GOATS ON FAR WESTERN RANGES. 13 
back over the same area grazed in the morning it is possible to pick 
up any goats that have sanmeczed behind tnroeen failure to herd them 
carefully enough. 
Ordinarily goats should be taken from the bed ground early in the 
morning and een about sundown. On ranges where there is 
danger of foot rot resulting from wet grass, however, it may be best 
to hold the herd on the bed ground until about 7 a.m. Goats can not 
secure sufficient feed when driven over the range for only a few hours 
during the middle of the day. Accordingly, it is poor practice to 
hold them on the bed ground until late in the morning or bring them 
in early in the afternoon. Goats graze more quietly in the cool of 
the morning and evening, and thrive best when allowed four or five 
hours of quiet grazing at each of these periods and a rest on the 
range of from an hour to several hours during the heat of the day. 
BEDDING. 
Many herds of goats, regardless of size, are bedded in a corral at 
the main ranch throughout the entire year. Some growers, having 
observed the detrimental effects to range and goats of such a method, 
have used more bed grounds. However, this is only a step in the right 
direction. When just a few bed grounds are used with large herds 
there is considerable concentration of grazing, which may prevent 
proper growth of the goats. Range practice has shown that the more 
bed grounds used the greater the benefits to range and goats. This 
leads to.the conclusion that the bedding-out system as used with 
sheep would be the most successful method for handling goats. 
Single bed ground.—Bedding the goats on the same ground every 
night in the year prevents proper management of the range. A large 
area is overgrazed and trampled and the forage on the range is not 
utilized evenly. As the palatable species disappear from the over- 
grazed area the goats are forced to turn to the less palatable plants, 
and excessive traveling is required to secure fresh forage. The com- 
bination of these circumstances keeps the goats in a moderate or 
poor condition at all times of the year. They fail to make normal 
gains in weight, the does fail to give sufficient milk, and the growth. 
and value of the mohair is lessened. The decrease in value of the 
mohair is due partly to the dust from the overgrazed area which ad- 
heres to the mohair, and partly to the uneven staple resulting from 
changes occurring in the condition of the goats. 
Because of the lack of browse on the overgrazed area close about 
the bed ground much supplemental feed is required when snows cover 
the other range forage, and this increases materially the cost of goat 
production. The serene practice, however, is to furnish very little 
supplemental feed, the result being suffering and loss. The goats 
become thin and it is extremely difficult to bring them back to good 
