Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1926 [PAGE 29]

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26

board of trustees

[September 26,

4. "The fat of goat's milk is more digestible than that of cow's milk, because the fat globules of goat's milk are smaller than those of cow's milk. It is, therefore, in better emulsion and offers a greater surface for the action of the digestive ferments." T h e size of the fat globules of milk1 is not necessarily a criterion of fat digestibility. Ninety-one percent of goat's milk fat globules are under four microns in diameter; 9 0 % of the cow's milk fat globules are over four microns, while h u m a n milk fat globules attain a size of thirty-two microns in diameter. If size of globules were the great factor of milk-fat digestibility, goat's milk, from the standpoint of fat would be better than cow's milk, and both goat's and cow's milk would be superior to h u m a n milk in infant feeding. Certain German observers2 hold that the fat of goat's milk under action of digestive ferments splits more readily into the lower fatty acids than the fat of cow's milk. They believe that the absorption of these lower fatty acids in infant feeding causes destruction of the red blood cells and produces a rather severe anemia in children (Ziegenmilchanemie). 5. "As goats rarely have tuberculosis, the universal adoption of goat's milk in feeding infants and children would save approximately 11,000 lives and would prevent about 1 0 % of all the tuberculosis occurring in the United States annually." Standard methods of the production of cow's milk (use of the tuberculin test, sanitary handling, and pasteurization) m a k e cow's milk as safe as goat's milk. T h e goat is subject to garget, Malta fever (fatal cases of which have been reported to a point as far north as Utah), and foot and mouth disease, all of which are milk borne. Unless the goat's milk were delivered on the hoof, as in certain European countries, it would be safe for h u m a n consumption only where handled in accordance with the standard methods used for cow's milk. The tendency of goats to browse omnivorously makes their milk more likely to be toxic than that of the cow. A number of cases have been reported in which severe symptoms of poisoning have been produced in users of goat's milk without the goats showing any signs of illness. 6. "If goat's milk is properly produced and handled, there should not be any goaty odor." There is a very strong prejudice among the majority of Americans against goats, their odors, and theflavorof their milk. T h e goaty odor of goat's milk comes from the hair and the dirt which fall into it from the body of the animal and by absorption w h e n the doe is milked near the buck. If the doe is fed and milked under highly sanitary conditions, no disagreeable odor or flavor is found in goat's milk, altho its taste is distinctly different from cow's milk. This difference seriously reduces its desirability in the minds of the average Americans. 7. "Remarkable results in certain cases have followed artificial feeding of infants with goat's milk." T h e truth of this claim is unquestioned. A few infants have an idiosyncrasy to cow's milk. It disagrees with them even w h e n carefully produced and modified. This condition is probably due to anaphylaxis to cow's protein and is similar to asthma or hives (urticaria), caused by the inhalation or ingestion of protein to which the individual is peculiarly susceptible. In these rare cases goat's milk is useful, but as they occur only about once in 10,000 cases, they do not create a large market for goat's milk. (8) "Goat's milk has been very efficacious in 'rheumatism.' " Pharmacologists do not record that goat's milk contains any substance capable of producing a definite and characteristic effect valuable in the treatment of arthritis.

ECONOMY OF PRODUCTION

Jordan and Smith' report a feed cost of production in the case of one Saanan goat of 1.27 cents per quart of milk. T h e average feed cost for all goats under their investi•Schultz, E. W., and Chandler, L. R., "Silt of Fat Globuks in Goat's Milk." Jour. Biol. Chem., 1921, 46.133. Bulletin. H., and Smith, G. A., Goal's M (1917). Infant Fading, New York Agricultural Experimental Station O921). No. 429, Geneva, New York. 1013.Med. Wochsft. 1922,60. Dettweiler, Utter Zierenmilchancmic. Munch. Med. Wochsft. 1922, 69. M Jar *StoeltzneT,W.,UiberZif(ntnilclumnntf. Munch. •Jordan, W .