ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 235 



Flocks of grade animals rather than pure bloods 

 seem best for the average farmer. They need to be 

 hardy and good rustlers. For this purpose, a founda- 

 tion of Merino crossed on Down or Dorset breed is 

 suggested by those experienced in sheep husbandry. 



GOATS 



Goats, the number of which was 3475 in 1910, are 

 widely and rather uniformly distributed throughout 

 the State. There are a few milch goats. For several 

 years a herd of fifteen was kept by the State Experi- 

 ment Station at Geneva and a study made of the cost 

 of production of goat's milk and of its food proper- 

 ties. The average yearly production of ten animals 

 during three years was 800 pounds of milk. The 

 range was from 307 to 1845 pounds. The average 

 food cost of the milk was four cents a quart which 

 should be compared with 0.93 cent a quart in a herd 

 of twenty-five Jerseys during the same period. This 

 was in the years 1910-1912 inclusive. The total 

 solids during the summer months was about 11.5 per 

 cent. The percentage of fat was about 3.6, but in 

 both respects a large variation was noticed for indi- 

 vidual animals. No appreciable difference from 

 cow's milk in composition was found. As a food for 

 infants it has one advantage due to the finer curd it 

 forms which makes it more easily digested than cow's 

 milk. On this showing of efficiency there is no prom- 

 ise that goats will be a substitute for cows except in 

 the few circumstances where the latter can not be kept. 



