GOAT-RAISING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. 17 



and shade should be provided for them on hot days. They may also be kept in a 

 yard, as is frequently done in Europe, and fed garden waste and weeds, grass, orchard 

 primings, kitchen waste, etc. During summer they may be fed some grain, but, if 

 liberally fed otherwise, little or no grain is necessary. In winter, however, the 

 owner must provide more feed, especially if the goats are milking, and care should 

 be taken to see that the feed is not soiled and that the feeding-utensils are clean. 

 Contrary to common belief, goats are dainty and particular feeders and will rarely 

 touch food that has been allowed to fall on the ground or which other goats have 

 breathed on. Succulence should be the desideratum in feeding for milk in winter, 

 and carrots are probably the best and handiest roots to supply this. Failing these, 

 potatoes, turnips, mangels, parsnips, kale, etc., are almost as good ; potatoes, however, 

 are more of a fattening nature. 



Hay should also be fed in winter, clover, alfalfa, or prairie-hay being the most 

 nourishing, but dried leaves or brush will provide a change. 



Grain may be supplied in the form of oats, cracked corn or cornmeal, bran, 

 shorts, dried brewer's grains, etc., with such concentrates as linseed, cocoanut, or 

 soy-bean meal. Some prefer to feed moist mashes, but it is a question if this is any 

 advantage, and feeding dry saves trouble. As to quantities to feed, two to three 

 handfuls of grain with one of bran, or occasionally linseed or other meal, twice a 

 day. is ample for a goat in milk which is receiving hay and roots. Mix the feeds 

 differently as much as possible to give variety, preserving a proper proportion, of 

 course, between the different elements required for milk production and bodily 

 nourishment. 



Fresh, clean water should be within reach or offered twice daily, and rock salt 

 should always be available. 



TETHERING, 



Where it is impossible to allow goats to run at large or within an enclosure, they 

 should be tethered, and some claim they do better thus, because they are, as it were, 

 tied down to their feed and do not waste time and energy wandering around. 

 Probably the safest lether is a light cow-chain, not less than 20 feet long, and 

 provided with swivels at each end and in the middle to prevent twisting. Care 

 should be taken to see that the goat is not tethered where the chain is likely to get 

 tangled around roots and brush, because it does not take long for a goat to get 

 hopelessly tied up in such a place, and many have been strangled in this way. The 

 goat should be visited twice or thrice during the day to see that it is all right. 



FENCING. 



Contrary to popular belief, milk goats are unable to clear a 6-foot fence at a 

 bound, and a 4- to o-foot fence is sufficient to restrain them, but it must be a tight, 

 upright fence ; chicken-wire or light poultry-fencing is good enough, except for bucks, 

 or a fence made of rails laid horizontally between uprights. There should not be 

 any stumps or rocks near the fence from which the goats could take off. A snake 

 fence is no good, because it affords too many footholds for the goat to climb over. 



GENERAL CARE. 



People who are not prepared to give their goats some little attention had better 

 not keep them. When they are kept in an artificial or, to them, unnatural state, it 

 is necessary to spend a little time on them to keep them in good condition. They 

 should be groomed regularly, daily if possible, with a currycomb or dandy-brush, 

 and their hooves should be trimmed once a month or so ; the overgrowing hoof should 

 be cut down till almost level with the pad ; a knife or pruning-shears will do for 

 this. This is such a simple thing to do that there is no excuse for the way in which 

 it is neglected by the majority of goat-keepers. If not cut back the overgrowing hoof 

 causes lameness and foot-rot. 



Twice yearly, in spring and fall, goats should be dipped in some good sheep-dip 

 to kill lice. If dipping is impracticable, the dip should be applied to the coat and 



