Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-15
PRACTICAL VALUE OF COATS
The Silent Sentinel Of the Lodge Esteemed
for Other Qualities,
HALF A MILLION IN TIL. COUNTRY
Thirty millions Needed 10 supply the
Hide Mnrkct-Dcmnnd for Fleece
and Milk - Experience
of Goat RaiscrS.

WASHINGTON, Dec. IL Correspond
erco of The Bee )--The Angora goat in
dustry Of the United States is in its mere
infancy. though it has very promising
outlook for the near future. Especially viii
its success be actuated when better knowl-
edge of goat-raislng and its profits are gem
orally known to the stock rraisers throughout
the land.
The Department of Agriculture recently
investigated the matter of goat-raising and
| goat products and the interest evinced
throughout all parts of the country is re-
markable and will probably not abate until
the millions of acres of land suitable In ev-
cry way for goat-rasing are fully stocked,
/ 1t is roughly estimated that there are in
the United States 100000 goats of all kinds.
There should be 80, 900 900 in order to supply
the hides which are imported by us. The
value Of raw hides imported last year
amounted to SIS, ,776, sol, and their actual cost
! to consumers was about S25,5OS,249. The
demand is rapidly increasing, as is that for
the fleece OF the Angora, now principally I'M
ported.
Practically all the goatskins entering into
! the commerce and manufacture of the
United States are imported. With the ex-
ccption OF that portion of the population and
its increase mostly upon territory derived
| from Spain and Mexico, the people of this
| country have not usually evinced any inter-
| est in goat herding for profit, either of
| skins or other products. There have been
| for centuries small herds in the sparsely
populated western territory, and, besides,
not inconsiderable number of goats In the
| aggregate has been kept for milk in the
| suburbs of cities.
| If all the goats in this country were kept
with the single object of surprising skins
for market tLey would fail to supply
small fraction of the present demand and
at the same time remain at their present
number. At four pounds to the skin, which
is not far from the average weight of dry
skins, it requires the slaughter OF 16,226,62l
goats and kids to yield the skins imported
during the last fiscal year. This represents
live focks of foreign goats aggregating from
| 25, 600 600 to 30,0OO,000 at least for our
present supply of marketable skins alone.
Very few of the goats in the United States
are raised for the purpose of marketing
their skins. In addition to the large pro-
portion of the common stock kept, as stated,
in the suburbs Of cities, many are kept In
parts of the west with sheep for protection
against other animals, as dogs wolves and
coyotes, while the increasing focks OF An
goras are kept principally for their valua-
BILE yield of mohar, though some account Is
taken of the meat 1t should be noted that
something like two-fifths of all goats in the
United States, and a much larger proportion
of those kept in focks, are not the common
goats which supply such skins as are i'm
ported for leather, but are in part descend
ants of these, modified by successive in'u-
sions of pure Angora blood. and in part, but
to less extent, pure Angoras, kept in
| ITy.t dab
Georgia and South Carolina in flocks
sometimes numbering thousands, and in
other states in smaller numbers. The
profitable commercial product of these pure
and high grade animals is the silky fleece
Practical Value of Goats.
In bookkeeping on large scale it is not
alone the skins and fieeces which enter
into the account of profit, although these
are primary, especially for distant mar
kets. If the skins, which represent over
SIS, 900, 900 of invoice and 900 of mar
ket value in importations, represented ma
tive stock there would be taken addi-
tonally into the home market and possible
profit account nearly the whole animal-the
flesh, tallow, bones, hoofs, horns, and, per-
haps, the intestines and their contents
which together may constitute half or more
of the entire marketable value. In addition
there may be derived from the mature fe-
males always the principal portion of the
lock) during much of their lives consid-
cradle value in milk for household uses or
fer market, or which can be converted into
the most salable cheese. So fully is the
goat available as dairy animal when bred
to that object that it is sententiously de-
scribed as 1.-THE poor mans cow" because
of the combination of value with economy OF
keeping. female goat is relatively one OF
the most profitable of domestic animals.
Herded goats, under suitable and uusually
convenient conditions, whether for skin or
fleece and by products, are as surely profit
able.
AS TO climate, but little need be said.
The goat is easily adaptable to all coun-
I tries and thrives in all climates except that
of the polar regions. Evidently, however, 1t
will tend to be most profitable in those
localities where the expense of keeping is
the least the year round. Hardy, agile, en-
terprsing, it always thrives, if uncOntined,
in heat or cold, on mountain plain, but
prefers rough, rocky, wild and elevated land.
Species of the family naturally or inten-
tionally modified to any large extent
require in consequence more restricted
areas Thus, the long wool or hair Of the
Cashmere or the Angora makes covering
unfavorable to the hardness of the animal
where there is exposure TO cola rains ana
sleet uniformly hot climate would re-
duce their fleece product as naturally as a
uniformly cold climate would increase it.
But as far as climate alone Is concerned,
most of the area OF the United States out
side, possibly, of Alaska, is favorable to the
goat family generally and much of the
Pacific coast the southwest, and the south
to the long fleeced varieties particularly
Relative to areas suitable for goat keeping
upon any scale, from a, few for milk or
cheese to large fiocks for their fleeces or
skins it may be confidently asserted that
wherever there is a suitable climate there
are also suitable uncultivated lands. In the
aggregate, millions of acres of poor, rough,
rocky or bushy land, distributed through all
the states, call for subjugation and enrich
ment through animal occupation preferably
of the goat, which would not only destroy
the growth that invites recurrent confla-
grations, but would result ultimately in the
introduction of nutritious grasses
Three Useful Objects.
AS already indicated the useful objects OF
goat keeping are distinctly three, viz, for
the production OF skins, so extensively known
to the commerce of manufacturing coun-
tries for the production OF feeces of hair
or wool. used also in increasing quantity
in the manufacture of clothing fabrics, AMI
for the production OF milk mostly for home