The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-04-01
A GOAT FARM.
A WOman's Venture which
has Proved Profitable.
Raising Angora Goats and Selling Theil
Wool at One Dollar Pound.

ork Times, says. Three miles from
this village, near the Hudson River, is an
Angora goat farm, which from its nov l.
ty attracts much attention hereabout
1t is looked upon as something in the ma
turc of 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 York City. But they are differ
ent breed of goats, more aristocratic than
their city relatives as to wool, more epic
urcnn in their tastes, and more blue
bloodcd as to ancestry, The herd in
this somewhat novel farm just now nun.
bers rs, varying in age from the tiny OBJ
icct of three months which looks like
cross between a dog, a rabbit, and
lady's powder puff, to the handsome pa
triarch of the flock, magnificent spcci-
men of the pure Angora breed, with i'm
mense curling horns. This handsome old
fellow with his wife were imported by
DR.. Agnew, the famous oculist of New
York, from Asia Minor and the impor-
tation cost him heap of money as the
price of goats goes. Their present own
cr is the good woman who now runs tn 5
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 fondness for fighting, as
characteristic of goats as it is of 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 well as tie
male. The hardy female goat of the Or
dinary 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 in the fourth generation even
the best experts cannot tell the pure
bloodcd from the grade Argora, This
fact Is matter of considerable interest
to breeders of goats, as an Angora buck
cost 800 or over while the common
goat can be had almost for the asking.
The fecundity of the Angora is not so
great as that of the common goat, the
Angora eve giving birth to but one kid
yearly.
AS source of profit the goats have
turned out well. The wool is from four
to six inches in length, silky, and 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, as the lustrous dress of
fabric into which it was at one time
largely converted is out of vogue with
fashionable ladies. 1t is therefore used
almost exclusively in the manufacture of
plush for upholstery purposes. When
the kid is months old its hide, un-
dressed is worth $3 and will sell rcadi-
ly for that amount to glove manufactur-
ers. Kids on the farm in question meet
with sudden death on that account at
about that age with considerable regular
ity. When it is necessary to kill them
the good lady has them choroformed so
that she may not hear the death cries of
her little pets. The milk of the goat is
much sought after by dyspeptics, by per-
sons suffering from pulmonary troubles
and by otherwise delicate persons, and it
brings 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 fair amount of tender meat
which some people like. 1t will never
become great delicacy in.the market, or
be in sufficient demand to become a
source of income to the goat raiser.
There is nothing in the world so cheap to
raise as goats, because they will find am
Pile food in lots up here where other ami
mails would starvc to death. Acorns arc
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.
Goats rs Animal Doctors.
Il is a curious fact that, preiudiced as