Part 7

An experience of years has taught the Turk that if he wishes to save many kids, he must have them come late in the season. The changeable weather of the Turkish spring, the frequent cold rains and the lack of proper shed accommodations, have more than once not only destroyed the increase, but also killed the grown goats. The Turkish methods of handling kids are of little practical value. They know how delicate the kids are when they are born, and they usually bring the kid and its mother to the house as soon as it is dropped.

The Turkish Angora goat men usually range small flocks, and they also have a surplus of help, so that this is a comparatively easy method. The kids are allowed to go with the flocks as soon as they are old enough to travel. The principal objection to letting young kids go with the flock is that the kids go to sleep, and sleep so soundly that the flock feed away from them. When the youngsters awake they are lost. If there be wild animals about, the kids may be killed, or they may starve before they are found. The Turk, however, has so many herders with one flock that they usually discover the kids before the flock has strayed.

In America the kidding season is the most important time of the year for the Angora breeder. If he would raise a large increase, he must be properly prepared, and he must be constantly alert. If the weather be fair, with bright sunshiny days and temperate nights, the kids will do well without much care, but if it be cold, stormy and muddy, some of the kids will be lost in spite of all care. After the kids are born the mothers should have such food as will produce the greatest amount of milk. Well-fed mothers make strong healthy kids. Green feed is desirable.

The proper season, then, for the kids to come will depend upon the climate and range conditions. Allowing for the period of gestation, which is about five months, the bucks can run with the does as early or as late as one wishes. One can be guided somewhat by the time sheep men allow ewes to lamb. When the first warm weather comes the goats usually commence to shed their mohair, and as it is too early in the season for the kids to be dropped, the does must be shorn before kidding or the mohair lost. Care should be exercised in handling the does heavy with kid. For the first few days after shearing the doe should not be allowed to chill, as she may abort. In some countries it is possible to kid before shearing, but there is no practical objection to shearing before kidding, provided proper care be exercised.

HANDLING OF KIDS.

There are various methods in use of handling the young kids, and all of them are intended to save as large a percentage of increase as possible with the least possible expense. Almost every man who has handled goats has some individual idea which experience has taught him. The locality and surroundings of the flock make a vast difference in the way they should be kidded. The method which works best with fifty or one hundred does in a fenced brush pasture in Oregon or Iowa, would be useless with a flock of a thousand or fifteen hundred in the mountains of Nevada or New Mexico, where there is often no corral to hold the goats.

With a bunch of from fifty, to two hundred and fifty, and a shed big enough to hold the entire lot, it is not difficult to raise a very large percentage of kids. If the does are kept in a ten or twenty-acre pasture, they should be allowed to run out and take care of themselves as much as possible. The doe may drop her kid wherever she may happen to be, and she will almost invariably take care of it and coax it to the shed at night. The refusal of a young doe to own her kid must be overcome, especially if the weather is unfavorable. The mother must be caught and the milk forced into the kid's mouth until he learns to suckle. After he has been sufficiently fed, place them together in a box stall and leave them for a day or two. Then, in all probability, the mother will take care of her kid.

The box stall is about three feet square and three feet high, with a little door on hinges to save lifting the animal. A row along the inside of the shed next to the wall is a great convenience. A doe with her kid should be disturbed as little as possible, because, as a rule, she knows how to care for her kid better than a herder.

When goats are handled on a larger scale, with no pasture available, entirely different methods should be adopted--for the mother must go out to feed every day and the kid cannot go.

Probably the most extensively used methods are the "corral method" and the "staking method," either used individually or combined.

THE CORRAL METHOD.

In the corral method, two or three large corrals and numerous smaller ones are necessary. First, the does should be separated from the wethers, if they have been running together, and a "wether band" made. Then every morning the "doe band" must be looked over carefully for does that will kid during the day. Such does must be put in a corral by themselves and allowed to kid in this corral. They should be fed some hay, or if that is not possible, they should be herded near by for a few hours. It has been our experience that most of the kids will come between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon. The more does which one can pick out in the morning the better it is, for the doe, after dropping her kid, is allowed to stay with it the rest of the day and all night. In this way she learns to know it. If one has hay to feed the doe, so that she may be left with her kid for one or two days, it is a great advantage.

After all the does have been selected which can be found, still some will be overlooked, and they will go out on the range with the rest. The best way to handle these is to have the herder make a straight drive to a certain point where the feed is good, and then stay around this one place, allowing the kids to come within as small a radius as possible without starving the goats. If it is necessary, quite a distance can be covered in this way, and yet the kids will not be scattered over a large section of the country.

As a kid is dropped, the doe should be allowed to remain with her kid and take care of it until evening. The herd will gradually feed from them, but it should be kept as near as possible to protect the kids from wild animals. Towards evening one must go out and gather up the kids and drive the mothers to the corral. The large herd should be driven home in advance, keeping a little apart from the does with kids so as not to coax the "wet does" away with the "dry herd."

When the wagon with the kids reaches the ranch, the kids should be put in a small corral. They should be placed a few feet apart, and the mothers should be allowed to select their own kids. They also should be allowed to remain in the corral for the night at least. In case a doe will not take her kid she should be placed in one of the box stalls and a kid which has no mother placed with her and fed.

When plenty of small corrals and good hay are available, each day's kids should be left in a separate corral until the mothers have been with the kids one or two days. It will be found that the kids are always given a very good start in this way. When it is deemed advisable, the kids are put together in a large corral, and as soon as the mothers in the smaller corrals are thought to know their kids sufficiently well, they are added to this wet band in the large corral. Thus the round is completed from the dry band to the wet band, the small corral being simply an intermediate step to insure familiarity between the doe and her kid. The dry band rapidly diminishes while the wet band increases.

The mothers are now ready to go on the range during the day to feed, but the kids should be kept in the corral until they are at least six weeks old. The does may be turned out over a "jump board" placed across the gate. A jump board is a two-inch plank, eighteen inches high, with a four-inch strip nailed on the top for the does to put their feet on as they jump over. The kids come to the board but cannot get over. If some of the larger kids bother by trying to get over, some one can stand at the gate to scare them back by pounding on the board with a stick. The does will soon learn to pay no attention to the noise.

Even now there will be a few kids which will not be mothered. Every morning, before the wet band is allowed to go over the jump board, one should walk through the herd, pick out the kids that have not been nourished during the night, and select does that are not suckling kids. These does should be held until the kids have been fed. A row of small stantions is a convenient thing for holding them. After a kid gets a good start he will steal a living from different does if necessary.

To kid a band of from one thousand to fifteen hundred does by the corral method, will require at least three men--one man to herd the dry band, one the wet band, and a man to look after the kids and assist where needed. Often the wet band is divided, or when one wet band has reached the number of from five hundred to seven hundred animals, another is started.

THE STAKING METHOD.

The staking method is quite commonly used, and in certain localities it is probably the best way to handle kids. The apparatus necessary is a smooth piece of half-inch board, two inches wide and four inches long, with a hole bored in each end. Through the hole in one end a piece of rope eight inches long is passed, and knotted so that it cannot pull out. The loose end of this rope is then made fast to a stout stake which is to be driven into the ground. Through the hole in the other end a piece of rope eighteen inches long is passed and knotted as in the first end, in such a way that the loose end of the rope, which is to be fastened to the kid's leg, draws away from the stake. When the apparatus is in use the small stick with the holes in the ends acts as a swivel to keep the rope from tangling.

It is important to select a proper place to tie the kid. He is to stay in this place for about six weeks, and he needs protection from winds and wild animals, and should have some sunshine and some shade. Usually a small tree, a bush, a fence, or a post will offer a good place to stake. The does which are expected to kid during the day are separated from the flock as in the corral method. The balance of the band are herded, so that the kids dropped on the range can be more easily handled. Just as soon as a kid is dropped, it is taken to a convenient place to stake, and the mother coaxed to follow. One of the kid's legs is securely fastened to the loose end of the rope, and the kid and its mother are left together. The mother is thus free to go and feed, and on returning will know exactly where to find her kid.

Many owners allow the does which have kidded to herd themselves, as they usually return to their kids, often coming in several times during the day. Of course this necessitates having plenty of food and water within access of the staking ground. The wet band could be herded as in the corral method.

In this staking method if a mother refuses to own her kid, or if she dies, the kid has no chance to steal milk from some other wet doe, and unless closely watched, quite a number of kids will starve. The rope should be changed from one leg to the other occasionally to allow symmetry of development. The preparation of ropes and stakes for a thousand kids is quite a task, and it keeps the energetic herder busy during his spare moments getting ready for kidding time.

For the first few days the Angora kid is full of life and vigor as any animal of like age. If he be well nourished, he will frisk and play at all kinds of antics, until he is so tired that he must forget everything. The sleep which comes is so sound that any usual amount of noise does not disturb him. It is this characteristic which makes it unsafe to take kids on to the range with a flock. The kids are liable to hide behind some bush, go to sleep and be lost.

CASTRATING.

Before the kids are allowed to go out with the flock the males should be castrated. The Turk does not alter the males until they have developed sexuality and the male horn, i. e., the heavy characteristic buck horn. He then castrates by either removing the testicles, or by twisting or destroying the spermatic cord. When the latter method is used the testicles and cord undergo an inflammatory process which destroys the regenerative power of the animal. The testicles remain in the scrotum apparently unchanged. The animal thus treated presents to the casual observer the physical characteristics of a buck. The Turk claims that an animal treated in this manner is less liable to die than one whose testicles are removed. This is probably true, as the initial lesion produced by the operation is very small, and there is less liability of infection.

The usual method employed in this country is to remove the testicles before the regenerative power of the animal is developed. This gives the wether a feminine appearance, and there is comparatively little danger of death if the operation is properly performed. It will be easiest to castrate the kids between the age of two and four weeks. The kids should be driven into a small clean corral, and after undergoing the operation they should be turned into a large clean enclosure.