280 The 'Book of the Goat. 



only brought under consideration when all other qualities 

 are equal. Some breeders admire a spotted goat, others a 

 self-coloured one; but in neither case has it any bearing 

 on milk production. In dealing with Swiss goats colour 

 plays a far more important part. Judges know by no\* 

 the proper colour for a Toggenburg, a Saanen, or a 

 Schwarzhals, if such a breed should be present ; but they 

 would not be too particular perhaps at the present 

 day at any rate as to the amount of white dis- 

 played in a Toggenburg, though they would hardly pass 

 for one of the other varieties above mentioned a goat with 

 the rich tan and black that so often indicate Nubian or 

 Indian blood. 



JUDGING KIDS AND GOATLINGS. As these, or the 

 former at least, cannot well be judged on precisely the 

 same lines as full-grown goats, something must be said 

 here in special reference to them. Size in kids is one 

 of the principal features, -but only when taken in conjunc- 

 tion with age, for it is obvious that to award a prize to 

 one animal because it is bigger than another without 

 investigating the respective dates of birth would be 

 grossly unfair. When goat-showing was in its infancy, 

 and before the Kid Register was instituted, judges had 

 to rely on the teeth of the animal to determine its age, 

 and so a kid with two of its incisors changed was in those 

 days disqualified, although perhaps the animal was really 

 under twelve months old. This led to much unpleasant- 

 ness, and was very awkward for judges. Now that every 

 kid must have been registered to qualify for a prize, the 

 adjudicator does not trouble to examine the teeth, but 

 takes the ages as they are set before him in his judging- 

 book. And here I would remark that no judge should start 

 work on these classes until the steward or secretary has 

 supplied him with this necessary information, if it is not 

 already before him. 



