THE ANGORA GOAT. 59 



Mr. Jobson saj^s that a five-board panel fence 4 feet high is suffi- 

 cient for goats. He also says that zigzag, or worm, fences are an 

 incentive for the goats to climb, and that they will walk along the top 

 of such fences as easilj^ as on the ground. 



If they are permitted to climb onto the roofs of buildings it will 

 not be long before they will have them completely ruined. 



SHELTER AND PENS. 



A shelter is necessary during wet spells, and more especially if the 

 rain is cold or in case of a sleet storm. Dry cold alone has little or 

 no injurious effect after the kids are three or four weeks old, and they 

 will even frolic in the snow when the mercury is at zero, and sleep 

 with apparent comfort in an open shed. With their dense covering 

 there is no reason why this should not be true; but this same dense 

 covering, when soaked with cold water or driven full of sleet, is a 

 deadly menace. Goats will not get wet if they have an opportunity 

 to avoid it. They appreciate a shelter and will always seek it at night, 

 and during the day in the event of storms. The}^ are said to be excel- 

 lent barometers, being able to foretell stormy weather, and alwa3^s 

 contrive to place themselves under shelter before the advance of a 

 storm, if possible. Mr. Diehl says they will run miles to avoid an 

 undesirable rain. 



Goats should not be left on the range oi" in pasture over night. Tiie 

 latter is practiced to a considerable extent, but experience has shown 

 that they are safer in closer confinement during the nighttime. 



The pens in which the goats are kept at night should, above all 

 things, be in such a location that they can be kept dry by drainage. 

 Other live stock should be excluded, as they would only help to 

 trample the ground into mud. The}^ should have a dry place to stand 

 and sleep, for they are apt to contract rheumatism in the knees. There 

 would be little use in raising Angoras for their fleeces if they are com- 

 pelled to wade through mud and filth, or be confined under these con- 

 ditions. The fleece would soon become so soiled and matted as to be 

 a "burden unto death." 



The sheds provided for their shelter must be of a size to give an 

 abundance of room. The goats should not, under any circumstances, 

 be huddled together. If they are thus crowded in cold weather they 

 will pile up, with the result that some of the younger ones will die 

 from suffocation. One writer states that he has known as high as 30 

 being killed in this manner in one night. Mr. Oscar Tom, of Angora, 

 Oreg., describes a shelter that proves satisfactory in the following 

 language: 



The sheds should have eave troughs, and t»e boarded down to within 3 or 4 feet of 

 the ground. There should be a ditch around the shed to prevent any water from 

 running into it, and it should be open all around, so that the goats would not have to 

 wait for others ahead of them to go in ; a few cross ones could not block the way and 



