Angora goat

“ It is a soft, downy article, like the fur of an Angora cat. Very showy toilets are of Angora cloth, trimmed with velvet applique work to form passementerie.
Angora cloth may be fashionable, but the odor of the Angora goat is losing favor. A herd of these goats crossed the Sierra Nevadas during the autumn, and as soon as they got over the range, we knew it at Laramie just as well as we knew of the earthquake shock on the 7th instant.
The Angora goat is very quiet in other respects; but as a fragrant shrub, he certainly demands attention. ”

“ Under such circumstances the long subdued instincts of the primal man reassert themselves, and an augury of good fortune befell us that was droll enough, unrelieved by the nervous solemnity of our feelings, but which so connected itself with these as to give it an absurd stateliness of meaning.
An angora goat was the queer and unexpected waif we found here, left by an unlucky whaler the previous year; a long haired, pugnacious billy goat, whose property or power as a mascot had failed to save the “Siren” from being “nipped, pooped and swamped,” and lost in the remorseless ice. ”

“ Answer.—The Angora goat takes its name from the Turkish city and village of Angora, in the interior, mountainous region of Asia Minor (about 220 miles E. S. E. of Constantinople) , which exports 2,000,000 lbs of mohair annually. The animals are highly prized, and command from $250 to $1,250 for the finest males and $200 to $900 for females, there being several varieties. The Cashmere goat is named from Cashmere, a province between India proper and Thibet. ”

“ When he comes to breeding the Angora he leaves that to his servants, if he be wealthy enough to have any. Most of the breeders cannot read or write. They have never traveled. They have no ambition, and they know nothing of the principles of selective breeding.46 As a natural consequence the Angora goat of to-day has not improved, nor is he likely to improve under Turkish management. ”

“ Only a few of the more persistent breeders continued the experiment and their investigations. They sent and went to the home of the Angora, and brought more of the original animals to America. It took the American breeders about thirty years to find out just what the Angora goat was and how he should be handled. During that thirty years large flocks of common goats, which had been crossed with the Angora, and which might be properly termed "grade flocks," had been formed. Only a few thoroughbred flocks, that is, flocks of the original Angora, as he came from Turkey, were in existence. ”

“ This gentleman also states, that, the Cashmere Angora goats, are more robust and more easily nourished than the common goat, and that they are less capricious and more easily managed in a flock; and from the experience he has already had, he finds them much more docile than even sheep. They prefer the leaves of trees, as do all other goats, but they thrive either on hay or straw, or green fodder, or in meadows; they also feed with equal facility on heaths, and on the most abrupt declivities, where the sheep would perish ”

“ One reason for the great success with which the Angora breed flourishes in South Africa is pointed out by Mr. Schreiner in the fact that "our veld and climate are almost identical with those of the province of Angora." And this remark is true for the Colony, for practically "the Transvaal has no Goats and the Free State not a very large number." In 1893, the Cape had 2,811,206 Angora Goats, and 2,819,749 Common Goats. The effects of crossing is favourable to the fecundity of the Angora, the modern breed having often two kids at a birth, the Kurd Goat having seldom less than two ”

“ To raise Angora goats most profitably one should really be provided with sheds. These sheds should be about the same as those which are provided for sheep in the same locality. For years southern and western breeders have made a success of the Angora industry, and very few of them have had any artificial protection for their goats. But even these breeders find that they can raise a larger percentage of increase, and get through the year with a smaller percentage of loss if they have sheds. ”

“ Although it is a well established fact that the Angora goat will thrive in any country that is not low and damp, with the exception a few pairs of Angoras, that were introduced at the Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas some years ago, the breeding of this variety of goat has never attracted the attention which it deserves. ”

“ The color of the common goat is of some importance. A brown or reddish brown goat retains the reddish cast at the base of the mohair much longer than one of a bluish or bluish black color. It is equally true that a pure white mother may drop a colored kid occasionally. In Constantinople the mohair is graded into parcels containing red kemp, black kemp, etc. There it is the kemp which retains the color. As has been stated, there is also a breed of brown Angora goats, or at least mohair-producing goats, in Koniah in Asia Minor. ”

“ Henderson made the first importation of Angora goats into South Africa, but while the number reaching the Cape was fourteen, yet only two proved to be perfect animals, a doe and her kid. The twelve bucks seem to have been tampered with, and they would not breed. Mr. Schreiner says: "But for the fact that there were several million Boar goats, thoroughly accustomed to the country, to furnish innumerable ewes for grading up purposes, the industry would still have been in its infancy." ”

“ To say that the Angora goat will prevent dogs from killing sheep, and that they will drive the dogs away, would be a misstatement. Bucks and grown goats will protect themselves to some extent. If a strange dog attacks a flock in a field, the goats will usually huddle together and the bucks and grown animals will keep the dog at bay. A mother will fight bravely to protect her kid.
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n experience of years has taught the Turk that if he wishes to save many kids, he must have them come late in the season. ”

“ Much of the camel's hair dress goods is in reality made from the hair of the Angora goat, or mohair, as it is called. Angora goats thrive best in high altitudes with dry climates. They exist in greatest number in the United States in California, New Mexico, and Texas. They have been used successfully in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to eat the underbrush off the land, doing for nothing that for which the farmers pay Chinese laborers twenty-five to forty dollars per acre. ”

“ That point is fineness of fiber, always remembering freeness from kemp. There are many large goats, many heavy shearing goats, but there are very few fine fibered comparatively free from kemp goats. One should not make the mistake of neglecting size and weight of fleece. There are few animals which will respond more rapidly to careful crossing than the Angora goat. A buck will usually stamp his individuality upon every kid, hence the necessity of carefully selecting breeding stock. ”

“ As we had only a few sheep, but possessed a flock of several hundred Angoras, our standing dish was, of course, goat. Let not the traveller pity us who on his journeyings—in Southern Europe for instance—has had the misfortune to partake of the tough, stringy, and strongly-flavoured goat's flesh too often iniquitously substituted for mutton by unprincipled hotel-keepers. As different as black from white is that unholy viand from our delicious Angora meat; equal, if not superior, to the best mutton. ”

“ From the second cross on, the grade goat rapidly assumes the characteristic of the Angora goat, but if for any reason poor bucks are used (an occasional animal without apparent reason retrogrades) , the animal as rapidly resumes the characteristic of the common goat. ”

“ The Turkish Angora goat men usually range small flocks, and they also have a surplus of help, so that this is a comparatively easy method. The kids are allowed to go with the flocks as soon as they are old enough to travel. The principal objection to letting young kids go with the flock is that the kids go to sleep, and sleep so soundly that the flock feed away from them. When the youngsters awake they are lost. If there be wild animals about, the kids may be killed, or they may starve before they are found. ”

“ To people taking up raw land, particularly where there is a heavy undergrowth to be cleared away, goats of some kind are an invaluable aid. In its browsing qualities the common goat is as good as any, but, aside from the clearing of the land, the profit in his keep is very little, though some demand is growing up for goat's milk for infants and for some fancy cheeses. A much better animal from the standpoint of profit, while in use as a scavenger, is the Angora goat. ”

“ In the first decade of the 20th century the mohair braid trade received a blow from the introduction of artificial silk.
The history of the introduction of the Angora goat from Asia Minor into the other countries mentioned is as follows. In 1838 pure bred Angoras were introduced into Cape Colony—cashmeres having been previously tried and found unsatisfactory. These pure-bred goats crossed with the common goat ”

“ A great number of breeds now exist. A most important variety, formed into a breed by artificial selection, is the Angora goat, where almost the whole body is enveloped in that long, silky, white hair which is so valuable. The Angora goat has been introduced into the United States, Cape Colony, and Australia. The Cashmere goat, from Tibet and Bokhara, is almost equally valuable, furnishing the white to brown hair used in making Cashmere textiles, especially the famous Cashmere shawls. ”

“ America has many high-grade flocks, which, if it were not for the remaining coarse hair of the common53 goat, would be upon a par with the Turkish flocks. There are enough good goats in the country for a foundation stock, and a few years more of the careful, painstaking, selective breeding which is in progress throughout the United States to-day, will bring forth an Angora superior to the Turkish stock. ”

“ On some of the older goat ranches, where the Angora has been raised exclusively for the mohair and mutton, it has become quite a problem to prevent the goats from killing out the brush. The goats have done well where other kinds of livestock would have starved, but as soon as the brush is killed the land produces almost nothing, and even the goats cannot make a living. To prevent as far as possible their killing the brush the flocks are moved frequently from one range to another, so that the shrubs have a chance to recuperate between visits. ”

“ Among the furs used by the Kaffir for this purpose is that of the Angora goat, its long soft hair working up admirably into fringes and similar ornaments. Feathers of different birds are worked into the head dress, and the rarer the bird and the more brilliant the color the better is the wearer pleased. One decoration which is sometimes worn on the head is a globular tuft, several inches in diameter, formed from the feathers of a species of roller. ”

“ Now that so much attention is focussed on Southern Africa, it is quite refreshing to find that the Hominidæ are not the only mammals studied in the area, and that, besides the introduced Boer farmer, there is also the Angora Goat. We are absolutely dead weary of the political questions connected with the Boer, and rejoice to study the less exciting but more scientific problem of his Goat. ”

“ It is indeed! for South Africa is economically a "poor man's country"—"black man's country"—the usual appellation; take away its mining capacity and it is again within measurable distance of a pastoral condition. The introduction of the Angora Goat is therefore an event of more real significance to many in S. Africa than an elargement of boundaries or a diplomatic triumph. ”

“ Sections of the country modify the characteristics of the Angora. Probably climatic conditions, varieties of food and water, and certainly mental vigor of the owners is largely responsible for this. One man selects large, well formed, rapidly maturing goats and breeds for this type. It is surprising how soon his flocks assume this type. Another breeder works for fineness of fleece, regardless of size or shape of the animal, and he gets his points. ”

“ Alpaca, Vicuna and Llama wools are obtained from animals which are native to the mountains of Peru and Chile. The Angora goat, originally from Asia Minor, furnishes the mohair of commerce. This fiber does not resemble the hairs of common goats in any respect. ”

“ Troublesome insects are not so common here as in other parts of Africa.
The chief industry of the colony is wool raising. It has been estimated that there are fifteen million sheep throughout the colony. Many of them are of the Merino breed. These are rapidly displacing the big-tailed sheep raised by the early Dutch settlers. The Angora goat is kept quite extensively for the sake of its long silky hair. Cattle of the finest description are found in every part of the country, the better varieties having displaced those owned by the natives and early settlers. ”

“ He found the Thibet goats in the Himalaya Mountains, and finally succeeded in getting some goats at Angora, in Asia Minor. He secured two bucks and ten does, and brought them safely to California. That was really the first time an American had entered Asia Minor to study the Angora industry, as it was understood Mr. Diehl had secured Turks to go into the interior for him. ”

“ When the kid is born he is covered with a coarse hair, and it is not until he is from three to five weeks old that the fine mohair fibers appear growing between the coarser hairs. The kid continues to grow gradually, and at three or four months he weighs from twenty to forty pounds. The mohair may now be from two to four inches long. At a year old the Angora goat will weigh from fifty to eighty pounds, and the mohair may be as long as twelve inches, or sometimes longer. ”