46 MODERN MILK GOATS 



Still others, having the courage of their convictions, 

 will themselves purchase and maintain a pure bred buck 

 for the use of their own two or three does. This is ex- 

 pensive, and it is a great care to maintain a buck in 

 proper quarters and conditions, really too formidable a 

 task to undertake for the sake of a very few does. Still 

 worse, howe\'er, is the alternative, sometimes accej^ted, 

 to breed the good doe to a scrub or grade l)uck merely 

 for the sake of getting her fresh, and disregarding her 

 possibilities as a source of improved stock. 



The Kid Problem. — Akin to this problem of breed- 

 ing is that of the kids. If grades, l)uck kids will be killed 

 at birth, but the doe kids from good sires ought to be 

 raised. It takes milk, however, and lots of it, to raise 

 a kid right, and the goat is supposed to be the source of 

 the family supply. Here again various makeshifts are 

 attempted. Sometimes the kid gets the milk, and the 

 family does without. Sometimes there is enough for 

 both. Sometimes tlie kids are given away, or sold at a 

 small price to a neighbor who has cow milk with which 

 to raise tliem. 



The Solution. — None of these solutions are especially 

 satisfactory. The right answer to both of these vexa- 

 tious problems, the breeding and the kids, lies in the com- 

 munity herd. This is an institution not yet established 

 in America, but one which has for a long time been in 

 different stages of prosperous development in Europe. 



