47 



and combing machinery will shortly be installed at Fazilka, and 

 baling presses are working at Fazilka and Abohar. Undressed 

 skins fetch from 8 annas to Ke. 1 and are used locally for water 

 bags, shoes, musical instrument and bags for keeping money, 

 clothes, flour, etc. The skins are also sold to wandering traders 

 who collect for the large export trade at Amritsar and other 

 centres. 



The ewe has offspring when about a year old and produces 

 about five lambs worth about Ks. 2 each in the next three years. 

 She gives about 6 chittacks of milk a day for four months. 

 The milk is rich in butter fat and can be made into first class 

 ghi either by itself or mixed with cow or buffalo milk. The use 

 of the sheep as a dairy animal is commonest in the Thai. A 

 full grown ewe costs from Rs. 5 to 10 or double the price, say of ] 5 

 years ago. 



The relative position of sheep and goats has been reversed 

 in the last five years. In 1904 goats were the more numerous, 

 there are now more sheep than goats. The number of goats has 

 decreased in every plains district; only in Attock and in Kulu 

 has there been any increase. The general decrease is largely 

 due to the prevalence of disease throughout the Province. An- 

 other reason is no doubt the spread of cultivation which has 

 reduced the scrub jungle on which the goat thrives. There 

 is also a general consensus of opinion that owing to the in- 

 creasing profits to be made from wool and ghi the sheep is the 

 more valuable animal. But the goat is hardier and can subsist in 

 times of drought where other animals fail. It would therefore 

 be premature to affirm that the decrease in the number of goats 

 was in any way permanent. 



Like sheep goats are most numerous in the south-eastern, - 

 north-western and western districts. No special breeds are 

 distinguished, but the goats of Lawa in the Talagang Tahsil, and 

 of Dajal in the Dera Ghazi Khan are exceptionally good. Goats 

 like sheep are valued for their dung, especially as manure for to- 

 bacco. But they do more damage than sheep and are therefore 

 less welcome. The she-goat bears when a year old producing one 

 kid or sometimes two in the year. She will produce altogether 

 7 or 8. She-goats are milked twice a day, and give from 14 to 

 20 chittacks of milk daily for four months. A good she-goat will 

 yield as much as 2 or even 3 seers. The price of goat's milk is 

 rather under 1 anna per seer. The milk sells well as it is sup- 

 posed to have a medicinal value. A milch goat costs from Rs. 

 5 to Ks. 15, and the average price of a kid is about Rs. 2-8-0. 

 These are double the prices of a few years ago. Goats are sheared 



