THE HALF OF THE HERD— THE BUCK 113 



for all his life that there had never heen one single test 

 of his vigor and constitution. His lack in this respect 

 lay hidden until it appeared in liis inbred kids. Turn 

 now to the two wild kids. The same type of a buck, in 

 Mother Nature's hands, promptly perished. That his 

 sister survived was sufficient proof of her hardiness. The 

 buck that led her herd, when she came to breeding time, 

 had passed every test of early hardship, and, in addition, 

 had fought his way to leadership over all the other bucks 

 that had survived. It was safe to mate those two and 

 ask no questions about their pedigrees. 



It is often said, " Nature pays no attention to con- 

 sanguinity." Well, we would not need to pay attention 

 to consanguinity if we had the nerve to put our animals 

 through all the tests that Mother Nature does. Although 

 it is apjjarent that the honest breeder must l)e willing to 

 cull his pure bred buck kids relentlessly, still, with such 

 valuable stock, raised in artificial conditions, it is neither 

 practical nor desirable to apply to them the same tests 

 that the wild buck must meet. Therefore, we have here 

 one of the fallacies to which we have referred before, 

 namely, the belief that we can safely inbreed or line 

 breed om- stock because wild goats breed that way. In 

 this delicate task of breeding, good judgment, observa- 

 tion and patient exiJerimenting must be our guide, and 

 never Mother Nature. These remarks close our advice 

 on the subject of choosing a buck. 



