40 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



vantage, as the spinners prefer a long fiber. Schreiner shows (p. 119) 

 a picture of a buck carrjdng a 13-months' fleece, weighing 16 pounds, 

 which touches the ground. The feet of the animal are just visible. 



The weights of the fleeces in the United States are much greater 

 than in Turkey and about the same as in the Cape of Good Hope. 

 With reference to Turkey, Schreiner says : "It would seem that 14 

 pounds for rams and 8i pounds for ewes are about the maximum 

 weights of reall}" first-class fleeces, and that if these weights are much 

 exceeded the quality of the hair is inferior and a good deal of the 

 weight is due to oil and dirt." In the Cape of Good Hope buck fleeces 

 have surpassed 15 pounds and ewe fleeces 11 pounds. Information at 

 hand indicates that the average weights of fleeces in Oregon exceed 

 those of other sections of the country, especially in the warmer por- 

 tions. This reminds one of the opinion of Colonel Black, that the 

 fleece will be increased 1 pound in weight by moving the goats to 

 the colder Northern States. 



Schreiner says that the goats must not be crowded together in 

 quarters if the best fiber is to be obtained, and Hoerle says that "goats 

 running together in small herds will shear from 25 to 40 per cent 

 more than when running in large herds." The size of flocks is discussed 

 in another place (see p. 75). 



The influence of semiannual shearing upon weight of fleece is also 

 discussed elsewhere (see p. 76). 



Kemp. — The term "kemp" used in connection with mohair refers, 

 in a collective sense, to the coarse hair of the goats, and is especially 

 noticeable in the lower grades. Hoerle says: "Kemp is the coarse, 

 dead-looking hair all through the mohair, about 2 to 4 inches long, 

 which I consider to be the degenerated remnants of the long, coarse, 

 dead-looking outer coat of some common goats. It is usually thickest 

 on the hind quarters of badly bred goats." Its presence in mohair 

 always reduces the price in proportion to the amount that is present. 

 The reasons for this are various — the hair is coarser than the mohair; 

 it is lusterless; it is of various short lengths and must be removed, in 

 doing which there is a heavy loss of mohair; and it will not, except to 

 a limited degree, take the dyes used for mohair. This last statement 

 is a striking fact and ought to be the means of prompting the mohair 

 growers to strive to breed it out. Whether or not it can be done 

 entirely is an open question, but it is believed by many prominent 

 breeders that it can be done. Schreiner, however, considers kemp a 

 part of the fleece that can not be eradicated completely. 



C. P. Bailey & Sons Company say: 



Kemp is a coarse white hair which grows from a separate root sheath betw^een the 

 moliair and is usually thickest upon low-grade goats. Jt is most noticeable along 

 the backbone and around the tail and upon the thighs. We have never seen a goat 

 entirely free from kemp, nor have we ever seen mohaii iroin any part of the world 



