THE ANGORA GOAT. 61 



As to the coarse feed for winter use, straw is eaten with relish; 

 corn fodder is better and more nourishing; clover and alfalfa hay are 

 excellent. Indeed, very little grain will be required where either 

 clover or alfalfa hay is provided. Mr. Hoerle says: 



The quantity of food necessary to keep them in good condition varies according to 

 the chmate, but one-fourth pound of corn or its equivalent in other grain and 1^ 

 ])ounds of hay at a ration is about a fair average. With abundant winter pasture 

 this ration once a day (in the evening) is sufficient; if the pasture is scant, they 

 ought to have it both morning and evening, and on wet, cold days, when they are 

 kept in the sheds all day, feed them three times or make their rations correspond- 

 ingly larger. They should be taught early to eat their hay chopped, moistened, and 

 sprinkled with bran, oil meal, or corn meal, which, if it digests easier if given in that 

 way, will save about 20 per cent of the feed. They should also be taught to eat 

 ensilage where practicable. 



Sugar-beet pulp has been fed with success. The goats must be 

 taught to eat it, but after once learning they seem not to be able to 

 get enough. 



In feeding either hay or grain absolute cleanliness must rule, as 

 goats will not eat soiled food. There is no animal more particular 

 about his food than the goat. He has no inclination for mud or filth 

 in which to stand or walk, much less having to pick his food out of it. 

 Bryan Hook, author of Milch Goats and Their Management,^ says: 



The goat is of all animals the most fastidious in the matter of the cleanliness of its 

 food, refusing, even though ever so hungry, to eat food that has been soiled or trodden 

 under foot. For this reason a rack should be provided for the hay, and only as much 

 given at each meal as the animal will consume, for that which has been trampled 

 under foot will ever after be rejected, even though carefully collected and replaced 

 in the rack. 



When the production of mohair is reduced to a fine art, the question 

 of feed will receive the most careful consideration, because of its influ- 

 ence upon the fiber. 



The replies received by the Bureau to the question "Do you feed 

 in winter? If so, what is the character of feed? "are interesting in 

 many particulars. It will be observed that in the Southwest the treat- 

 ment of goats in winter is not very different from that received by 

 them in the summer. Below are given quotations from some of the 

 letters received, credit being given to States only: 



Winters being mild, do not feed. — Arizona. 



I have to feed here. They like alfalfa best. In southern New Mexico they never 

 need any feed, and are good mutton the year round. — New Mexico. 



We do not feed, there being plenty of evergreen brush. — Neiv Mexico. 



Feed only during severe storms, perhaps an average of three days in the winter, 

 and then any kind of good hay will suffice. — Texas. 



Feed some poor old goats on cotton seed and hay. — Texas. 



Winters are mild, and the goats live on evergreen brush (four kinds). — Texas. 



^Vinton & Co., Limited. London, 1896. 



