The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-04-27
A GOAT FARM.
A Woman's Venture which
has Proved Profitable.
Raising Angora Goats and Selling Their
Wool at One Dollar q Pound.


ty attracts much attention hcrcabout.
1t is looked upon as something in the ma
turc OF a farmers freak, like the raising
of bees or silkworms. Goats browse and
goats prosper On this farm on the heights
that border Rockland Lake as readily as
they do on the rocks about Shantytown,
in New City. But they are a differ
cnt breed of goats, more aristocratic than
their city relatives rs to wool, more epic
urean in their tastes, and more blue
FLOODED as to ancestry. The herd in
this somewhat novel farm just now num-
bers 70, varying in age from the tiny Oh
Ject of three months which looks like Il
cross between a dog, q rabbit, and a
lady's powder puff, to the handsome pa
triarch of the flock, q magnificent spcci-
men of the pure Angora breed, with i'm
mensc curling horns. This handsome old
fellow with his wife were imported by
DR.. Agncw, the famous oculist of New
York, from Asia Minor, and the impor-
tation cost him a heap of money as the
price of goats goes. Their present own
er is the good woman who now runs this
goat farm, and who never tires of dis
canting on the good qualities Of her pets.
They know her voice, and answer to
their names when she calls them. Kind
and gentle they appear when visitors are
about, but the fondncss for fighting, as
characteristic of goats rs it is of a native
OF Tipperary, crops out when the herd is
together and apparently out of sight of
mankind.
A strange fact noticed in the breeding
of these animals is that the females do
not thrive in this locality as we'll as the
male. The hardy female goat of the or
binary species was introduced into this
flock for experimental breeding purposes,
and with marked success. Repeated
crossing with the common goat and her
offspring has produced apparently pure
Angora goats, the tendency being in all
cases Tor the kids to revert in the texture
Of their wool toward the male side. AS
a consequence the third generation has
all the appearance of its distinguished an
ccstry, and i'll the fourth generation even
the best experts cannot tell the pure
bloedcd from the grade Angora. This
fact IS a matter OF considerable interest
to breeders of goats, rs an Angora buck
cost 500 or over, while the common
goat can be had almost for the asking.
The fccundity of the Angora is not so
great as that Of the common goat. the
Angora w giving birth to but one kid
yearly.
AS a source of profit the goats have
turned out we'll. The wool is from four
to six inches in length, silky, md of
beautiful texture. A full grown animal
will yield four pounds of wool, which
will readily sell at 81 per pound. Just
now the demand for this wool is not par
ticularly lively, rs the lustrous dress of
fabric into which it was ut one time
largely converted is out of vogue with
fashionable ladies. It is therefore used
almost exclusively in the manufacture of
plush for upholstery purposes. When
the kid is 6 months old it's hide, un-
dressed, is worth So, and will sell readi-
ly for that moun to glove manufacture
ers. Kids on the farm in question meet
with sudden death on that account at
about that age with considerable regular
lty. When it is necessary to kill them
the good lady has them choroformed 80
that she may not hear the death cries of
her little pets. The milk of the goat is
much sought after by dyspcptics, by per-
sons suffering from pulmonary troubles,
and by otherwise delicate persons, and it
brings a much greater price than cows
milk. AS to their use for food little can
be said, because the goat does not flesh
up well, but the kid, when killed young,
furnishes q fair amount of tender meat
which some people like. 1t will never
become q great delicacy in the market, or
be in sufficient demand to become q
source of income to the goat raiser.
There is nothing in the world so cheap to
raise as goats, because they will find am
pie food in lots up here where other ami
mails would starve to death. Acorns arc
a favorite article of food with them, and
as these abound in the woods the cost for
Winter fodder is mainly confined to the
trouble of gathering the acorns.
What For.
Mr.. Doline was always lending money