26 MODERN MILK GOATS 



or 150 gallons. The best grades and pure breds give 

 over a gallon when fresh and make a season's yield of 

 2000 to 2400 pounds. Well attested records of daily 

 yields of five and six quarts, or even more, are not infre- 

 quent among the better goats, and this yield is often 

 maintained for a considerable length of time. Some of 

 the highest season yields of which we have exact record 

 have been from 2400 to 3000 pounds. 



A good grade or pure bred will milk for a surprising 

 time if she is alloweil to go on without breeding and if 

 her sujjply of feed is carefully maintained. Instances 

 are known of goats still giving a fair yield two years 

 after freshening, while sixteen and eighteen months of 

 steady milking are fairly common. A goat that has this 

 ability to continue her flow of milk is of especial value 

 w^here the milk is needed for invalids or infants. 



Low Cost of Production. — What does it cost to 

 maintain the goats that produce these yields of milk? 

 The question will be answered first for the family goat, 

 for she is the foundation upon which the whole industry 

 rests. If a doe is kept entirely in confinement, and all 

 her feed is bouglit at retail j)rices, the cost per year may 

 run as high as .%'3.5. This is based on present prices 

 ( 1920) , reckoning alfalfa hay at $80 a ton and grain at 

 $50 a ton, and allowing the doe three-fourths of a ton 

 of hay and one-fourth of a ton of grain per annum. 



