With escalating prices of imported milk powder:

Crowning the goat as the queen of milk

L. P. Samarasinghe

The State, many private institutions, and individuals have been jolted to the realisation that the country needs to build its milk industry, in the context of the escalating prices of imported milk powder.

Some speak of the foreign milch cow, others of the heavy milking Indian Murrah buffalo. In the climate of indecision, is it not wise to pause and ponder, and not hastily rush in and probably burn oneself, and not just the fingers.

For extensive dairying, the country will require land. Land is also extensively required for vegetable and fruit crops. Tea, rubber, and coconut, three major crops have taken up land and are well established.

Inter-cropping goes on and cattle and goats are run on some of them, but for a concerted effort in building up a milk industry more thought must be directed to the type of ruminant the country should foster. The neglected village agriculture will require land if it is to expand. Milch cattle will require a considerable acreage.

Stall-feeding will afford an opportunity for work to the village unemployed youth, provided the present day trousered youth will not think it infra dig. With good quality grass, which the cow responds to, the land requirement will be lower, than that required by the grazing animal. The grazing cow will take up land which will otherwise be taken by the farmer to grow vegetables.

It has been estimated that a cow and its calf will require as much as 30 acres of land. On that extent the goat will be prodigiously productive. Many foreign companies, which are now Ceylonised, are seeing vistas opening for intrusion into agriculture, both plant and animal.

With the animal entering into the equation, it will be advisable to assess the relative importance of the cow as compared to the goat and their importance to the economy.

The cow which is a temperate zone animal will do well in the colder climes of the upcountry hills, but land is taken up predominantly by tea. In the gullies and ravines grows luscious grass which permit the rearing of animals, chiefly cows, though the goat too has been permitted a corner.

The goat, however, is found in larger numbers in lower altitudes where soil is more gravelly; harbouring hardier thorny plants which are often used for hedges.

The goat is reputed to have the toughest mouth amongst ruminants and readily takes up coarse fodder even with low nutrient content, making it very productive in a country like Sri Lanka where much of the vegetation is relatively succulent.

Hardy, thorny plants are relished. Briefly put the goat is the best choice for Lanka's tropical climate, and chiefly in the flat lowlands where rainfall is rather low. The goat prefers dryness.

Before going further, those entrusted with the onerous task of nurturing animal husbandry in a predominantly agricultural country must investigate and make use of all knowledge relating to the cow and the goat. The milk of the cow contains a high percentage of the amino acid histamine which tend to bring on rashes.

Sudden unexplained deaths of new born babies up to the age of about six months has been traced to the consumption of the milk of the cow. Mothers in their hurry to wean babies either due to ill health or unavailability of time, rush for the cheaper milk of the cow, only to unexpectedly lose the child and believe it is fate, though in reality it is anaphylactic shock, which is the body's refusal to accept a foreign protein.

The allergies that are brought on by the milk of the cow are legion. Neurotic indigestion, constipation, insomnia, peptic ulcer, air passage complications like runny nose, sneezing, watering eyes, vomiting, colic diarrhoea and migraine headaches, nettle-rash, eczema, dermatitis, and even asthma is aggravated by cow milk.

With all these known draw backs caused by cow milk the sensible alternative is the presently costlier milk of the goat, which is known to be next to the milk of the human mother.

Though presently expensive with sustained rearing goat milk price will move down. The cost of mediation to the State will come down. The misery of patients will be a thing of the past, and the goat will be crowned Queen. The only known permanent remedy for Asthma which is known to harass 300 million people around the world is the milk of the goat.

Western doctors who treat patients symptomatically offer drugs which are only temporary palliatives. The permanent cure is the milk of the goat, which should be an essential in mans daily. The cup of coffee tea or cocoa should all carry goat milk for a health nation. The great secret is that unlike the cow that is confined to grass, known for its low nutritive properties, the goat nibbles on a variety of herbs.

The tourist industry will be able to offer kid meat to foreign travellers to whom it will be like venison, a gourmet's delight. Goat milk will be the panacea for all allergies, including those caused by the consumption of cow milk. Both babies and adults will find it a miracle food, like a food of the Gods.