LIVE STOCK ON THE RANGE 111 



The average yearly shearing of a bunch of range An- 

 gora goats is probably about 2*/2 pounds, although of 

 course small lots of well-bred goats will average higher. 

 However, it is doubtful whether taking the shearing 

 of a large number of herds in the range districts they 

 will average much more than this limit. 



The success of the industry is partially connected with 

 the demands of trade. A change in the use of certain 

 lines of plushes and that class of mohair goods, due to 

 caprices of fashion, has caused a fluctuation in the 

 value of the hair from $1 to one-fourth that sum. 



The goats are much in demand by farmers who de- 

 sire to clear up brushy areas upon their farms, and 

 thousands of them are annually shipped from the south- 

 western regions to the eastern states to be used as 

 brush destroyers. As meat-producing animals their po- 

 sition is not at present fully assured. Growers call the 

 meat Angora mutton or Angora venison, and the flavor 

 and delicacy of the meat, especially of the kids, is un- 

 equalled. The prejudice against goat meat, especially 

 among people in the West, is hard to overcome, and there 

 is no just reason for it, but when it comes to questions 

 of taste in eating, reason seldom enters into the mat- 

 ter. The prejudice is there and argument or discussion 

 seldom removes it. The time will no doubt come, how- 

 ever, when with the increasing high prices obtained for 

 mutton and beef, Angora venison will find its way into 

 use as a substitute and have its place as an approxi- 

 mately new food supply. 



Hogs on the Ranges. That the hog is a range animal 

 may seem absurd to some, but the truth is that in the 

 West, and especially the Southwest, thousands of hogs 

 are raised almost entirely on the open range. Of course 



