March, 1914 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



results oiu- can jmljjc of the jxis- 

 silnlitics of our auiuials and thoir 

 capahilities for dov oloi)inrnt. \Vc 

 an? pretty well assiircd now that 

 by fwdinjr we cati]iot control the 

 quality of the milk, thoug'h we 

 can inflnenco the ([uantity, and 

 that pood fec'dinjj will thus pro- 

 duce more milk. (hi the other 

 hand, feetlinp cannot be carried 

 beyond a certain point in the way 

 <if deyelo])in!^ the milk yield, \\-hiU' 

 the poor-yieldinfj- cow may need as 

 much food as a better one. These 

 thousand-ii-allon cows probably do 

 not require more food or attention 

 than the .Soo-g-allon ones, so. that 

 \ve come back to the point that 

 the power to yield a large supjilv 

 of milk is constitutional, and that 

 the deyelopment of this power can 

 only be broujjht about by s.4ect- 

 inff the good animals, and keeping; 

 their progeny to carry on the 

 power to the next jreneration, and 

 intensify the same, if possible. 



^ 



Goats to Protect Sheep. 



The practice of allowing a few 

 buck goats to run with sheep, as 

 some protection against 'dogs, is, 

 it is said, becoming increasingly 

 comimon in America ; but there is 

 not 'Unanimity of opinion regarding 

 the desirability of the practice. 

 There is practically no danger of 

 sheep or goats cross-breeding, as 

 they belong to different genera. 

 For 50 years or more Angoras have 

 have running with sheep in that 

 country, and to some extent in 

 this, with scarcely a suggestion of 

 any such crossing occurring. In 

 yery rare cases, hybrid progeny has 

 been alleged ; but it is usually 

 found, upon investigation, to be 

 nothing but a rumor. I have seen 

 an illustration of such an alleged 

 cross, says a writer in the "Rural 

 New Yorker," but about all agree 

 that that danger is virtually nil. 

 One of our first importers of An- 

 gora goats, made determinjed ex- 

 periments, in the hope of obtaining 

 a cross between the goat and the 

 sheep, and failed in every instance. 



The question before us, then, is, 

 will a few bucks help to protect 

 sheep from dogs ? I believe they 

 will, if they are well-trained, hom- 

 ed goats, and if the number of 

 them be limited to not more than 

 three. If there are too many, 

 they are likely to flock by them- 

 selves ; whereas, if there are but 

 few, they incline to stay with the 

 sheep. But there is involved the 

 question of the rams fighting the 

 bucks. Like as a strange queen 



bee put abruptly into a hive will 

 meet with death, so a gentle, and 

 esi)ecially a young buck will occa- 

 sionally meet dcaih by being sud- 

 denly placed with sheep and rams. 



A buck goat of vigorous bxiild 

 and mature age, bearing horns, will 

 usually nvake a strong fight 

 against a dog ; and, while we are 

 constantly hearing of injury to 

 sheej) by dogs, we rarely hear of 

 injury to flocks of goats by dogs. 

 .\ male goat is naturally pugnaci- 

 ous, and may usually, ifi well 

 trained, be expected to vanquish 

 the ordinary strag'gling dog. But 

 much depends upon the training the 

 buck gets. A well-known breeder 

 of Angora goats, once wrote as 

 follows : 



It is quite amusing to see the 

 courage of the doe when she pro- 

 tects her young kid from a dog, 

 or hog, or flock of buzzards. Two 

 of my neighbors' dogs got in the 

 habit of killing my kids, and one 

 doe protected her kid quite a while 

 from the two large vicious dogs, 

 until the neighbor caught one of 

 the dogs and gave him a good 

 whipping, when the goat assisted 

 in this work by butting the dog 

 with all her might. You should 

 train the goats to be brave by 

 taking your dogs into the goat 

 pen with you, and, in case the dog 

 refuses to run from a brave goat, 

 scold the dog to make the goat 

 think that she whipped him. If 

 vou had a tame wolf trained in 

 that way you could train your 

 1-oats to fight wolves. 



Some breeders state positively 

 that the goats are as cowardly as 

 sheep, and just as liable to be at- 

 tacked by dogs ; while others cite 

 instances where dogs have actually 

 been driven off. No doubt both 

 statements represent the experi- 

 ences of respective breeders. It is 

 a fact that one or two bucks will 

 serve to protect a flock of sheep, 

 if they are trained to attack dogs. 



The practice of keeping a few 

 male goats with the sheep, as a 

 protection against dogs, is becom- 

 ino- increasingly and warrantably 

 common. Hornless goats bring a 

 higher price in the market than 

 horned goats, but this preference 

 is all a mistake, and against na- 

 ture. 



4 



Good handling does not consist 

 in breaking horses of bad habits. 

 The height af the art is in antici- 

 pating a bad desire, and in des- 

 troying the desire before it takes 

 more definite shape in action. 



The Hereford. 



The chief i)oin,ts (says the Liv? 

 vStock .lournal) to be looked for on 

 a good Hereford are, first, that 

 the colour should lie a distinct red, 

 not too dark or too light ; white 

 face and mane, also white breast 

 and belly, and white legs as far as 

 the knee and hock, sometimes run. 

 ning up the flank. The bull should 

 have a good masculine head, not 

 too long, broad between the eyes, 

 which latter should be large and 

 prominent, with a mild look, de- 

 noting docility of temper ; the 

 horn should be of moderate length, 

 springing straight from the head. 

 The cow's head should be much the 

 same, but finer, and her horns 

 should have a mane, and turn up- 

 wards slightly ; they s]jould be in 

 both cases of a waxy white, 

 although they are occasionally 

 found tipped with black ; the nose 

 should be of a pure-white or flesh- 

 colour. The bull should have a 

 good rise of crest, deep sloping 

 shoulders, well-developed brisket, 

 straight back, and belly line, wide 

 loin, good springing ribs, moder- 

 ately broad hips, tail well set on, 

 and falling in a plumb line to the 

 hocks. The hind quarters should 

 be long from the hip downwards ; 

 the thighs, which are a very im- 

 portant point, should be laree and 

 full, showing plenty of width 

 across when you stand behind, and 

 they should be well meated to the 

 hocks. The test of touch is diffi- 

 cult to describe, and ,can only be 

 learnt by practice. 



♦ • 



Like Begits Like. 



If the law, that like produces 

 like, were a wholly infallible one, 

 we could get po improvement in 

 farm animals through breeding, be- 

 cause offspring could never be 

 better than their parents. We find, 

 however, that there is frequently a 

 tendency in young animals to differ 

 from their parents. Some will be 

 better than their parents and 

 some wiU be inferior to them. 

 Then, according to our law that 

 live produces like, by mating 

 young animal together that are 

 better than their parents, we get 

 offspring of the same character, 

 and consequently, get improvement 

 in the herd. Care must l>e taken 

 not to mate the offspring that are 

 deficient in some respects to their 

 parents because the tendency is 

 that they will produce young live 



