luxury, arc wondering if they can not find a blessing in a milch goat. With 

 the miners in the coal districts the milch goat is a proven friend. And 

 while the milch goat is often called "The Poor Man's Cow," yet we find 

 many of the wealthy classes now harboring the cunning milch goat and 

 appreciating it's milk and friendship. 



Prior to April, 1904, there were scarcely no pure-bred Swiss goats in 

 the United States. In that month the first consignment of Swiss goats to 

 our country was made, consisting of sixteen Toggenburgers and ten Saanen. 

 Since this date only a few of the recognized milch goat breeds have reached 

 our shores. 



The husbandry of milch goats in some of the European countries forms 

 the chief occupation of the people, particularly in Switzerland, the total 

 area being only 16,000 square miles. This country is less than half the 

 size of the state of Indiana, yet in 1901 it is officially stated that the pro- 

 duction of goats milk alone was 19,875,000 gallons, and that the estimated 

 value in that country of goats milk being ten cents per quart, it would 

 equal nearly $8,000,000. The annual estimated value of goats milk in Ger- 

 many is worth about $39,000,000. Spain, Italy, France and Norway derive 

 a large revenue from the milch goat industry. 



Some figures are shown here, quoted from Detweiler, which give some 

 very interesting statistics with reference to the milch industry in Germany. 

 They are as follows: 



Value of Goats $11,900,000 



Value of Goat's Milk Products 35,700,000 



Value of Goats Slaughtered 1,547,000 



Value of Kids Slaughtered 1,785,000 



This shows the importance of the industry in Germany alone. 



ADAPTABILITY OF MILCH GOATS TO OUR CLIMATE 



THE milch goat is an animal that adapts itself very readily to most 

 any climate that might be found in the United States. It is un- 

 doubtedly the most hardy of all domestic animals, thriving well in 

 our most extreme northern states and in extreme southern. There are, 

 however, a few species of goats native to Southern Europe, India, and 

 Africa that can not be kept profitably in this country unless it be in our 

 most southern states. Some of these breeds are our very best types of 

 milch goat stock and by crossing them with our hardy northern breeds it 

 is possible to produce the very best milking stock that will adapt itself to 

 the various conditions and climate of the United States. 



Swiss Toggenburgs, Swiss Saanen, Spanish Maltese, and Nubian cross 

 bred goats thus far have proven to be very successful in this country. 

 The above mentioned breeds do as well here as the Angora and are prov- 

 ing themselves to be a more remunerative animal. In some ways they 

 resemble the Angoras, prefering as they do the higher lands and shunning 

 any low marsh soils. They shun dampness in every form and would prob- 

 ably not prove themselves so well adapted to the low swampy localities of 

 our country. 



In 1909 our government located a milch goat farm thirteen miles out 

 of Washington, D. C,, with the idea of studying the possibility of producing 

 useful milch goats from native stock with the use of sires of imported 

 blood. The first step was to purchase a number of southern native does. 

 During 1910 and 1911 milk and feed records were kept. In 1911 a pure 

 bred Saanen buck was procured and in 1914 they had ten half blood Saanen 



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