THE ANGORA GOAT. 63 



KIDDINO AND THE KIDS. 



The kidding- time is the most important in the life of the goats. 

 For two or three days after the kids are dropped they are exceedingly 

 delicate/ and there will be no future success unless good care is given 

 at the time. They can not "rough it" at this period, but will die 

 from very little exposure or neglect. They are more delicate for a 

 few weeks than lambs. When the kids are large enough to follow 

 the flock they have constitutions stronger than lambs of like age and 

 are able to care for themselves very well. 



The proper time for kids to arrive is in the spring, about the time 

 when leaves start on the trees and bushes. At that time there is milk- 

 producing food for the doe, and the weather is also warm enough to 

 favor the kids. The exact time may be governed, of course, by the 

 service of the bucks and will be earlier in localities where the seasons 

 are earlier. If kidding comes in cold weather, there will be greater 

 difficulty in saving the kids. Warm stabling must also be provided, 

 and the does will require extra feeding in order that they may supply 

 milk for the kids. 



A few days before a kid is due the doe should be separated from 

 the flock. Some breeders w^ould put her in a pen alone, while others 

 would put as many as 20 in one pen. If the facilities are at hand, a 

 small pen for each doe is better, for the reasons that the doe will 

 sooner " own" the kid and there will be less danger of injury than if 

 among a number. A doe knows her kid by the sense of smell, espe- 

 cially when it is young. This characteristic is so strong that some 

 breeders assert that if two kids of different mothers are rubbed 

 together, the does will often refuse to own them. Whoever cares for 

 the doe at kidding time will find it an important part of his work to 

 see that the does own their kids. This difficulty in any case will dis- 

 appear in a few daj^s, and it will then only be necessary to arrange for 

 the does to get to the kids whenever they desire. 



If kids are dropped on the range or in the pasture, they must be 

 carried home and special care given to see that the does are made to 

 own them, for many times they will refuse. A lamb will follow its 

 mother ver}^ soon after it is dropped, but a doe will hide her kid as 

 best she can in bushes, or behind a stone or log, and leave it there 

 while she goes away to feed; and on her return she expects to find it 

 '.vhere she left it. 



The Mexican method of handling the kid is largely practiced in 

 Texas and New Mexico and consists in "staking," or "toggling," the 

 kid. When the kid is dropped, take it to a protected place (shed or 

 barn), seeing to it that the doe follows, and "stake it out" or "toggle" 

 it with a string about 14 inches long. Tie this string to one leg, 

 changing occasionally to other legs to avoid lameness. This striqg 

 shoukl have a swivel in it to prevent twisting, and the kids should be 



