BOOK VII. VI. 6-9 



The time which we advise for covering the she- 6 

 goats is during the autumn, some time before the 

 month of December, so that the kids may be born 

 when spring is already approaching and the shrubs 

 are coming into bud and the woods just sprouting 

 with new foliage. A site for the goats' stable 

 should be chosen which has a natural or artificial 

 stone floor, since no litter is provided for this animal. 

 A careful goatherd sweeps out the stable every day 

 and does not allow any ordure or moisture to remain 

 or any mud to form, all of which things are pre- 

 judicial to goats. If a she-goat is of good stock, it 

 frequently bears twins and sometimes triplets. It is 7 

 a very poor increase when two mothers produce only 

 three kids between them." When the kids are born, 

 they are reared in the same manner as lambs except 

 that their wantonness must be more repressed and 

 kept within stricter bounds. Besides an abundance 

 of milk, elm-seed or shrub-trefoil or ivy must be 

 provided, or else tops of mastic and other delicate 

 foliage must be put before them. When there are 

 sets of twins, from each pair one, whichever seems to 

 be the more robust, is reserved to fill up the herd, 

 while the rest are handed over to the dealers. A 

 she-goat of only one or two years (for both ages are 

 capable of bearing young) should not be given kids 

 to rear ; for it ought not to bring up a kid till it is 

 three years old. And a mother of one year ought to be 8 

 immediately deprived of its offspring, but a kid of a 

 two-year-old mother ought to be left with it until it 

 is ready to be sold. The mother-goats ought not to 

 be kept beyond eight years, because, worn out by 

 continual bearing, they end by becoming barren. 

 The herd-master ought to be keen, hardy, energetic, 9 



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