The record-union., 1897-09-25
GOAT FARMING IN AFRICA.
Four Million Angora Goats in the
karOo Districts.

One of the most lucrative industries
in the Karoo districts oe South Africa
is AngOra goat farming. SAYS lonto
"Blacn and White" and although it has
only been established for less than forty
years the Cape bids fair to become the
most important center # mChair pro-
duction in the world The early at
tempts to import this goat from An
CORA were attended with great
loss of money and great dis
appointment, nearly all the goats
dying either on the way 20 the Cape
or very soon after landing; in fact, Of
the early importations oily very
small number survived. Put III 1879
a large Importation vas successfully
made by three different firms or nd
viduals, who landed a large number of
pure bred Angora goats at Port Eliz-
abeth, where they were sold at from
f100 tot400 apiece. Soon after thai the
expectation of Angora SEATS from Tur-
key was prohibited for q time, but m
1894 Mr.. Rhodes obtained the relaxa-
tiOn of this prohibitcr Early in 1890
a shipment of 200 .Angora goats, after
being quarantined, was sold al Port
Elizabeth at an average of TOO apiece
some Of the rams selling for as much
as $500 each At ore"ent there are
somewhere about 100000 Ansora
goats in the colony.
The Angora in the colony is not now
pure-bred; the original imported rams
were crossed with cG "afully selected
pure white Boer goGt ewes, and from
the succeeding. in-breediEg the PIE sent
flocks have sprung, and 4 fine, glossy,
silky fleece secured Indeed, it is ac-
cepted that mohaiT can now be pro-
duced in Cape Colory as perfect in
quality and as beautiful in luster as
any produced in AnGora itself
The goat itself is a pretty-looking lit
tie animal, looking, with It's long white.
wavy fleece, more like q sheep than a
goat. The beard too. so charactet
istic of the goat, is almost hidden in the
long hair about the neck and face. The
head is small and narrow, with droop
ing or Top ears. Horns light in color,
fiattened, twisted slightly and spread
ing outward-are. possessed by both
rams and ewes, though they are small
er in the latter.
The small body is thickly covered
With a beautiful long fleece of white,
lustrous, wavy, silky hair, which, in
we'll bred goats, nearly reaches the
ground; and, in addition to this long
hair, there is an inferior under coat Of
hair, or second coat, which has it's own
separate market value.
The Karoo and higher lands of the
colony are the places where the An
CORA flourishes best Almost every
farmer in Karoo has his flock of Ango-
ras, some several fiocks of several hun
dred in each. Every morning the
fiocks are driven out of kraals or shell
tered Enclosures into the veldt, where
they are allowed to wander and Craze
all day, but at night they are driven
back to the shelter of the kraal after
being taken to the dam to be Watered.
Angoras are sheared about June,
when a good fleece will average from
five to six pounds in weight, with hair
from five to six inches long. About
November the goats tend to shed their
hair, but, rather than lose it, the farm
er again shears in October. After
shearng the wool is packed into large
bales, which are fastened securely with
iron bands; it is then exported to Eng
land for manufacture a large part go
ing to Yorkshire In 1899 mohair to
the value of f170, ,S67 was exported, and
at the present time one-tenth of the
total British supply is received from
the Cape.
Among the most dreaded enemies of
the timid little Angora are the jackal,
the red lynx and the baboon; the two
former kill the kids for their flesh, but
the balloons rip open the udders of the
ewes in search of milk, and even open
the stomachs of the kids for the sake
of the curdled milk they may obtain.
The first two animals are poisoned and
hunted down with dogs where possible.
and to keep down the baboon shooting
| parties are frequently organized. BY
way of encouraging the extinction Of
these pests the Government pays )
shillings a tail for jackals and l shilling
a tail for baboonS.