1908.] 



Advantages of Goat-Keeping. 



719 



this addition. At 4^. a quart the value of the milk would be 

 £6 6s. id. instead of £7 17s. nd. 



Disposing of the Kids. — It is not possible to add anything 

 to the credit side in respect of kids, for the most economical 

 plan is to kill them instantly on birth, unless they are nannies 

 from a good milker which was mated to a billy, the son of 

 a good milker. By the time kids have reached the age at 

 which they are usually sold they have drunk not far short 

 of 15s. worth of milk. Kids must be killed one by one as 

 they are born. This can easily be done by stunning them 



behind the ears with a cudgel. They can be painlessly- 

 destroyed in this Way without making a sound and without 

 distressing the mother. It is not difficult +0 distract her 

 attention for the moment. If she is allowed to retain the kids 

 until she has washed and suckled them, the cruelty of her 

 loss will be evident and she will bleat — or rather make a 

 distressing noise much louder than bleating — for some days. 

 If the owner of a goat allows her to keep her kids she will not 

 " let down " much milk to him but will " hold back " the 

 bulk for her offspring. Kids can be eaten at a few weeks old, 

 though roasted kid is rather a dear viand. The keeping of 



SEDGEMERE SERGIUS," ANGLO-NUBIAN TOGGENBURG. 



