Continental Milch Goats. - 35 



spending capacity for disposing of a vast amount of food 

 without giving an equivalent return in the way of milk, 

 are not features to be sought after, especially when 

 further handicapped by the introduction of long hair and 

 tremendous horns. There are goats, I believe, in existence 

 still descended from those imported Pyreneans which yet 

 bear traces of the coarse horns and large bones of their 

 ancestors, although most of the long 'hair has been bred 

 out of them. 



It is perhaps hardly just, however, to condemn a whole 

 breed on the limited experience we have had in this 

 country with a few imported specimens, and as M. Crepin 

 speaks in very different terms of this goat I will proceed 

 to give his description and opinion of it : " There exists in 

 the environs of Lourdes a superb goat generally called 

 ' Chevre du Beam,' which appears admirably adapted to 

 make a milker of the first order. Its hair is long, brilliant, 

 and silky, and generally black with white under the body 

 and on the feet and legs up to the knees. It is also, 

 however, found entirely white. It has a powerful head, 

 with a straight forehead, ears heavy, and a full eye of a 

 light brown colour. A network of disordered tufts of 

 frizzled hair is displayed over the forehead, giving a 

 remarkable expression of vivacity and elegance. Limbs 

 delicate and well set on. The gait is brisk and alert, and 

 the disposition gentle. It is a pretty creature of great 

 height, giving in full milk as much as 4 litres a day and 

 preserving its lactation for a considerable period. The 

 milk has an exquisite taste without the least vestige of 

 caprine odour, and contains as much as 50 grammes to the 

 litre of butter-fat, equal to that of the Murcien." This 

 seems to me a highly flattering description, and one which 

 is not altogether borne out by the appearance of the animal 

 in the illustration supplied in the book referred to, where 

 it has a decidedly dejected appearance and gives no 



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