe may drop her kid wherever she may happen to be, and she will almost invariably take care of it and coax it to the shed at night. The refusal of a young doe to own her kid must be overcome, especially if the weather is unfavorable. The mother must be caught and the milk forced into the kid's mouth until he learns to suckle. After he has been sufficiently fed, place them together in a box stall and leave them for a day or two. Then, in all probability, the mother will take care of her kid.
The box stall is about three feet square and three feet high, with a little door on hinges to save lifting the animal. A row along the inside of the shed next to the wall is a great convenience. A doe with her kid should be disturbed as little as possible, because, as a rule, she knows how to care for her kid better than a herder.
When goats are handled on a larger scale, with no pasture available, entirely different methods should be adopted--for the mother must go out to feed every day and the kid cannot go.
Probably the most extensively used methods are the "corral method" and the "staking method," either used individually or combined.
THE CORRAL METHOD.
In the corral method, two or three large corrals and numerous smaller ones are necessary. First, the does should be separated from the wethers, if they have been running together, and a "wether band" made. Then every morning the "doe band" must be looked over carefully for does that will kid during the day. Such does must be put in a corral by themselves and allowed to kid in this corral. They should be fed some hay, or if that is not possible, they should be herded near by for a few hours. It has been our experience that most of the kids will come between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon. The more does which one can pick out in the morning the better it is, for the doe, after dropping her kid, is allowed to stay with it the rest of the day and all night. In this way she learns to know it. If one has hay to feed the doe, so that she may be left with her kid for one or two days, it is a great advantage.
After all the does have been selected which can be found, still some will be overlooked, and they will go out on the range with the rest. The best way to handle these is to have the herder make a straight drive to a certain point where the feed is good, and then stay around this one place, allowing the kids to come within as small a radius as possible without starving the goats. If it is necessary, quite a distance can be covered in this way, and yet the kids will not be scattered over a large section of the country.
As a kid is dropped, the doe should be allowed to remain with her kid and take care of it until evening. The herd will gradually feed from them, but it should be kept as near as possible to protect the kids from wild animals. Towards evening one must go out and gather up the kids and drive the mothers to the corral. The large herd should be driven home in advance, keeping a little apart from the does with kids so as not to coax the "wet does" away with the "dry herd."
When the wagon with the kids reaches the ranch, the kids should be put in a small corral. They should be placed a few feet apart, and the mothers should be allowed to select their own kids. They also should be allowed to remain in the corral for the night at least. In case a doe will not take her kid she should be placed in one of the box stalls and a kid which has no mother placed with her and fed.
When plenty of small corrals and good hay are available, each day's kids should be left in a separate corral until the mothers have been with the kids one or two days. It will be found that the kids are always given a very good start in this way. When it is deemed advisable, the kids are put together in a large corral, and as soon as the mothers in the smaller corrals are thought to know their kids sufficiently well, they are added to this wet band in the large corral. Thus the round is completed from the dry band to the wet band, the small corral being simply an intermediate step to insure familiarity between the doe and her kid. The dry band rapidly diminishes while the wet band increases.
The mothers are now ready to go on the range during the day to feed, but the kids should be kept in the corral until they are at least six weeks old. The does may be turned out over a "jump board" placed across the gate. A jump board is a two-inch plank, eighteen inches high, with a four-inch strip nailed on the top for the does to put their feet on as they jump over. The kids come to the board but cannot get over. If some of the larger kids bother by trying to get over, some one can stand at the gate to scare them back by pounding on the board with a stick. The does will soon learn to pay no attention to the noise.
Even now there will be a few kids which will not be mothered. Every morning, before the wet band is allowed to go over the jump board, one should walk through the herd, pick out the kids that have not been nourished during the night, and select does that are not suckling kids. These does should be held until the kids have been fed. A row of small stantions is a convenient thing for holding them. After a kid gets a good start he will steal a living from different does if necessary.
To kid a band of from one thousand to fifteen hundred does by the corral method, will require at least three men--one man to herd the dry band, one the wet band, and a man to look after the kids and assist where needed. Often the wet band is divided, or when one wet band has reached the number of from five hundred to seven hundred animals, another is started.
THE STAKING METHOD.
The staking method is quite commonly used, and in certain localities it is probably the best way to handle kids. The apparatus necessary is a smooth piece of half-inch board, two inches wide and four inches long, with a hole bored in each end. Through the hole in one end a piece of rope eight inches long is passed, and knotted so that it cannot pull out. The loose end of this rope is then made fast to a stout stake which is to be driven into the ground. Through the hole in the other end a piece of rope eighteen inches long is passed and knotted as in the first end, in such a way that the loose end of the rope, which is to be fastened to the kid's leg, draws away from the stake. When the apparatus is in use the small stick with the holes in the ends acts as a swivel to keep the rope from tangling.
It is important to select a proper place to tie the kid. He is to stay in this place for about six weeks, and he needs protection from winds and wild animals, and should have some sunshine and some shade. Usually a small tree, a bush, a fence, or a post will offer a good place to stake. The does which are expected to kid during the day are separated from the flock as in the corral method. The balance of the band are herded, so that the kids dropped on the range can be more easily handled. Just as soon as a kid is dropped, it is taken to a convenient place to stake, and the mother coaxed to follow. One of the kid's legs is securely fastened to the loose end of the rope, and the kid and its mother are left together. The mother is thus free to go and feed, and on returning will know exactly where to find her kid.
Many owners allow the does which have kidded to herd themselves, as they usually return to their kids, often coming in several times during the day. Of course this necessitates having plenty of food and water within access of the staking ground. The wet band could be herded as in the corral method.
In this staking method if a mother refuses to own her kid, or if she dies, the kid has no chance to steal milk from some other wet doe, and unless closely watched, quite a number of kids will starve. The rope should be changed from one leg to the other occasionally to allow symmetry of development. The preparation of ropes and stakes for a thousand kids is quite a task, and it keeps the energetic herder busy during his spare moments getting ready for kidding time.
For the first few days the Angora kid is full of life and vigor as any animal of like age. If he be well nourished, he will frisk and play at all kinds of antics, until he is so tired that he must forget everything. The sleep which comes is so sound that any usual amount of noise does not disturb him. It is this characteristic which makes it unsafe to take kids on to the range with a flock. The kids are liable to hide behind some bush, go to sleep and be lost.
CASTRATING.
Before the kids are allowed to go out with the flock the males should be castrated. The Turk does not alter the males until they have developed sexuality and the male horn, _i. e._, the heavy characteristic buck horn. He then castrates by either removing the testicles, or by twisting or destroying the spermatic cord. When the latter method is used the testicles and cord undergo an inflammatory process which destroys the regenerative power of the animal. The testicles remain in the scrotum apparently unchanged. The animal thus treated presents to the casual observer the physical characteristics of a buck. The Turk claims that an animal treated in this manner is less liable to die than one whose testicles are removed. This is probably true, as the initial lesion produced by the operation is very small, and there is less liability of infection.
The usual method employed in this country is to remove the testicles before the regenerative power of the animal is developed. This gives the wether a feminine appearance, and there is comparatively little danger of death if the operation is properly performed. It will be easiest to castrate the kids between the age of two and four weeks. The kids should be driven into a small clean corral, and after undergoing the operation they should be turned into a large clean enclosure.
The operator stands on the outside of the small corral, and the assistant catches the kids and turns them belly up before the operator, onto a board which has been fastened to the fence. A pair of clean scissors, or a sharp knife, which may be kept in a five per cent. carbolic acid solution when not in use, serve to cut off the distal end of the scrotum. The testicles are then seized with the fingers and drawn out. The operator drops the castrated kid into the large enclosure and the assistant presents another kid. Two men can operate on sixty kids an hour. The testicles are slippery and some herders prefer to use the teeth instead of the fingers to extract the testicles. Under no circumstances should any unclean thing be put into the scrotum. Death usually results from infection, and infection from uncleanliness. A little boracic acid might be sprinkled over the cut surface as an additional precaution, but this is unnecessary if ordinary cleanliness is observed. If after a few days the kid's scrotum swells, and does not discharge, the scrotum should be opened with a clean instrument. Less than one-half of one per cent. of the kids will die from this operation.
RIDGLINGS.
While castrating the kids the operator will discover that some of the kids have but one descended testicle. When these animals are found the descended testicle should be removed, and they should be recognized by some distinctive ear mark or brand. These animals will develop like bucks. It is a disputed question as to whether they are able to exercise regenerative power, but they will cover the does, and in some cases they probably get kids. The undescended testicle can be removed, but as the testicle usually lies close to the kidney, and is hard to distinguish from that organ in the young animal, it is best to delay the operation until the ridgling is at least six months old. The instruments necessary for this operation are a stout rope to suspend the animal, a clean sharp knife, scissors to remove the mohair from the place to be incised, and sharp needles threaded with silk. The knife, scissors and silk should be immersed in a hot 5% carbolic acid solution, and they should be kept in this solution except when actually in use.
The rope is fastened to the hind legs of the animal and he is suspended in midair. An assistant steadies the body of the goat. The operator selects a place on the loin of the goat, about two or three inches away from the backbone, below the ribs and above the hip bone, on the side opposite to that which the descended testicle occupied. He then shears the mohair from this part of the goat. The mohair should be removed from a space at least eight inches square. A lengthwise incision is then made through the skin and muscles, or after the skin is cut, the muscles can be separated with the fingers and the testicle is found. It usually lies close to the backbone, to the lower and inner side of the kidney. It is usually undeveloped and much smaller than the kidney. Its surface is smooth and not indented like the kidney. When it is discovered it can be withdrawn through the opening, and adherent tissue clipped with the scissors. The muscles and skin should be brought together with the silk thread. The needles should pierce the muscles as well as the skin, and the edges of the skin should approximate. No hair should be allowed to remain between the cut surfaces, as the wound will not heal rapidly. After the wound is closed some boracic acid powder may be dusted over the wound, and the goat allowed his freedom. After ten days or two weeks the silk threads should be cut and drawn out, as they will not absorb, and they will irritate the wound. If this operation is carefully performed, and strict cleanliness adhered to, less than 2% of the animals operated upon will die.
GROWTH.
A kid at birth is usually small and weak, possibly weighing from four to six pounds. For the first few days of life he grows slowly, but as the organs adapt themselves to the new life, the kid becomes strong and grows rapidly. When the kid is born he is covered with a coarse hair, and it is not until he is from three to five weeks old that the fine mohair fibers appear growing between the coarser hairs. The kid continues to grow gradually, and at three or four months he weighs from twenty to forty pounds. The mohair may now be from two to four inches long. At a year old the Angora goat will weigh from fifty to eighty pounds, and the mohair may be as long as twelve inches, or sometimes longer.
WEANING.