GOATS CIS]" FAR WESTERN EAXGES. 25 



meet any usual eventuality with a herd of 1,200 does. Any doe 

 which fails to claim her kid is placed with it in a bum pen, the kid 

 is suckled, and then they are left together until the doe needs feed 

 and water. Each day the doe is grazed with the wet band and put 

 back with the kid at night. *. The pen should be examined morning 

 and night to see that the kid receives sufficient milk. 



If the doe fights the kid it is best to hold her until the kid has 

 suckled, but if other work is more pressing than this she may be 

 tied to the side of the pen for a short time. It usually requires only 

 one night in a bum pen for a doe properly to own her kid. Some- 

 times, however, does with a small amount of milk may require much 

 longer. 



One of twin kids is usually neglected by its mother. Even if she 

 mothers both well, however, there is seldom sufficient milk, and the 

 weaker of the two will probably be stunted unless given special 

 nourishment. Some does will drop premature, deformed, or dead 

 kids, or may lose good kids. If such a doe has a good flow of milk 

 she may well be given a twin kid, a motherless kid, or a kid of a 

 sick or weak doe. By using a bum pen and exercising care and 

 patience a doe can be given the kid of another doe without difficulty. 

 Often when the doe drops a dead kid she can readily be given another 

 kid if the liquids expelled along with the dead kid are well smeared 

 on the strange kid, especially on its hind parts, head, and belly. 

 It will sometimes assist in having the doe claim another kid if the 

 pelt is removed from her own kid and fitted on the kid being given 

 her. 



Kids of does giving a small amount of milk may usually be kept in 

 better condition if their mother's milk is supplemented with milk from 

 does having a surplus. Either does giving such a surplus may be 

 milked by hand or the needy kids may be allowed to draw it. Care 

 should be exercised in nourishing surplus kids being held for substitu- 

 tion, since the kid's stomach is very delicate. A new-born kid will 

 usually not do well on milk of a doe which has given milk for several 

 days, nor will an older kid do well on milk of a very fresh cloe, because 

 of changes which occur in the doe's milk from day to day. 



It is usually necessary to assist for about a week a kid suckling a 

 doe with extra large teats. Such cases, as well as sick does and does 

 with weak or sick kids, can well be placed in bum pens or in a separate 

 handling pen to facilitate the giving of extra care. 



Starting the kids to- graze on the range. — After kids are from a 

 month to six weeks old it is best to give them some other feed in 

 addition to their mothers' milk. If a pasture is available, the kids 

 loose in the large pen may be turned into the pasture after the does 

 have been separated and taken to the range. To separate the does 

 from the kids it has been found best to use a platform from 16 to 18 



