A History of Agriculture in India v1.c16.50

v1.c16.50

'As a producer of raw materials for technical processes, the goat is less important than the sheep. Its skin has been used since time immemorial for water-containers, but it does not supply fat and its hair is usually coarse, wool in the strict sense of the word being rare. Therefore, though goat's hair is used, and no doubt has always been used, where available, the sheep became the most important producer of spinning material. One wonders why the goat has not been completely replaced by the sheep. The reason appears to be that as a browser it prefers environments different from those liked by sheep. It can thrive on desert scrub and it yields more milk'.