GOATS ON FAR WESTERN RANGES. 23 



out with the wet bund to graze. In order to identify the doe and its 

 offspring, should the doe fail to return to its kid or the kid break 

 loose, each doe and her kid should be numbered with a tag or paint 

 before the kid is staked. 



Every day the toggles should be changed, the shelters straight- 

 ened if need be, the hardened obstructions removed from the hind 

 parts, and examinations made for scours, worms, and other troubles. 



The kids should be left staked for at least eight or ten days. 

 When turned loose from the toggles the kids should be removed from 

 the staking pens to a large pen where they should remain until 

 turned out to graze. 



The fen system. — In the pen system the following procedure is 

 now accepted as the best. After removal of the does and their kids 

 from the kidding pens they are placed in handling pens suitable for 

 holding about 50 does and their kids. These handling pens should 

 be at least 20 feet square. For a herd of 1,200 does about 6 or 8 

 such pens should be provided. With small farm flocks and ample 

 pasturage it may prove advantageous to place about 10 or 15 does 

 with their kids in each handling pen and leave them together for 

 from one to several days before grouping them into pens holding 50 

 does. Where pasturage is scarce, the range of low carrying capacity, 

 and the herd large it is generally necessary to take the does out to 

 graze while their kids remain in the pens. The necessity of cutting 

 the does through a chute each evening upon their return from the 

 range makes it impracticable to separate them for pens holding only 

 10 or 15 does. Very satisfactory results are obtained when 50 does 

 are placed in each handling pen. Not more than this number, how- 

 ever, should be placed in a handling pen and ample room should be 

 provided. 



At all times the aim should be to group kids of the same age in 

 the handling pens. If a difference of more than five days in age is 

 allowed in any one handling pen, the older kids may cause consid- 

 erable trouble to the does with younger kids. 



When a doe and her kid are first placed in the handling pen care 

 should be exercised to see that they are together. They should be 

 left together and undisturbed for at least an hour before the doe is 

 taken out to graze. Each doe should be marked with paint to show 

 the pen in which her kid is left, and she and her kid should be 

 marked or numbered so that they can be identified as belonging to 

 each other. It is best to do this before removing them from the kid- 

 ding pens. 



When all the handling pens are filled, the does with kids several 

 days old may be changed from several of the handling pens to a 

 mixing pen. At least 6 or 8 square feet of space should be allowed 

 in the mixing pens for each doe and kid. There should be two mix- 



