GOATS

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13850, 9 November 1918, Page 6

GOATS

A SENSIBLE NEW FASHION. Goats are in vogue again. In suibistainc© tiixis is the announcement in articles appearing in recent issues of The Country Gentleman (Philadelphia., June, 1918) and The Nation's Business (Washington, D. C, July, 1918.) Milk, along with .all other dietary items, has gone skyrocketing in price, and one way to solve the high cost of living problem' and at the same time give the baibies of tjhis country a better chance for healthy growth, is to cultivate a taste for goats' mdlk. , I It is maintained that alamost evirey family can afford to' have its own "backyard cow." Those who oan- . not may purchase the. condensed • variety, which is now being placed on the market by a firm operating a large fairni near King City, Monterey iCounity, California. The Nfation's Business says: "Goat mdlk is. milk • with" mdonofbe® left out. Therefore, , for the sake of the 1 babies of the land, if for no other reason, it should h/atve been popularised and exploited long ago. Thig milk has for ages been a favourite article of diet in many European countries, and Americans who have lived in 'goat lands' prefer it, especially for/use in coffee, to cow's mdlk. You may not like it the first time you iay.it (you-may not have .liked green olives the first time), but you ©an cultivate a taste for it. "It remained for Americans to solve the difficulties of condensing and canning the milk. Tihe canned product means' more goat dairies, less "disease, better babies. "That last is a message of the goat to tihe mothers of America. Goats are immune'to' tuberculosis and a lot of other maladies winch attack the cow. From the standpoint .of nourishment v their milk ranik© next after that oif tihe ass, and tihe milk of that animal most nearly approximates human milk. "A famous physician, a specialist in diseases of children caused ivy ■malnutrition, wiho hold® a record, for mumiber of cures, always presicri'bes goat milk instead of the- prepared 'baby foods.' "What eivery mother knows or should know is- that the milk fed to 3ier baby has nearly ail to do with Its* health and growth. Realising this, western industry has set itself to getting goat milk into cans f<«r the use of . those who can-not have goate of their own. "What is 'believed to 'be the biggest goat industry in the world has foeeri founded, and Is now in operation^ in Monterey. County, Oailiiformia, near King .City. In King City is the only: gouit-milk condensing and canning plant in existence. "Tiiei ranch'is. stocked witih the Jimest Swisgi and Nubian goats, and omly help familiar with the goat and its care is employed. All the milk produced is p canned. This is necessary because the goat cannot be depended on for a. steady supply of irpdlk at all times, as can tihe cow Sew the larger part of the year. . . . The goat has very truthfully ibeen said to be the poor man's cow. A :good grade goat costs less than a. cow to begin with, and it eats less. It requires less room, and causes lesstrouble. "Capracuilture, the science of gont raising 1 and ibreeding, is toouind to ■(become popular with, us, just as •cihickens and sheep and pdgst have jumped into favour in the., past. •Eight goats can be kept . for the cost of keeping one cow." Concerning the upkeep of the family cow and the food value of goat's milk amd its products, The Country Gentleman states: —■ . ' "An exih.aujs.tive series of tests with milch goats has been Claimed on under Professor Gordon H. True, of the University of Caiiaiomia. farm at Davis, during the last two years. "The conclusions reached bear out the pracbicial experience of miilcih<goat owners in that State*—that the milch goat will make an efficient and economical 'family cow' for tihe city man wiho has a fair-size back yard or the suburbanite -who is not

able to keep' a cow. . . Demand for goat?s milk is now for children and invalids. Its composition is such that it is easily assimikited, and scientists say the goat is- almost entirely immune from tuberculosis. The doe weighs only a, little more than 100 pounds and. is easily transported as a. travelling oonTipainikin o5 the invalid or baiby compelled to seek a change in climate.

"Cheese from goat's milk isi extensively used in Europe and butter is made to somie extent. France;, the Bureau of Animal Industry informs us, has a big goat—chees© industry based on- the special demand for .cheese of distinctive flavour, odor | and texture. , "As a commiercial proposition, ' however, it is douibtful if the goat . will even compete with the cow . in . staples. MUch goats appear "to belong to the superintensiive' agi-ioul-I tua-al "scihe-m© which comes with deni sity of population. ! ( "Pi-ofes®or Yooa-hies, of the Oali- ; fornia exprnment. station, discovered I a number oif places, into which the ( milch goat fits very well. He points j out that a. single goat, like a doosen j hens 1, could be kept by a. city family at low cost on kitchen wiaste, liaiwn clippings, grass fromi the adjoining vacant lot and a, little comcentipated .feed which must be purchiaeed."