Angora Goats (Young Rams)
The karroo is badly watered, the farmers depending chiefly on springs, wells, and dams for their supply. Underground water is found at various depths, the average being about sixty feet. In but few cases, however, does the supply rise to the surface, which necessitates the use of windmills and pumps. The average annual rainfall is over ten inches, though in some districts it does not exceed six inches. Given good seasons, there is no part of the Colony which is healthier for small stock than the karroo, and there is certainly no portion in which sheep and goats multiply more rapidly. One severe drought, however, will often sweep away the increase of several years, and leave the farmer on the verge of ruin.
Throughout the Colony but few attempts are made to supply winter feeding for stock, or to make adequate provision for times of drought. Of late years the cultivation of lucerne has been on the increase, and in the north and north-east, where the winters are long and severe, turnips are grown, and these amply repay the farmers for the labour and expense incurred.
The last reliable returns of the small stock in the Colony were taken in the year 1898, since which date the disturbed state of the country has prevented the collection of statistics of any value. At the close of 1898 there were: 10,565,844 woolled sheep; 1,560,439 Cape or fat-tailed sheep; 3,039,482 Angora goats; and 2,312,052 common or Boer goats. These figures, especially as regards sheep, will no doubt show a considerable decrease when the next census is taken, for the demands of the military, and the losses incidental to war, must to a certain extent have caused a marked reduction.
Merino sheep from the Royal flock of George III. were first introduced at the Cape about the year 1793, but it was not until 1838 that any real progress in breeding was made.
Fat-Tailed Hairy Africander Sheep (Rams)
Of late years Australian merinos, Tasmanian and Vermont sheep have been largely imported; and there are many flocks in the Colony which have been bred up to a very high standard. The Vermont sheep, which are close, heavily-woolled animals, possess many advantages, which, by judicious crossing, are well suited to counteract some of the defects noticeable in the flocks of this country. At the present time a very large proportion of the woolled sheep are inferior in quality, and far below the standard of excellence which every breeder of stock should strive to attain to.