Chapter XXVII. 



Diseases, Parasites, &c. 



AFTER an experience with goats of various breeds ex- 

 tending over a considerable number of years, I have been 

 forced to the conclusion that these animals, under the 

 conditions in which they are usually maintained in this 

 country, are not the hardy creatures they are popularly 

 supposed to be, and which I myself at one time thought 

 them. No doubt in a wild or semi -domesticated state on 

 the rocks and mountains, where they love to roam and 

 where they obtain the kind of food best suited to their 

 requirements, goats, like most other animals in similar 

 circumstances, rarely suffer from disease. But when 

 housed, and especially in badly ventilated stables, or 

 tethered on rich pasturage where the soil is heavy, this 

 hardihood no longer exists, and they become subject to 

 some of the diseases common to sheep and cattle, besides 

 some peculiar to themselves. 



When I first wrote on goats I had always been most 

 successful as regards their health, never losing a single 

 one. Up to that date I had never kept more than two 

 or three at a time, and those were to a great extent stall- 

 fed. Subsequently, however, I moved to the neighbour- 

 hood of a large common, and with the facilities for 

 pasturage thus afforded increased my herd to a dozen, 



