84 



California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal, 



^\m\^ Mil ^ub. 



SHEEP AND GOAT BUSINESS 

 KELATIVELY CONSIDERED. 



(ftj T may ! 



11 tbis at 



as taught iron, experience in this.State, j is at tUi^day. _But few of <^e imported | the^eeks^e^asal^ju^^ 



are in favor of lest breeds and cu/Hrated goats have proven to be of much value 

 farnis. Under proper cultivation, laud to breeders who understand their busi- 

 ■will support from four to ten head more 



just 



•ca — 



Sv'T may not seem exactly fair to draw 

 contrast that is so one-sided as is 

 at the present time. But in 

 v,^ uu,.sideration of the fact that within 

 £2 three years some of the principal 

 papers of the State decried the raising of 

 Angora goats as something impractical, 

 antf also how the sheep breeders would 

 generally sneer at the business, we feel 

 that the goat men have a right to crow, 

 t a little, if they feel like it. 

 There is now a general depressif n in 

 the wool market all over the civilized 

 world that is most discouraging, and 

 that has a tendency to make the business 

 of sheep breeding on a large sca'.e rather 

 precarious. The price of sheep is cor- 

 respondingly low, and the business does 

 not pay at .-ill at present -in fact, many 

 herds are sinking money. 



Returns from the manufactories East 

 of prices ; aid for mohair of this year's 

 clip, will equal that paid last year. Mr. 

 Bailey has returns from the first lot of 

 800 pounds, sent early, which prove this. 

 Probably next month we will be able to 

 present "full returns. The prices of, and 

 demaud for goats have never been more 

 encouraging to breeders. The Robe and 

 Glove Company, in San Jose, have press- 

 ing orders that they can hardly fill— sev- 

 eral from the Eastern States. An ad- 

 vancing civilization must increase the de- 

 maud for such goods as are produced 

 from the skins and fleece faster than the 

 supply can possibly increase for many 

 years, even upon this coast, where they 

 can beat the world. 



We have always favored this industry; 

 indeed, the Angora goat has been the 

 special pet of the Califoenia Agricul- 

 TunisT, and we are more than ever enthu- 

 siastic upon the subject, not from any 

 pecuniary point, for we do not own nor 

 have we an interest in a single goat, but 

 on general principles. 



Wo would not condemn the sheep busi- 

 ness by any means, and we advocate the 

 hcst breeds, and the keeping of them 

 where they can get plenty to eat daring the 

 entire .sca.son. Tlie old way of keeping 

 10,000 sheep upon as many acres of un- 

 cultivated lands, allowing them to fatten 

 half the year and starve the other half, 

 w-e never could see anything in to re- 

 commend. 



A civilized sheep farm should consist 

 of not only a hill or upland range, but of 

 cultivated fields where alfalfa, and grain, 

 and hay can be produced to supply good 

 and (Miual feeding during the entire year. 

 One hundred acres rightly managed will 

 keep as many sheep as one thousand on 

 the old plan, and produce twice as much 

 wool to the animal, worth twice as much 

 per pound as the ordinary clip. The 

 sooner the wild, uncivilized, slip-shod 

 slieeji-raising is exploded the better for 

 the country. 



If sheep are well fed during the entire 

 year, one long clip will pay better than 

 the two-clip system now in vogue. The 

 reason why sheep are sheared twice each 

 year is not that an extra growth in this 

 climate justities it, but because the starv- 

 ing process during a portion of the year 

 <auses a week place in the fibre which 

 brt'aks in manufacturing. Proper feed- 

 ing would remedy this. These remarks 

 will as well ajiply to goats as sheep. The 

 goat men liud it to their advantage to 

 feed ecju.dly during the year, as Stockton 

 auil Huffuni's experience lust year proves. 

 The lessons of stock raising generally. 



■-■.3^ 



of stocii'to the acre, besides supporting 

 and enriching a large population of en- 

 terprising inhabitants. Of course, there 

 are some lauds tit only for pasture. But 

 these should be used in connection with 

 better lands a portion of the season.. 

 While the animals are feedii;g upon the 

 light pastures, the cultivated lands are 

 producing hay and grain for winter, and 

 will also make late pastures on the stub- 

 ble. It is time for sheep men and cattle 

 men to awaken to the fact that there is 

 more money in a flock or herd of good 

 stock, kept in a civdized way, than in 

 the common "plug" stock running half 

 wild upon wild lands in a manner that 

 none but savages should ever think of 

 imitating. We have little patience with, 

 and precious little sympathy for the 

 class of stock men who pursue a system 

 so antagonistic to civilization and ad- 

 verse to their own best interests. 



The Angoea Goat.— Colonel R. W. 

 Scott, who is counted authority 

 upon the subject of Angora goats, 

 has lately written an interesting article 

 touching upon the history and value of 

 the Angora goat in this country to a 

 Southern paper, the Sanford Journal. 

 We take pleasure in transferring the 

 same to our columns: 



Dr. J. B. Davis, of South Carolina, 

 was sent to Turkey as a Commissioner 

 of the Uuiteu States, upon the applica- 

 tion of the Sultan of Turkey, for the 

 purpose of teaching his subjects cotton- 

 raising, in the year 1816. After a resi- 

 dence of some three years, finding the 

 climate nnsuited for cotton raising, he 

 returned home, bringing with him the 

 Angora goat from Asia Minor. In 1849, 

 he landed in Charleston with seved ewes 

 and two Ijucks of the pure Angora, which 

 he at the time, under a misapprehension, 

 probably, called the Cashmere goat. 

 These were, unquestionably, the first 



ness. Very few are superior to a third 

 or fourth cross of a pure Angora on a 

 common goat. In a letter written by 

 Mr. Peters, he says: 



"In 185G, I found that the fourth 

 cross, passed on the native short-haired 

 ewes, with selected purebred bucks, when 

 bred by careful selections, produced an 

 animal superior in every respect to the 

 imported, for breeding purposes except- 

 ed. I owned a flock of 5U0 grade ewes 

 in 18.59, bred with great care, each ani- 

 mal marked to designate its grade. These 

 I distributed, by sales of flocks from ten 

 to twenty ewes with a pure-bred buck at 

 the head", to all parts of the West and 

 Southwest during the years 18G0 and 

 1861, and made a very handsome profit. 

 The forehead has soft hairs of less length, 

 less applied to the skin, in parts, curled. 

 The hair of the beard, which is pointed | 

 and moderate dimensions, being six 

 inches in length, (German measurement) 

 is stiffer than the hair of the rest of the 

 body, but less so than the beard of ordi- 

 nary goats. I ascertained, however, that 

 when resold, in every instance, the word 

 rjrade was expunaged, and they sold as 

 'Peters' Cashmere goats of the Davis im- 

 portation.' 



"I sent a small flock of grades to 

 Pennsylvania, in the year 1859, and by 

 18C6 they were advertised and sold as if 

 of pure breed. 



"In the year 186C, I sent a flock of 

 over 100 head to Ohio, all grades, but a 

 half dozen bucks. They were sold, by 

 me as grades, and the next year sent 

 West as Cashmere." 



These statements show the / ' 'dark 

 ways" formerly resorted to by unscrup- 

 ulous dealers, in the sale of goats— prac- 

 tices which have injured this new branch 

 of wool production in America beyond 

 computation. Mr. Peters continues: 



"'The owners of goats in Asia allow 

 them to run at large in very extensive 

 flocks, and make no selection in breed 



oats brought into this country. The ing; and, although fine animals might be 



Earl of Derby obtained a pair from him, 

 who stated that they were the first of 

 them seen in England. A small flock 

 had, prior to this time, been imported 

 into Prance, and located on the Pyren- 

 ncs. 



Ever since the first introduction of 

 these goats into the United States, there 

 has existed in the popular mind much 

 error in regard to their species— errors 

 due, principally, to the action of import- 

 ers and breeders themselves, mis-naming 

 this animi Is, either through ignorance or 

 iutercst. Dr. Davis is responsible for 

 the name of "Cashmere" being applied 

 to these goats. The Thibetian or Cash- 

 mere goat comes from the famed Vale of 

 Cashmere, in India, which is a great dis- 

 tance — some three or four thousand miles 

 — from Angora, in Asia Minor. It is an 

 entirely distinct animal from the Angora 

 goat, though some European naturalists 

 have claimed that the two races have af- 

 finities in common. This goat bears 

 wool only "by ounces," while the An- 

 gora produces mohair "by the pound" 

 — the best ewes yielding from three to 

 seven pounds each, and best bucks from 

 seven to ten pounds each. 



In the year 185'2, Mr. Peters purchased 

 of Dr. Davis his entire flock of pure 

 breeds, consisting of eight ewes and 

 three bucks, for which he paid the sum 

 of sixty thousand dollars, (a sum which, 

 by some, may be considered a very enor- 

 mous price). He has kept a perfect 

 record of these goats since they came 

 into his possession and obtained their 

 prior record from Dr. Davis, so that he 

 can, at any moment, tell where the stock 



had high up in the hills, by a person 

 who could go there and remain a year, 

 yet all, or nearly all, sent to this coun- 

 try come from localities easy of access, 

 and not one male in a hundred is fit to 

 breed from to improve a flock. 



"The Vicuna and Llama cannot be 

 bred to any advantage, and cannot be 

 acclimated to live on an elevation of less 

 than 5,000 feet above the sea. The An- 

 gora ought to be 3,000 feet, but will 

 thrive near the sea level, if allowed a 

 wide range in woods or old fields. 'They 

 are not a grass-eating animal, and when 

 kept on such, in small inclosure, soon 

 become unhealthy. They are a browsing 

 animal and cannot stand being high fed 

 with grain and grass." 



The description of the physical char- 

 acteeistics of the two races, when com- 

 pared, show how dift'erent they are. 



The description of the Angora, given 

 by M. Brandt, an European naturalist 

 of high repute, and director of the Mu- 

 seum at St. Petersburg, in 1855, is 

 minutely as follows: 



"The magnirtcent example of the An- 

 gora goat, which the Museum of the 

 Imperial Academy owes to M. Tchihat- 

 chess, (the learned Russian traveler) 

 produces, at first sight, the general im- 

 pression of a domestic goat, when atten- 

 tion is directed to its thick and silky 

 fleece, to its ears turned downward, and 

 its inconsiderable size. But it is pre- 

 cisely these traits which impress upon 

 this "animal a distinct si'al, which gives it 

 the ohar.acter of a peculiar race whose 

 origin is not the same as that of the do- 

 mestic goat. The extremity of the snout, 



legs below the tarsal articulation, are 

 covered with i7rf;/i.s/i vhile tint, are longer 

 than the head; at the lower part, the in- 

 terior marginal bone turns inward in 

 such a manner, that, in this part, they 

 appear broad seen from the front, and •" 

 narrow when seen from the side; at half 

 their extension, they direct themselves 

 moderately backward, and turn spirally 

 outward, so that their extremities, direct- 

 ed upward, are very much separated one 

 from the other, and circumscribe a space 

 gradually contracting itself. The whole 

 of the neck as well as the tiunk, covered 

 with long hairs, which, particularly on 

 the neck and lateral parts of the body, 

 are twisted in spiral curls, having the ap- 

 pearance of loosened ringlets, it being 

 observed, at the same time, that they re- 

 unite themselves into rolled tufts, a dis- 

 position which is less marked in the 

 anterial portion of the neck. The hairs 

 that exhibit the greatest length are situ- 

 ated above the foreleg, and are nine and 

 one half inches long. Those of the neck 

 are a little shorter, and are nine inches 

 long, and those of the belly, eight and a 

 quarter inches. The length of the hair 

 with which the later.al parts of the body, 

 as well as the back, as covered, is only 

 seven and one-half inches, and that of 

 the hind legs six to seven inches long. 

 Finally, the slight, stift hair of the tail is 

 about four inches long. 



" The color of the robe of the animal 

 is a pure white, here and there shghtly 

 inclined to yellow. The hoofs, some- 

 what small in proportion, are, like the 

 horns, of a greyish white tint. The hair 

 is, without exceptiou,loug, soft and fine; 

 it is at once silky and greasy to the 

 touch, and shows distinctly the brilliancy 

 of silk." 



Prof. Lowe, of England, iu his work 

 on sheep and goats, describes this goat, 

 which is known as the primitive goat of 

 Angora district in the central portion of 

 Asia Minor, as having "no undercoatiug 

 at all, but long, white, silky fleece." In 

 Asia there are nearly twenty varieties of 

 fleece-bearing goats, of which the Angora 

 is the most profitable. It is described as 

 having "long, pendant ears, short legs, 

 and heavy body. The fleece hangs in 

 Ion", spiral, silky curls. The horns are 

 heavy and spiral." Mr. Lendrum in his 

 exceedingly practical and valuable treat- 

 ise on the Angora goat, says there are,in 

 California, "goats answering exactly that 

 description." He owns pure breeds 

 whose fleeces have been repeatedly 

 searched without success, by diflferent 

 persons, to find kemp, or rough, coarse 

 hair, which is so injurious to wool, be- 

 cause of its inferiority and harshness, 

 preventing it from taking the dyes 

 readily. 



Now compare the above description 

 with that of the Thibet, or Cashmere 



goat proper, 



and the dilTereuce between 



the two breeds will strikingly appear. 



Mr. John L. Hayes, secretary of the 

 National Association of Wool Manufac- 

 turers, wad a valuable treatise on the 

 Angora goat before the Boston Society 

 of National History, iu 18G7, exhibiting 

 much intelligent research. In this treat- 

 ise, Mr. Hayes, quoting Mr. Saac, the 

 distinguished European naturalist, says 

 the Cashmere, or Thibetian goat, 

 ".abounds in Central Asia, many thous- 

 Hud miles from Angora, in Asia Minor, 

 but whose origin is still obscure. The 

 size of the Cashmere goat is quite large; 

 the horns are tlattaied, siraiahl and lilarl., 

 and slightlv divergent at the extremities. 

 The cars are large, flat and pendant. 

 The primary hair, which is long, sdky 

 and lustrous", is divided on the back, and 

 falls upon the flanks in wavy masses. 



