Vol. X. No. 230. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



53 



LIVE STOCK. 



TOGGENBURG GOAT BREEDING 

 IN ENGLAND. 



An article in Farm Life for November .5, 1910, gives 

 an account of a stud farm for Toggenburg goats, which is 

 kept at Basingstoke by Mr. W. A. Wilcox, who has rapidly 

 attained a leading position among goat breeders in England, 

 and is at the present time the owner of four stud animals. 

 accepted by the Committee of the British Goat Society for 

 service during the season of 1910-11. 



After describing several of the stud goats on the farm, 

 the article gives an account of the boxes that are provided 

 for these. Each of them is 6 feet wide and 12 feet deep, and 

 has a height of 9 feet at the highest point, to 5| feet where 

 the roof is lowest. The floors are of cement, covered with 

 sand, and there is a corridor at each end of the box, to assist 

 ventilation. The doors of the boxes are doulile, and provided 

 with bars to prevent the animals from climbing over 

 them. Sleeping accommodation is provided in the form 

 of platform.s, raised l-i feet from the ground. In the ca~e 

 of the rams, each box holds one animal; while the number of 

 ewes accommodated in each is three, except, at the time of 

 kidding, when a goat is allowed one to itself. .\11 the boxes 

 are provided with hay racks, 

 over the heads of the animals. 

 The doors are opened during 

 the day, and closed at night. 

 The goats are dry -fed exclus- 

 ively in winter, and partially 

 in summer. During the former 

 period, they are fed three 

 times a day, and have the run 

 of a paddock, in which shelter 

 from rain is provided. The 

 plan followed in summer is to 

 allow the goats to run over 

 about 8 acres of ground, whicli 

 is changed from year to year. 

 This change of pasture is 

 recognized as being a vital 

 point, as goats do not thrive 

 on one small plot of ground. 



The opinion is given that Toggenburgs will be the moit 

 desirable kind of goats to breed, for some time at any rate. 

 They are very rare in England, on account of the fact that 

 the Board of Agriculture will not allow tliem to be imported 

 from Switzerland, because of the prevalence of foot-and-mouth 

 disease in that country. 



After drawing attention to the fact that Toggenburg 

 goats remain in milk longer than any other breed, it is pointed 

 out that, in England, if a breeder possesses two good 

 examples of the breed, one of which kids in spring and one 

 in autumn, he can reckon upon a supply of 3 quarts of 

 milk every day, all the year round. The average Toggen- 

 burg produces ten kids a year, and there is a ready sale for 

 these when three months old, in that country, at £.5 each. 



A description is given of a crate suit.ible for sending 

 goats to shows. This is made of bicycle tubing; its length 

 is 5 feet, its width 2i feet, and its weight rmly 3-5 lb. It is 

 provided with recei)tacles for hay and corn, and can hold 

 three of the animals. 



It is the opinion of the breeder mentioned that, in 

 England, a stud of twenty pure Toggenburg goats will yield 

 a profit of £200 a year, allowing for a few losses, the sources 

 of income being the kids, the milk and the stud fees. It is 



his opinion, also, that a capital of at least ,£300 to £3-50 is 

 required by those who are desirous of taking up the breeding 

 of Toggenburg goats on any fair scale. 



TOGGENBURG GOATS IN GRENADA. 



Information has been received from the Superintendent 

 of Agriculture, Grenada, in connexion with the progeny of 

 one of the pure-bred Toggenburg rams imported from Switz- 

 erland last June, by this Department, for Mr. T. B. C. 

 Musgrave of Grenada. This ram was only available for service 

 for a short period as, unfortunately, he died a few weeks after 

 being landed in the Colony, but from the following list it will 

 be seen that advantage was taken of his presence in the island:— 



Sire. 



Dam. Pedigree of dam. 



Imported full-bred Bruce 

 Pauline 



Nenny 

 (Jhance 



ram 

 ewe 



2 ewes 



in kid 

 1 ewe 



H.Ki.i--ni:hii Tiji,i,]iNBL4;c. (io.vr. 



Number and 

 sex of kids, 

 i-bred Toggenburg 2 ewes 

 ff-bred; grand- ] 



daughter of Bruce, - 

 ( daughter of Wallace] 

 i ^-bred; daughter 1 

 of West's goat and - 

 [Bruce J 



-i-bred 

 fNative ewe; property of "| 

 \\lr. .1. E. 1). Carberry / 



It will be observed that 

 seven kids were born, up to 

 the date of the letter from 

 the Superintendent of Agri- 

 culture, namely December 20, 

 1910, and that six of these 

 are ewes. The one ram kid 

 should turn out well, as 

 his dam is by 'Wallace', which 

 is a pure-bred ram from the 

 pure-bred pair of Toggenburgs 

 imi)orted by this Department 

 in April 1903. 



THE HALF-BRED 



TOGGENBURG GOAT. 



The subject of the illustra- 

 tion (Fig. -4) 



IS the half-bred 

 goat ' Chamy', owned l.)y Mr. R. F. Parkinson, .Junior, of 

 Barbados. This is the result of a cross between the Toggen- 

 burg and .\nglo Nubian strains, but shows little of the 

 marking belonging to the latter, the chief indication of its 

 partly Eastern origin being the possession of a long udder, in 

 the place of the characteristically spherical milk-bag of the 

 Toggenburg. 



The photograph from which the above illustration was 

 made w-a? taken a few hours before the goat gave birth to 

 kids. After kidding had taken place, she was milked, when 

 she gave .5 pints Nineteen months afterwards, when she was 

 more than five weeks in kid, she gave If pints. 



As regards Anglo-Nubian goats, it should be explained 

 that these are descended from the Nubian and the common 

 English goat. Nubian goats are considered to be among the 

 least wild; they are excellent milkers, and very prolific. The 

 chief distinguishing characters of the breed are the absence 

 of horns and beard, .short hair and a blunt nose. An example 

 of an Anglo-Nubian goat was ' Black Eock', imported into 

 the West Indies by the Imperial Deoartment of Agriculture 

 in 1902. 



It may be mentioned that an article on the Toggenburg 

 goat in Barbados appeared on page 117 of the last volume 

 of the Ariricultural JVems. 



