MILK GOATS. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. J Page. 



Present status of the industry 3 Feed and management 22 



Goats* milk 4 Goat meat and goatskins 32 



Goat dairies 8 Prices of goats 33 



Breeds and types of goats 9 Goat troubles 34 



Methods of breeding 19 Milk goat registry associations 36 



PRESENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY. 



MILK-GOAT industry in the United States has not as yet 

 developed to any important extent. The interest shown during 

 the past has come largely from people who were either raised in or 

 at least are familiar with conditions in countries where the milk goat 

 has proved a success. It requires time to educate people to the value 

 of any new industry, especially one that has been so greatly handi- 

 capped as has been the case with the milk goat. In Switzerland, 

 Italy, Germany, France, Norway, and Spain milk goats are largely 

 used by families not so situated as to permit keeping a cow. F. S. 

 Peer, a well-known American importer of live stock, after making an 

 investigation of the industry in Switzerland some years ago, stated 

 that "the goat of Switzerland is the Swiss peasant's cow and Swiss 

 baby's foster mother, a blessing to the sanitariums for invalids, and 

 a godsend to the poor." 



In England and in many other parts of Europe people who leave 

 the cities during the summer months either for their country homes 

 or for travel often take a milk goat with them so that the infant or 

 other members of the family may have a good supply of milk of uni- 

 form quality. Similar instances have been recorded in this country. 

 Xo other animal is so well adapted for such a purpose, and there is 

 probably no other country where goats are so much needed for such 

 a purpose as in the United States. 



The industry in the past has been greatly handicapped owing to 

 the scarcity of good goats for foundation herds. Only a few goats 

 have been imported, as will be noted later in discussing the different 

 breeds. Importations can not be made at the present time from 

 most of the countries where desirable goats are produced. But the 

 goats that have been imported have been quite widely distributed 

 and most of them seem to have done well under their new environ- 

 ment. 



