168 MODERN MILK GOATS 



the health and constitution of the goat and of her kids.* 

 Pasturing. — The moderate exercise of pasturing 

 niaintains her healtli, vigor, and freedom from disease, 

 the very quahties we value most highly in her. It also 

 by the variety offered maintains her appetite, her capac- 

 ity, and her powers of digestion and assimilation. Thus, 

 if the travel is moderate, range and pasture feeding add 

 more to the productive capacity of the doe than it sub- 

 tracts for the needs of locomotion. This range and pas- 

 ture feed must, of course, be supplemented by stall 

 feeding according to varying conditions, as will be indi- 

 cated in the chapter on feeding. 



Staking. — If there is no pasture or range available 

 staking the doe on good feed is the next best method of 

 offering her some freedom of movement and some variety 

 of diet. A long stake rope, well provided with swivels, 

 the stake driven in close to the ground, will make a fair 

 substitute for range if the stake is frequently shifted. A 

 doe will not eat where she has walked the day before. 

 This must be remembered by the herder also. If finally 

 there is not even space for staking the doe, and she must 



* This opinion of the author appears to be entirely refuted by an article 

 appearing in the Goat Journal, January, 1921, page 35, by Dr. C. P. 

 DeLanffle. In this article well supported evidence is offered in proof of 

 the fact that goats do well and maintain unbroken health for generations 

 under the conditions described by M. Grepin. Doctor DeLangle's sources 

 of information are official, taken from the records of government inspec- 

 tion statistics both in France and Belgium. 



In spite of this splendid tribute to the hardihood of the goat, she 

 still no doubt has everj'thing to gain from the comparative freedom she 

 enjoys in her American home. 



