IS 8 The 'Book of the Goat. 



influences the yield more than this. A delay of a couple 

 of hours, which may cause an extra quarter of a pint to 

 be drawn, will show its effect at the next milking by the 

 loss of half a pint at least, whilst an alteration of three 

 or four hours may affect the supply for a day or two. A 

 goat that gives three quarts or more should, for the first 

 three months after kidding, or as long as in full profit, be 

 milked three times a day at seven o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, shortly after noon, and at seven in the evening. After- 

 wards, two milkings daily about seven a.m. and seven 

 p.m. will be sufficient. This should be kept up until 

 only a pint is given in the twenty- four hours, which need 

 only be drawn once a day, preferably every morning. 



Cleanliness and other Conditions. 



Cleanliness is another matter of importance, at least in 

 my opinion. Who has not noticed with disgust the milking 

 of cows on a dairy farm, where the milkman goes to work 

 with hands begrimed with dirt, on which to facilitate the 

 process he first expectorates, and as the liquid flows squirts 

 a few drops into his hands or dips them into the pail ? 

 Whichever he does, the result is generally the same at the 

 termination ; the last drops that are stripped from 

 the udder combine with the black on the fingers, forming 

 a muddy compound, which, when the pail is emptied, 

 leaves a sediment of dirt at the bottom. I do not, how- 

 ever, mean to insult my readers by supposing they would 

 milk their goats in this fashion with dirty hands; it is to 

 the teats I wish to draw their attention. These, when 

 the animal has been lying all night on soiled litter, or 

 during the day on muddy ground, are sure to be more or 

 less contaminated with excremental matter, and, if 

 not attended to, the result must be very much the same 

 as in the case just alluded to; it is therefore advisable 

 previous to each milking to go over the teats with a cloth 



