The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1903-10-29
BIG IOWA GOAT FARM.
Kemble Brothers Have the Largest
Flock Of Angoras.

Concerning gentlemen well known
in this city, the SIuscatine Journal
says;
"Amos Kemble and sons, joan M.
and Charles Kemble, Of Muscatine,
have the most aristocratic collection
] of Angoras in the state Of Iowa. An
CORA goat breeding has come to the
front in the state in way to com
mand public and even popular atten-
ton. The Angora first came to south
4 ern Iowa as brush eXterminator, and
4 his remarkable success in transforms
| ing the interminable hazel brush and
Jack oak thickets Of that region into
beautiful bluegrass pastures soon
| made him friends among the sheep
/ and dairy men, and goat culture has
spread well over the state, and is as
! much a recognized industry to-day as
are sheep and wool growing. In the
| Mississippi and Missouri river bluffs
| and on the brushy and wooded hills
of the head waters Of the principal in
land rivers and creeks of the state the
i Angora has made his way as civil
izer in splendid fashion. He has turn
ed the wild brushy wastes into ideal
/ sheep and COW pastures, and instead
of becoming in any sense competi-
i tor of sheep and other farm animals,
/ he is regarded as the forerunner and
coadjutor of sheep and the best friend
of the shepherd and dairyman. Iowa
has some notably fine flocks of An
goras, and ranks high among the
leading goat breeding states of the
| Union.
THE Klondyke flock of Angoras
owned by Kemble Bros, of Musca-
tine, Iowa, and kept on their beauti-
full 1,200-acre Klondyke farm, a dozen
miles above the city of Muscatine,
numbers 500 head of goats, of which
225 are registered Angoras of the
highest breeding, 200 Of these hav-
ing been selected last fall from the
| famous Aztec flock of d. G. Taylor &c
Son, of Lake Valley, New Mexico, the
champion Angora flock or the coun-
try. Amos Kemble, the venerable
father of the proprietors, purchased
the great buck Aztec, the champion
buck Of the memorable Angora show
at Kansas City last year, paying the
record price of $1,400 for him, and,
remembering that he had at Klondyke
farm but twenty-five registered does
to mate with him, he purchased the
200 selected does from the Taylor
flock and became the proud possessor
| of the most aristocratic collection of
Angoras in Iowa. Besides these, there
are at the Klondyke place 100 grade
does that were brought here for the
purpose of clearing the brush from
the 600 acres of native wood and
brush land. Altogether, there were
300 does bred last fall, most of them
to Aztec and King Edward VII, anc
these two noble sires have fathered
as handsome a collection of kids as
the writer has ever seen together.
Like Aztec, the 200 Taylor does are
typical of the noted flock from which
they were drafted. Beautiful in type,
form and fleece, and well-nign free
from kemp, and so fine and Iustrous
in fleece that a good per cent of their
long staple mohair sold at the rate
of a dollar per pound. AS noted in
the June number of the Sheep Breed
er, the 9-pound Bounce fleece of the
champion Aztec sold for the record
price Of So per pound, or a total of
$2732, and the fleece of 16-inch staple
was pronounced by the purchaser the
finest in fibre and freest from kemp
of any ever bought or seen by him.
That such a sire mated with such a
grand lot of does should father a
splendid bunch of kids might go
without saying, and I doubt if there
is anywhere in the country a finer lot
of Angora buck and doe kids than
these offspring of the Taylor buck
and does. To breed kempless Angoras
as Mr.. Taylor has bred this buck and
many of his does, is an achievement
Iycompassed by few Angora breeders
in the world, and to own such col
lection of kids as 1 saw grouped and
photographed WIFI LulS great sire dL
the Klondyke farm is great good
fortune.
"Of course these buck kids-chil-
dren of king and princess-will go to
fortunate buyers after weaving time
to enrich the blood of many less
aristocratic fiocks, and the doe kids
will lend quality and beauty and
fame to the Klondyke stud. Uncle
Amos Kemble takes absorbing pride
and interest in the flock, and is never
happier than when plotting visitors up
the Mississippi to the Klondyke farm
and flock. And magnificent farm II
is, with full mile of river frontage,
900 acres in cultivation and mainly in
clover, timothy and bluegrass, and
the entire estate underlaid with a
five-foot vein of coal. with outcrop-
pings on the river. The Kembles are
clearing up the 600 acres Of wood and
brush land with their Angoras, which
have already cleared the brush from
about 100 acres, but they do not de-