324 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA. 



bring them forage, clippings from the lawn, 

 refuse from the table and surplus vegetables- 

 from the garden. Children would often do the 

 milking, also, and the friendship between the 

 gentle goat and the appreciative children was 

 very real. 



The amount of milk given by a well bred goat 

 is extraordinary. From three to five quarts per 

 day are not uncommon in Europe and the period 

 of lactation is long. Some German authorities 

 assert that the goat often yields ten times the 

 weight of its body annually and that excep- 

 tional animals yield as much as eighteen times 

 their weight. 



It is a good goat of any breed that will yield 

 two quarts per day for seven or eight months 

 in the year. 



The flavor of goats' milk is good, if the goats 

 have good food. If they must subsist upon bit- 

 ter and ai'omatic brush or upon onions, and 

 refuse from the garden, there is danger of the 

 flavors reacting on the milk. Milch goats when 

 in use should be as carefully fed as dairj" cows, 

 given good wholesome sweet hay or clovers, al- 

 falfa, or dried lawn clippings. They should 

 have their ration of bran and oats, with a trifle 

 of oilmeal if the best is sought. At times when 

 Ihey are not in milk they may be permitted to 

 feast upon all' sorts of brush and weeds that 

 taste more palatable to them than to us. 



As to the amount of feed required, it is said 

 that eight goats require about the same amount 

 lof food as one cow. 



Milch goats need a comfortable, clean, dry 



