THE ANGORA COAT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 470, 31 March 1909, Page 5

THE ANGORA COAT.

The Angora goat, referred to in yesterday s issue in connection with the Government's breeding operations, has been condemned by some as an animal that it is hard to keep alive. Its sensitiveness to climate—especially a wet climate—cannot be denied, and it will dio where a sheep will thrive. Yet its weed-eating habits make it a valuable adjunct to tho various weedkilhng specifics now on the market, and farmers who have need for its assistance in that respect can with some confidence venture into the experiment of goat-keeping if they make tho necessary provision for tho animals comfort. Chiefly they need abundant shelter from rain, their hairy covering being by no means waterproof. Next in case of breeding being attempted, the nannies need to bo retained in rather small pens as they arc bad mothers, and are apt to forget and desert their offspring. The •young are very delicate, and the mortality or tho kids is therefore heavy. Angora goats are browsers rather than grazers, and they aro therefore by no means «L, i "" P. r °P.? r dement in a grass paddock, hhrubs of all kinds are relished by them ana most of the noxious weeds quickly disappear before them. Forest trees on whose foliage they cannot browse they attack by narking, and largo pinus insignis trees aro appreciated in their bill of fare. Tho Government goats began an attack upon the bark of insignis pines at Weraroa, and they killed a totara tree at the Wallacevillo Laboratory. The demand for goats from tho Government is greater than the supply, and tho Secretary for Agriculture states that the Government has tried to increase the flock of nannies by importations from Australia, but nannies are not procurable there. The Government s own stud of nannies has been increased to about 100 sinco the Department first undertook the work. Owing to the delicacy of tho young, and the lack of maternal instinct in tho mother, tho increaso has been loss than would otherwise have been obtained. Tho Government goata will bo tried this season on Californian thistle, •