THE KEEPING OP MILKING GOATS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 81, 31 December 1918, Page 8

THE KEEPING OP MILKING GOATS

| NEW ZEALAND' OPPORTUNITIES.' j The following appears in the December Issue of tho Ncn Zealand "Journal of Agriculture" :— I "The whole subject of the keeping of joats for milking purposes deserves far more attention in Sw Zealand than it Is at present receiving. We have only fo look round and seo the large number jf unoccupied or partly occupied sections, and patches of rough hilly ground growing nothing -but scrub and wends adjacent to many workers' homes, to recognise that there is a splendid,opening for people with limited capital to bring these into profitable use with much benefit to themselves and good results to tho land. Thousands of acres at present lying idle in small patches all over the country could be leased at a bevo -nominal rent, or .even eccur.cd rentfree in return for keeping down the weeds. Again, many homo sections in Dur outer suburban districts are largo mough to run a milking-goat; tethering an be largely practised in such situations.. .. "Goats as a means for supplying tho home with a puro wholesome milk have, jndeed, been woefully neglected in (his iountry, especially when we seo what beneficial advances have been made in that respect all over tho world. This apathy is probably largely duo to Ihe fact that animals of good milking-strains have not been imported, Tho best milkers are found in tho ToggenburgSwiss and tho Anglo-Nubian breeds and their crosses.- It is not unusual for these animals to reach a .yield of three Dr four quarts per day. Goats, it may be mentioned, follow closely upon tho linos of sheep in breeding and mating."