100 The 300k of the Goat. 



Caution to be E,jcercised in "Buying. 



It is a singular fact that now, as thirty years ago, when- 

 ever a goat is offered for sale it is generally said to be 

 giving, or to have given, when in milk, " two quarts a 

 day." One might suppose this was the only measurement 

 of a goat's yield known. Now measurement is always 

 unsatisfactory. According to how a goat is milked, the 

 animal may or may not appear to yield in two milkings 

 the above quantity. A standard quart measure may be 

 used and rilled to the brim with froth before the eyes 

 of an intended buyer, who, in his inexperience, will sup- 

 pose he has there a quart of milk; but, after standing some 

 time, when the froth has settled three-quarters of a pint 

 will be nearer the mark. Now a gallon of milk weighs 

 iolb., therefore a pint should turn the scale at 20 oz-., sup- 

 posing the vessel holding the milk to have been counter- 

 poised by a corresponding weight before the milk was 

 introduced. This is the only proper way to ensure satis- 

 faction in the given yield of a goat. To see a goat milked 

 before the eyes of the purchaser once is not enough, as it 

 may have been " stocked " for twenty-four hours, and 

 then the next milking will be reduced by half. A goat 

 sent on trial should stay for a couple of days at least, but 

 preferably three days, in order to let it get accustomed to 

 its new surroundings, and even then one must not expect to 

 see in a strange place the same yield forthcoming that was 

 given by the animal in its own home. A goat is a highly 

 nervous and very capricious animal, and its yield is readily 

 influenced by change of surroundings, change of food, 

 and especially change of milker. For, like a cow, it will 

 not give down its milk properly at first with strange 

 hands tugging at its teats. 



All these circumstances must be taken into account 

 when a goat is sent on approval to a new home, and it is 



