24 BULLETIN H9j U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing pens, so that the docs and kids may be left in them for a week or 

 more. The use of the mixing pens permits the does to become accus- 

 tomed to finding their kids in a medium-sized bunch. Then when 

 they are all placed together they seldom fail to find their kids. From 

 the mixing pens the does and kids are moved into a pen large enough 

 to hold the entire herd of does and kids. The kids remain in this 

 pen until taken on the range. 



Cast rat (on. — The buck kids not reserved for breeding purposes 

 should be castrated when from a few days to three weeks old. This 

 should be done early on a bright, cool morning and never on a rainy 

 day. The lower one-third of the scrotum should be cut off with a 

 sharp knife, then each testicle should be gradually worked down with 

 the fingers and caught hold of, and either the testicle and spermatic 

 cord should be pulled out, or when the spermatic cord is stretched 

 it should be cut off at the base. All fatty matter attached to the 

 cord should come out. Pulling of the testicles until the cord breaks 

 is generally preferred. For several days the kids should be carefully 

 watched. If flies are bad a disinfectant should be used. 



Bucks in which only one testicle descends should have this testicle 

 removed. The} T should be marked to distinguish them from wethers 

 and should be killed or sold for meat as soon as practicable, for 

 when a few months old the} T will bother the does. They make good 

 meat when less than a j^ear old. 



Care of kids needing individual attention-. — The kids which need 

 individual attention are chiefly those which have been disowned by 

 their mothers and those which have been given to does other than 

 their mothers. Also, there are always a number of twin kids, kids 

 of poor and weak does, and prematurely born and deformed kids 

 that need special attention. 



Even with the use of the individual kidding pens • a doe may 

 disown her kid because of severe pains in labor, lack of proper 

 nourishment, or the doe's being without milk or having onlj 7 a 

 scanty supply. While the most critical time is right after the kid 

 is born, there is danger even until the kid is several weeks old of 

 the mother's disowning it for one or more of the following reasons : 

 Rubbing together of kids dropped on the range in bringing them in, 

 failure of a doe to find her kid, separation of a doe and her kid 

 because of the fences not being kid tight, other kids than her own 

 stealing the doe's milk, a doe's adopting some other kid than her 

 own, fighting between does, or any unusual disturbance. Young 

 does with their first kids and does with an insufficient amount of 

 milk are the main offenders. 



To assist in persuading the doe to own her kid small pens, gen- 

 erally known as "bum pens," 4 feet by 3 feet in size and with sides 

 3 feet high, should be provided. About 25 of those are needed to 



