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The goat was one of the very first animals tamed by man for the sake of milk and meat. Although the cattle were tamed, they were much more willing to use them as draft animals.
In ancient Greece, bulls were highly valued, but only as a draft force on arable land. The goat was assigned a more honorable role as a wet nurse. She was even "instructed" to feed the supreme deity of Olympus - Zeus. The word "goat herder" then did not have a contemptuous connotation. Goat herding was highly respected.
But the veneration of goats, like their uncontrolled breeding, ultimately destroyed the forests of Hellas. No wonder now they believe that the forests of Greece were eaten by goats. Moreover, the formation of the Sahara Desert is also hanged on the goats. At the very least, it is believed that goats played a significant role in the desertification of the land, eating everything that caught their eye, right down to the bark of trees and roots in the ground.
Moreover, there was no escape from goats for vegetation, even on sheer cliffs.
Descending from the bezoar goat, domestic goats have not lost the skills of walking on vertical surfaces of rocks.
Why goats climb bare man-made walls, only the wall climbers themselves know. Maybe they don't want to lose their skills if the owner kicks them out of the warm barn. But the photograph proves that with the goat climbing skills, this animal will get its food everywhere.
And a master class from goats "How to turn a forest into a desert."
There is also an opinion that among the ancestors of the domestic goat there is also a scorchhorse goat.
It is not known how well-to-do this version is, but the horned goat is also a mountain animal. It's just that the ranges of these two species are different and they were most likely domesticated independently of each other.
For all the "hellish" qualities, goats stand out among other domestic animals with a high intelligence, which they usually use to their advantage, and a cheerful disposition. They are very similar in behavior to cats. They are attached to a person, they are easily trained, but they do not clearly show either one or the other until they are caught at the next Skoda.
Since the moment of domestication, many different breeds of goats of any direction, from dairy to wool, have already been bred. The oldest and, very possibly, the progenitor of all other long-haired breeds of goats is the Angora goat, which got its name from the distorted ancient name of today's capital of Turkey: Ankara.
History of the Angora breed
The exact place and time of the occurrence of the mutation that led to the emergence of a long-haired goat with a thin, shiny coat is unknown. Presumably this is Central Anatolia: the region of Turkey, the center of which is Ankara. The capital of Turkey, Ankara, was founded in the 7th century BC. and was then known under the Greek name Angira (Ankyra), that is, "anchor."
A significant number of conquerors in that area have changed throughout history, Angira at some point was distorted to Angora. It was about this moment that the Europeans of the 16th century caught them when they saw an amazing long-haired breed of goats in Turkey.
At the same time, two goats of this breed came to Europe as a gift to Charles V, where they were named "Angora" by the place of their breeding. The Angora breed also has a second name: Kemel. From the Arabic "chamal" - thin. The name directly indicates the quality of the wool of the angora goat.
In the first half of the 19th century, Angora goats were first introduced to South Africa, where the production of wool, called "mohair" from the Arabic "chosen one", became the leading branch of the economy.A little later, Angora goats came to North America, Texas. There, the breeding of Angora goats has also become one of the main branches of cattle breeding.
In the USSR, Angora goats were brought from the States in 1939 and were bred in the Asian republics and the southern regions of the Union.
Description of the Angora breed
Adult goats of the Angora breed weigh 45-50 kg and, in addition to wool, flaunt luxurious horns.
The growth of goats can be up to 75 cm.
The Angora goat weighing 30-35 kg and growing up to 66 cm cannot boast of such a luxurious decoration. Its horns are small and thin.
The Angora goat is an animal of a loose constitution with a small hunchbacked head and a thin short neck. However, the neck is still not visible under the fur. The body of the Angora goat is not long. The legs are short, strong and well set. A feature of the breed can be called amber hooves.
The main color of the Angora is white. But there are silver, gray, black, brown and red (disappears over time) colors.
The length of the Angora wool reaches 20-25 cm.When it grows, the wool strands into shiny braids, in which 80% is transitional hair, 1.8% is a short awn and 17.02% is coarse hair.
The wool of the Angora has an interesting sheen called "chandelier". Up to the fact that in the dark the Angora fleece has a reflective effect.
Goats are sheared twice a year, receiving up to 6 kg of wool from goats, 3.5 from queens, 3 kg from a one-year-old goat and 2 kg from a one-year-old goat.
Grooming angora goats
Usually Angora queens are not milked, using them only to obtain wool, but if desired, from an angora goat for 5-6 months of lactation, you can get from 70 to 100 liters of milk with a fat content of 4.5%. With the slaughter of rolls weighing 22 kg, the slaughter yield is 50%.
Features of maintenance and feeding
The Angora breed of goats in this regard has some ambiguity: on the one hand, it is unpretentious, that is, it can easily withstand low and high temperatures, is not picky about food, it can even feed on the branches of many tree species; on the other hand, the quality of wool directly depends on the quality of the content and feed, and this makes us talk about the Angora as a whimsical breed in keeping.
A heavy coat is not a big problem, as the grease is washed off when the coat is washed after clipping. Rough wool is much worse, which does not allow making high quality mohair.
The Angora goat calmly survives in the open air, calmly enduring all natural disasters, but from drafts, temperature changes and dampness, the Angora wool becomes dull and matted.
From a lack of vitamins, the coat may even begin to fall out.
Goats need clean water. To comply with this condition, the water is changed twice a day.
In the absence of grazing, goats are fed with leguminous hay, corn and other types of feed rich in proteins.
Thus, the advantages of the Angora include:
- undemanding to feed and the ability to get by with a small amount;
- indifference to heat or cold;
- undemanding to the conditions of detention;
- high quality meat;
- immunity to brucellosis and tuberculosis;
- valuable wool.
Among the shortcomings of the breed are:
- weak maternal instinct;
- frequent birth of the weak and sick kids;
- instability to high air humidity;
- the presence of molts, which can reduce the yield of wool if you are late with a haircut;
- dependence of wool quality on weather conditions.
Angorkas are friendly in nature and are often grazed with cows, horses and sheep.
Features of the breed
The peculiarities of the Angora breed include the fact that the uterus does not preserve the fetus at the cost of their health. If there is little food and the Angora loses weight, it will have a miscarriage. As a result, the Angora breed is considered infertile, since the average yield of Angora kids is 70%, although competent owners receive up to 150% of the kids per herd. The numbers are not surprising when you remember that sheep and goats often bring two or three babies at a time.
Usually the Angora kid is left under the uterus for up to 5-6 months. If you take him away earlier, he will survive, but lag behind in growth.
The second nuance in breeding and obtaining wool from angora is that after shearing the animals for a month and a half are very sensitive to damp and cold. Therefore, the owners at this time prefer to keep them indoors, letting them go for a walk on small pastures only in good weather.
Advice! For spring haircuts, a 10 cm wide strip of fur can be left on the back to protect the animal from bad weather.
To a certain extent, of course. In the autumn haircut, all wool is removed, since at this time the herd will still be in a weather-protected room.
Angora owners reviews
Conclusion
A closer look at the Angora breed of goats can be concluded that if the Angora is needed to obtain wool, then they can be regarded as a rather capricious breed in terms of content. If the Angora goat is needed more for the soul and admiration, then this is a hardy and unpretentious breed.
