112 MODERN MILK GOATS 



again until he can hold no more, and goes to sleep. So 

 from day to day, if mother goes out with the herd and 

 sister beats him to dinner when she returns, it makes no 

 difference, there is always more than both of them can 

 manage, try as they will. 



This buck does not have to follow the herd. He stays 

 with the other kids in dry, warm, sunny quarters, romps 

 and plays or snugly sleeps while mother is away. More- 

 over, grain and hay and tempting green stuff stand at 

 hand to coax liis young appetite. He grows, of course. 

 He becomes a splendid big buck. He is bred to sturdy, 

 unrelated does. He passes on his own beauty and his 

 mother's heavy milk yield to his daughters. Now, shall 

 we breed them back to him? Try it. The weeks pass, 

 t)ie inbred kids arrive. Beautiful kids, true to type. 

 " Tlieir sire all over," says the proud owner. But why 

 don't they get on their feet? He helps them carefully. 

 AN^hy don't tliey Jiurse more vigorously ? He coaxes them 

 patiently. A few days pass. Here is a kid sick witli the 

 scours. The scourge sj^reads, is fought, is overcome. 

 Colds appear, some kids die. Some survive, but the 

 puzzled breeder notes they make no such growth as did 

 their dams. What lias gone wrong? " Inbreeding," 

 says he, " never again! I've learned my lesson." 



But he hasn't learned it. Inbreeding is not at fault ; 

 it was his ignorance of his buck that was to blame for his 

 disaster. So tenderlv had his beautiful buck been cared 



