Double teat

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I don't know how I missed it when she was born but I have a first freshner that has a double teat. It's sorta like a Y. If I had caught this at birth would I have been able to remove the extra teat? Is this inherieted. She's 3/4 Saanan and 1/4 nubian , very pretty and her mom is an excellant milker.

-- sherry mullins (chickadee259@yahoo.com), December 17, 2001

Answers

sherry, does milk come from both ends of the Y???

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 17, 2001.

Don't know for sure. Her little udder is about a big handful and all three have a crusty covering over the tip ( I didn't look I just felt, really don't know why I didn't look while I had her on the stand) While I was feeling I felt like milk would come out of both, I'll check for sure when I go back to the barn.

-- sherry (chickadee259@yahoo.com), December 17, 2001.

sherry, I am sorry......I think I misunderstood you. When you said first freshner I thought she was already in milk. The reason I asked was because you asked if it could have been taken care of at birth. It is my understanding (never had it so I am a poor one to talk about it) that if it is just a "scur" type off the side of a teat, that it can be snipped off at birth without problem. If it is a "true" double teat with an orifice it is a bit more complicated.

A teat irregularity is a disqualifier for showing and it is my understanding that it is very inherited.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 17, 2001.


Great answer from Diane. May want to check her mom for the tell-tale signs of her teats that may have been cut off. Or her Dad. We have had extra teats in a LaMancha bloodline, they were small nubbie protrusions in the location extra cow teats would be in, not the spur teat or fish teat that you are describing. A vet can take care of it with a snip and suture, if it is cut off and it does have an orifice, which it does if it is crusted over, it will leak unless it is done correctly. Does with extra teats are said to be more prone to mastitis. Take that for what it is worth, just what folks say :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 18, 2001.

Not an answer, but another question. Someone mentioned checking the parents for extra teats; is this directly inherited from one generation to the next {is it dominant}, or can it skip like a recessive? We have some friends down the road with a Nubian/Boer cross doeling that has four teats, placed like a cow. The dam had the regular two, and I don't remember any scars indicationg that she'd had anything removed.

-Melody

-- Melody (thefarm@nstar.net), December 20, 2001.



Haven't a clue Melody. Was the crosses dam a Nubian or the Boer? The reason we don't have boers was because I couldn't stand the non- chalant attitude of boer breeders about their extra teats! The more boer percentage your crosses get the higher the number of extra teats! YICK! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.

Melody- extra teats are very definitely recessive, at least from what I have seen. This means that two normal looking goats with the normal number of teats can be bred together and produce a three or four teated kid! If one of the parents has extra teats, your chances of having kids that carry the gene are 100%. Whether or not they show the gene will all depend on the buck. If you have a kid with extra teats, it came from BOTH parents.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), December 21, 2001.

I talked to my neighbors, and while their doe {the dam} doesn't have extra teats, one of the girls remembers that the grand- dam {sire's dam} had "little bumps" on her teats, that leaked milk when she was milked. {these are unregistered, grade goats - now they are trying to breed up} I think I know what they're talking about as I have seen "leaky teats" in a goat before; I just thought they were warts until the milk started oozing out and getting my hands wet. {yuck} But this was not like a Y shaped teat, or even one with a clearly developed extra orafice. What is that "leaky teat wart" condition called?

There's not a way to check the buck - he went to the sale barn a long time ago. Could this be coming from one side of the family? Their Nubian doe {the dam} is not bad at all, and they want to get her registered as a recorded grade. What do you think the chances are that she will throw another "cow" if she is bred to a different buck?

-- Melody (thefarm@nstar.net), December 21, 2001.


If a goat has extra teats or bumps like etra teats, it came from BOTH sides of the family. Whether or not kids would have extra teats when dam is bred to a different buck, all depends on the buck, on whether or not he is carrying that recessive gene. The BEST way to tell if he is, is to breed him to a doe with extra teats! If the kids have extra teats, then he is carrying the gene. This will not be 100% reliable until you have several kids from him, and does with extra teats. If he has 6 or 7 kids from extra teated does, and the kids are fine, you can be fairly confident he doesn't carry the gene.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), December 21, 2001.

I know in LaMancha there is a bloodline that carried the gene. Use a buck from the bloodline, even on your single teated does, and you will get spare teats. Have them register the doe, native on apperance, breed the doe to a good Nubian buck, and if her kids have any extra teats, throw away the papers! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 21, 2001.


Can someone tell me the difference between double teat, spurs etc. Also what do they look like? Any sites with pictures?

-- Trisha-MN (coldguinea@netscape.net), January 10, 2002.

Apart from disqualification in showing, is there any practical impediment in double teats?

-- Gregory Barton (gbmillion@hotmail.com), March 05, 2003.

Yeah, they're a pain to milk. It's really hard to get two streams of milk from one teat, to end up in the bucket. And it's also a recessive gene, which means that if a goat has it, her kids have a 50% or greater chance of having it too.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 06, 2003.

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