THE MILCH GOAT IN CALIFORNIA 93 



Other sources give the composition of goats ' milk as follows : 



i 



Casein and 



Authority Water Fat albumen Sugar Ash 



per cent per cent per cent per cent per cent 



Kenessc 85.50 4.80 5.00 4.00 .70 



Landweinth 85.60 4.60 4.80 4.30 



Hoffman 86.19 4.73 3.68 4.50 .90 



Koenig 86.88 4.07* 3.76 4.64 .85 



* Variations, 2.29-7.55 per cent (compiled from about 100 analyses). 



Flavor and Odor of Goats' Milk. Many people believe that all 

 goats' milk has a peculiar "goaty" odor and taste. This is not, how- 

 ever, necessarily the case. A disagreeable flavor is oftentimes due to 

 the presence of a buck in the milking herd ; it may also come from the 

 feeding of improper feed. Provided good feed and care are given 

 the doe, and the milk is produced under sanitary conditions, no dis- 

 agreeable odor or flavor is found in goats' milk, although it has a 

 distinct flavor, different fram that of cows' milk. 



Length of Lactation Period. Some of the common goats milk for 

 only four or five months ; on the other hand, it is not easy to ' ' dry up ' ' 

 many well-bred does even after they have been milking for ten months. 

 The common goat herd may be improved, however, by the use of pure- 

 bred bucks of known milking strains. A good milch goat should give 

 milk for at least eight months. 



USES OF GOATS' MILK 



Direct Consumption. Goats' milk is a common article of diet 

 throughout Europe. Foreign writers agree in attesting to the value 

 of goats' milk for invalids and children. Physicians give testimony 

 as to the beneficial use of goats' milk for infant feeding. 



The following quotation from the annual report of the Geneva, 

 N. Y., Agricultural Experiment Station for 1915 is of interest in this 

 connection : 



During the past few years the Station has maintained a herd of milch goats 

 for the purpose of studying not only the cost of maintenance but also the adapt- 

 ability of the milk to certain uses. The most striking results so far secured 

 relate to the feeding of goats' milk to infants. The Station has had the oppor- 

 tunity of supplying this milk to a fairly large number of very young children 

 who were in serious physical condition, due to their inability to properly digest 

 and assimilate either modified cows' milk or any of the commercial infants' foods 

 that were tried. In nearly all cases of this kind, the physical condition of the 

 children has been built up, and satisfactory growth has been brought about by 

 the use of goats' milk. It is not entirely clear why this milk has proved to be 

 so efficient a food in the instances under observation. 2 



2 New York (Geneva) Agric. Ex. Sta,, Bull. 413, p. 639. 



