24 



PROFIT AND PLEASURE 



If proper pasturing cannot be obtained, it is much better to 

 keep them confined to a run just large enough for exercise and 

 bring their green food to them. 



Autumn leaves gathered and stored when dry make excellent 

 winter feed and very economical bedding which, however, is not 

 necessary except in very cold weather, goats preferring bare 

 wooden floor, if dry and' elevated above the regular floor. Goats 

 usually refuse plants that are poisonous to them but sometimes 

 when hungry for green food may 'Hake a chance." It is well to 

 keep them away from Privet and Rhododendrons. 



HOUSING. 



The editor of a popular agricultural journal recently wrote 

 me oa the goat subject and from his letter I quote the following : 



"The trouble is that the average person thinks that he can 

 get a goat that will live in a piano box, yet will subsist on old rub- 

 ber boots, sand and tin cans and give as much milk as a small cow 

 and at the same time be bought for $5.00." 



Now, absurd as this appears, it is nevertheless true to a great 

 extent. The average American has obtained his impressions of the 

 goat from those which he has seen wandering around the streets 

 on the outskirts of our cities, picking up a scanty living on what 

 they could find and resting at night in the chicken coop or wood- 

 shed and naturally when he hears or reads of goats his mind re- 

 verts to these early impressions, the "Modern Milch Goat" being 

 entirely unknown to him. 



I well remember a case 

 that came to my notice some 

 years ago, where a man kept 

 two goats in a very small 

 shed with about a dozen 

 fowls. There was no win- 

 dow in the building and an 

 over-abundance of fresh air 

 was admitted through nu- 

 merous cracks where the 

 boarding failed to connect. 

 The owner complained that 

 he "did not get much milk 

 during the winter although 

 they did well in summer. ' ' 



All food producing ani- 

 mals will repay their own- 

 ers in strict proportion to 

 the cave given them up to 

 the limit of their ability. 



Hens that are improperly housed and fed will lay the mini- 

 mum number of eggs and cows or goats treated in similar manner 

 will respond with a minimum supply of milk. 



Goat stalls built against the wall of 



building 



(Copied from Bryan Hook) 



