LIVE STOCK AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS 325 



was obtained which yielded 40 quarts of milk per day of high 

 fat content. Even with this enormous milk yield, however, 

 the animals were not considered economic for commercial 

 dairy purposes. Their feeding capacity was found to be far 

 greater than their milk-yielding capacity and the cost of 

 maintaining the animals on rations which would allow the 

 continued production of high milk yield proved to be pro- 

 hibitive. 



The zebu yield, for the most part, 2, to 10 quarts of milk 

 daily with a fat content of about 4.5 per cent. Hybrids be- 

 tween the zebu and taurine cattle sometimes give even less 

 milk. In Egypt and quite generally in tropical Africa, the 

 zebu is used as a work and draft animal and the milk which 

 may be obtained is only a secondary consideration. Under 

 such conditions,, it would be unreasonable to expect any high 

 milk yield. Little or no effort has ever been made to improve 

 the milk-yielding capacity of the zebu for the reason, as just 

 indicated, that this animal is everywhere considered of prime 

 importance as a work animal. Throughout Egypt and tropical 

 Africa also, goats' milk is widely used. Under tropical con- 

 ditions, the milch goat yields from 3 to 5 quarts of milk per 

 day. Goat milk is also extensively used in Cuba, Porto Rico, 

 Central America, South America, Malta, Cyprus, southern 

 Europe, Asia Minor, and quite generally throughout the Trop- 

 ics. As is well known also, these animals are driven along 

 the streets of the towns and milked before the door of the 

 customer. The customer is thus assured of a perfectly fresh 

 milk supply, but this method of delivering milk does not lend 

 itself to the development of any large commercial dairy in- 

 dustry. In fact, there seems to be no such insistent demand 

 for commercial dairying in the Tropics as in the colder cli- 

 mates ; the per capita consumption of milk is less, and the mod- 

 ern extensive development of the condensed milk industry 

 offers a fairly satisfactory milk supply at prices with which 

 the dairymen in the Tropics could not compete. 



