The nanny goat has few expenses: it is not given hay until it gives birth: it produces a lot more milk than a ewe does; it can be milked night and day for five months, and it produces up to four pints of milk per day: the cheese made from the milk is not bad.

A good nanny goat must be big in size, with a firm and light walk, soft and bushy hair, big and long teats, a large rear, and large thighs.

This animal likes the mountains; it is sensitive to intense heat and cold; it is neat; the stable must be cleaned each day and fresh litter given.

One must keep it away from trees, to which it causes considerable damage by grazing on them: this damage is considerable enough that the law has ruled on it. See below , Nanny goats ( Jurisprudence ).

Nanny goats are led to the fields before the dew has disappeared: they are not kept in the barn except in winter and during harsh weather; they are fed little branches of vines, elm, ash, bramble, sweet chestnut, etc. and turnips, cabbage, etc. and are given water at night and in the morning; they are led to the fields, in the winter when the weather is good, from nine in the morning until five; in the summer, from daybreak until nine and from three until nightfall. They graze on bramble, thorns, shrubs, etc., the food in marshy areas is bad for them. They are in heat from the month of September until the end of November. They are fed hay a few days before they give birth and for a while after; they are not milked until fifteen days after they have given birth. They suffer a lot in labor. One must remove the young goats from those who are only a year old and give them to the others; not leave them to their mothers until the latter are three years old, and only leave them one: they nurse for one month; the young goat can be removed at two weeks.

The nanny goat is subject to the same diseases as the ewe ( see Ewe); it is sometimes attacked by a putrid fever; then the goat is isolated and bled. When it becomes sick due to water retention for having drunken too much water, it is pricked beneath the shoulder, and the prick is covered with a plaster made of peas and lard. A swelling of the uterus also remains with it after it gives birth, for which it is given wine to drink. When the teat becomes dried as can happen in extreme heat, it is led to graze in the dew, and the teat is rubbed with cream.

There are Indian or North African nanny goats that produce three times more milk, whose cheese is better, which ordinarily give birth to two kids, and which have hair that is more delicate and thicker than ours: it is said that the Dutch and the English make good use of them. There are some of them in Provence, where their kids are called besons.