Prize winners at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.
he Angora goat should not be classed with milch animals. As a rule the does give a sufficient amount of milk to nourish the kid or kids. The more common blood there is in the goat the better milch animal she is. However, some Angoras have been milked, and the milk is as rich as that of the common goat. A quart of milk a day may be considered a fair average for a fresh milch Angora doe. It has been suggested that because the milk of the goat contains a heavy percentage of fat, it is a proper substitute for mothers' milk for babies. This is probably a mistake, as that part of the milk which is the hardest for the baby to digest is the protein, and it will be observed that in the following table of analysis submitted, the percentage of protein in goat's milk and in cow's milk is about the same, and that it is considerably larger than in mother's milk. A very desirable feature in goat's milk is that the fat is distributed throughout the milk, and that it does not readily separate from the milk. This would assist in the assimilation of the fat by an infant. Some experiments made with coffee demonstrate that it requires half the quantity of goat's milk to produce the same effect upon this beverage which cow's milk produces. This may be partially explained by the quantity of fat in goat's milk, and partially by the fact that the fat does not readily separate from the milk. The bottom of the can is as good as the top.
ANALYSIS OF MILK.
| MOTHER'S AVERAGE | COW'S AVERAGE | GOAT'S AVERAGE | |
| Fat | 4.00 | 3.50 | 7.30 |
| Sugar | 7.00 | 4.30 | 4.10 |
| Proteid | 1.50 | 4.00 | 4.18 |
| Salts | .20 | .70 | 1.21 |
| Water | 87.30 | 87.50 | 83.21 |
| —— | —— | —— | |
| 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
Persons in poor health have been greatly benefitted by the use of goat's milk. This is probably due to the fact that the fat in the milk is so distributed that a large percentage of it is taken up by the digestive apparatus. Angora goats are docile, and it is possible that some of them could be developed into good milch animals.