GOATS 409 



milk-producing quality. While it has thus far been of 

 relative unimportance in this country for its milk, this is 

 not true in many other lands. In Switzerland, milch 

 goats are commonly called the " poor man's cows," and 

 well they may, as they take the place of cows not only 

 because of their cheapness and the comparatively low cost 

 of their keep, but also because they enable poor persons 

 to enjoy the advantages usually derived by the better 

 situated classes from their cattle, under conditions abso- 

 lutely prohibitive to the successful maintenance of milch 

 cows. In that mountainous land, three or four well-kept 

 milch goats of good breeding are commonly rated equal in 

 milk-producing qualities to an average cow, and six to 

 eight goats maybe kept on the quantity of feed required for 

 one cow. It should also be borne in mind that two or three 

 goats properly managed will provide a steady supply of milk 

 the year round, while the single cow does not. Goats also 

 are not nearly so susceptible to the diseases that have 

 proved to be such dangerous enemies to mankind, from 

 the fact that they can be transmitted by cow's milk. It is 

 generally held that goat's milk is much more wholesome 

 than cow's milk. Goat's milk may be used fresh or cooked, 

 just as cow's milk, and is recommended as preferable for 

 infants and invalids by the best medical authorities. 

 Milch goats are most productive at four to eight years of 

 age, and may live to be twelve or more years old. 



Dr. Kohlschmidt's experiments on the milk-yield of 

 goats, conducted with twenty-four animals in Saxony, 

 demonstrated an average yearly quantity of 725.7 litres a 

 head. The highest yield ascertained by him was 1077.5 

 litres; the lowest, 612.37 litres; the average per cent of 

 butter-fat obtained was 3.43 per cent (maximum 4.41 per 

 cent). Huart du Plessis cites the example of a pure-bred 



