ANGORA GOATS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 125, 25 January 1909, Page 3

ANGORA GOATS.

A correspondent in an exchange writes: "I notice that.a good many people arc beginning to take an interest, in Angora gcats, but as there still seems to be a- good deal of misapprehension in regard to them, a little definite information regarding them will doubtless-be appreciated by your readers. If landowners realised their "great value in clearing land, the country would sobn.be full of them. Of course they would have to be imported from America, but the expense would not be nearly so great as most people think. There are a good many different grades there, and the prices range 'from,about 10s to 40s for does, and from £2O to £IOO for full-bloodsd bucks. When first introduced there, about 50 years ago, many people were anxious tpincrease their flocks, as-fast as possible,- and a good many of them crossed with common goats, but they soon realised their mistake, and have been grading up ever since, until there is very little, of the common blood J lefwk. The low grade goats have coarse hair, two or'three- inches long, called kemp, that will"not take the same dyes as the mohair, therefore it has to be combe'l but, or if. there is too much of it and the mohair- is of poor quality, as it usually is from the low grades, the -entire fleece goes into the kemp pile, which is used for making felt, cheap blankets, etc. The high grades have very little kemp, and some of the pure bloods none at all. The mohair should be fine, of even texture the entire length of the hair, and with the characteristic brilliant lustre. The longer it is the better price it will bring. The fleece from one prize buck measured 22 inches in length, but that : was more than a year's growth. In the south-western States— Arizona, ;■ Texas, and New Mexico —where the summers-are extremely, hot, they shear twice'a,year, but in this country there would be no need to shear but: once a year,• and '_' with no extremes of "heat and cold, and tne great abundance of feed, there is no reason why the fittest quality of mohair should not be produced. The price in America ranges ajl the way from Is to £1 per lb. One dealer in New York has a standing offer of five dollars per pound for mohair 12 inches or more in length, and he has pai3 as : high as. 30s, but the average price is about. Is sd'.; The income from the fleece will'average about the same as sheep; the meat sells for the same price in the markets, r and, I believe, the hides bring a little' more. They are" rather more hardy than sheep —not so subject to disease. The only difficulty is in the kidding season. The kids for the first week or two are more delicate than lambs, and the does are not so good mothers as sheep. The usual custom is %o yard the does and if the weather-is at all bad they are watched night"and day, to see that the kids do not become chilled. The kids are fastened with a rope a few feet long to a stake.' The does will come in at intervals and let them nurse, then go back to graze. In a week or two the kids can be allowed to run with the. flock and they will give no furthertrouble:

They will live on grass if-they., cannut get anything else to eat, but they much prefer some grass and plenty of browsing.' They will completely destroy blackberries and almost everything else they can reach. If a sapling is not too large, they will stand on their hind feet and bend it over, so as to get at the foliage. If they can't bend it over, they will kill it anyhow. They all have horns with "a sharp edge. They strip the bark off and eat and so kill, the young trees. They are not hard to control. A fence that will hold sheep will hold them. There are several millions of them in America, scattered through every State in the union. A good many have dropped sheep-entirely and breed only goats. A serious drawback in : some places there, is the presence of wild animals, wolves, mountain lions, etc. New Zealand is an ideal location for them in every way. If a few farmers would club together and' ship over a couple of hundred or so, I think they would find that they would pay better than any other stock they could keep, in addition to their value for clearing land.—Bradford is the world's principal market for mohair." )