The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor WorkMiller, Mary Rogers
Philosophy
The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor Work
Miller, Mary Rogers
Agriculture -- Juvenile literature
_Every part_ of a goat is _salable_. Fleece, milk, cheese, skin, flesh,
tallow, bones, hoofs, horns, and manure.
Goats _improve land_. They are "lifelong scavengers," and can put land
covered with useless underbrush into shape for pasture more cheaply and
more quickly than dynamite.
A herd of _common goats_ can be built up in _a few years_. They breed
at one year and usually have twins.
Goats are _hardy_; less subject to disease than sheep.
A good goat is a _money-maker_.
These statements are quoted directly from the writings of men and women
of experience. They have no goats to sell, so you can take their word.
The requirements for successful goat raising are few and easy to
provide. They are these:
(1) _Space._--Goats do not take kindly to herding nor to small fields.
If they have only a small enclosure they are likely spend more time
trying to get at what is outside than in browsing. To meet a wire fence
every few steps makes a goat restive.
(2) _Housing._--Goats must be kept dry overhead and under foot. The
shelter for goats should be high and dry. They will not thrive in wet,
marshy land, nor keep well if their shed is muddy. They dislike filth
and will not stand in it nor touch soiled food. They prefer to sleep
on the roof of the barn, you know, but if a clean, dry bed in an airy
place is provided they will not roost so high.
(3) _Water._--Plenty of clean fresh water should always be available.
If you can supply these three essentials, you are ready to raise goats.
There are two well-marked lines of business in goat raising. Which
shall you follow?
Angoras are raised for their fleece; common goats either for leather or
for milk. Angoras are not much good for milk and their skins are not
so fine nor durable as those of common goats. The Angora is free from
the offensive odour of common male goats. The greatest demand for goat
products in our markets to-day is for Angora fleece and for common goat
skins. The other products, like flesh, hoof, bones and horns, tallow,
cheese, milk, and manure, can easily be marketed and should pay most of
the expenses. The main products should be clear profit.
BUILDING UP A HERD
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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