414 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



of course much harder to kill than others. Many varieties are en- 

 tirely killed by one summer's trimming of the leaves. Almost any 

 are killed by two years' trimming. To clear the worst brush do not 

 cut anything that the goats can reach or bend. The tallest or largest 

 is better not cut. All trees and saplings should be cut, and the 

 goats will keep all the sprouts down. If stumps are allowed to sprout 

 one year before the goats are turned in, the sprouts need not be cut. 

 About 200 goats for 40 acres of brush will in two or three years 

 make the land as clean as a garden. If the pasture has only patches 

 of brush, turn in a few goats and it will make more grass for other 

 stock than if the goats were not in. They eat very little grass when 

 they can get leaves. Goats even like weeds better than grass. In 

 clearing brush land in the old way by grub and plow there are al- 

 ways left many eyesores in the way of brushy nooks and bends and 

 steep places which can not be plowed. 



Pasturing With Other Stock. So far as the goats themselves 

 are concerned, they may be kept in the pastures where there are 

 sheep, cattle, and horses. Their presence is in no way obnoxious to 

 any of these animals. A few of them in a flock of sheep are a pro- 

 tection against dogs. However, it is not best for the goats that they 

 be kept in pastures with horses. This is especially important if there 

 are kids, as the horses have a habit of playfully chasing any animal 

 that is not large enough to defend itself, and they are apt to strike, 

 the kids. 



Age for Breeding. Goats of both sexes will sometimes breed 

 when they are 5 months old, and often at 6 months, but from the 

 fact that they are at this age but a month or two from weaning time 

 and are not nearly full grown, it is obvious that they should not be 

 permitted to breed. They reach maturity when about 16 or 18 

 months old, and they ought not to breed before this time. If bred 

 earlier the kids will not be so strong or so well developed. The goats 

 are in their prime when from 2 to 6 years old, but with proper feed- 

 ing in winter they have been known to breed regularly until 15 years 

 old. The average life of goats, however, is about 12 years. There 

 should be no tendency to keep does until they are very old unless 

 they bring kids of exceptional merit, for it must be remembered 

 that their mohair gets coarser, and consequently less valuable, as 

 they grow older. 



Mohair. The word mohair is the technical and commercial 

 name for the fleece of the Angora goat, which is used in the manu- 

 facture of fabrics. The word comes to us, through the old French 

 mohere, from the Arabic mukhayyar, meaning goat's-hair cloth. 



The fleece upon the goat is pure white, is exceedingly lustrous, 

 and grows to an average length of 10 inches annually. It hangs in 

 beautiful wavy curls, or ringlets, from all parts of the oody, if the 

 animal is of the best breeding. The average annual production of 

 mohair is about 4 pounds a head. The grade of the goat has much 

 to do with the weight of the fleece. The first cross of an Angora buck 

 upon a common doe gives but a small amount of mohair, but the in- 

 crease in quantity is noticeable as the crosses become higher. 



