Chapter XV. 



Rearing Kids. 



As a general rule it does not pay to rear kids, and 

 certainly not the males, unless they are from superior 

 stock and likely from their breeding to make valuable 

 milkers. A short calculation shows this very clearly : 

 Suppose a goat has two kids, and gives 3 pints a 

 day, which is the least she should yield to bring up a 

 couple properly, at the end of six weeks they will have 

 taken 126 pints, with an additional 21 by the time they 

 are weaned in all 73^ quarts. Reckon this at the lowest 

 possible value, 4d. per quart, the price of cows' milk in 

 the country, and you get 125. 3d. as the cost of each 

 kid ; or, supposing the goat to have but one kid, and be 

 giving a quart daily under the same circumstances, that 

 one kid would cost i6s. 4d. Now, considering that, if a 

 female and a common specimen, it will only realise from 

 75. 6d. to ios., or, if a male of no better quality, be hard 

 to sell at 6s. or 75., it becomes plainly evident that this 

 system, to say the least, is not a profitable one. When 

 it is desired to establish a herd of a good milking strain, 

 and a high stud fee has been paid, the case is of course 

 different. One does not then look so much at the first 

 outlay, in the hope of obtaining in the future some 

 valuable stock. It is better to kill off the male kids, 

 unless they are superior animals, at a fortnight or three 



