10 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



very little has been said or written about Angora goats during the 

 last forty years, they have been extensively bred in the Western States 

 and Territories, especially in Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida, 

 California, and Oregon. In a general sense, all those animals which 

 are a cross in any degree of the Angora goat are considered as Angoras, 

 for the Angora and the common goat readily cross, and the latter fre- 

 quentty becomes the foundation stock of a good tlock of tleece-bearing 

 animals. 



It is the purpose of this article to deal with the Angora goat only, 

 and the effort is made to answer such questions as have been received 

 by the Bureau from all parts of the country. These answers are based 

 upon the experiences of those who have raised them, some of whom 

 have been in the business forty years and more. Differences of opin- 

 ion are found to exist on several important points, where each con- 

 testant appears to occupy plausible premises; but this is not at all 

 strange when the history of the Angora goat is considered, for it is 

 not certain that all of the animals imported as purebreds were pure; 

 indeed, it is held by some of our leading breeders that there is no 

 longer in Turkey or elsewhere any such thing as a purebred Angora 

 goat. Besides, there has been no general register for Angora stock 

 in the United States until within a year or two, and each breeder has 

 been at liberty to judge points for himself. If a general Angora reg- 

 ister had been established thirty or forty years ago, the industry 

 would now be conducted upon somewhat definite lines, and most of 

 the questions now arising as to points in breeding would have been 

 settled. In this connection it should be stated that C. P. Bailey & 

 Sons Compan}^ of San Jose, Cal., have kept a private register of their 

 goats since 1867, but there appears to bo no other similar record. 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



The purpose of this paper is to give prominence to those phases of 

 the Angora goat industry that are of practical importance; therefore 

 a brief space only will be devoted to the history of the breed. 



Naturalists generally agree that there are about ten species of wild 

 goats, all confined to Europe and the Himalayas of Asia. These are 

 divided into two groups, as follows: 



I. The Ihexes. — These, according to Hayes, have, as a distinctive 

 characteristic, horns "flat in front, with a horizontal triangular sec- 

 tion, furnished with large transversal knots." 



II. Goats jyroper. — ^These, according to Hayes, have horns "com- 

 pressed and carinated in front," and, according to Wood, "may be 

 distinguished from the ibex and the sheep by the peculiar formation 

 of the horns, which are compressed and rounded behind and furnished 

 with a well-developed keel in front." 



