194 The 'Book of the Goat. 



fine hair- sieve. The object of straining is not so much to 

 get rid of dirt, which, as I have shown, ought not to be 

 present, as to retain in the sieve the hairs from the udder, 

 which in some seasons come off in large quantities. 



Every utensil should be scalded with boiling water as 

 soon as used, and afterwards put out to dry and purify 

 in the open air. An occasional soaking in soda-and-water 

 is further beneficial in case any milk should not have been 

 thoroughly removed, as when milk turns sour and decom- 

 poses it gives an objectionable flavour to any fresh milk 

 that the vessel afterwards contains. It is generally this 

 want of cleanliness that gives goats' milk its peculiarly 

 nasty taste when drunk abroad, and prejudices people 

 against it ever after. 



Uhe MilK. yield oj- a Coat. 



There is a vast difference in the yields of milk of 

 different goats, some giving so small a quantity that the 

 value of the total supply during the whole period of lacta- 

 tion is hardly equal to the cost of food. In such a case, 

 should this deficiency of supply continue a second season 

 the animal had better be disposed of. It must be re- 

 membered, however, that not only is there a great 

 variation in the productiveness of different goats, but 

 that the same animal may give considerably more milk 

 one year than another, though this is the exception rather 

 than the rule. It must also be borne in mind that at the 

 first kidding the yield is usually much less than in the 

 second or subsequent years, especially if the goat is under 

 eighteen months old when the first kids are born. 



For a goat to be a good milker she should supply close 

 upon two quarts a day, and continue this for three months 

 or more. One that gives only half this quantity when the 

 kids are first weaned is not worth keeping. 



A goat may be a good milker, however, in two 



