The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Lesley Silvester on October 06, 2012, 04:22:51 pm
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When I bought Cloud I checked her teats and they both looked normal. Now one is developing an extra end. Has anyone seen anything like this before and what can I do about it?
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Pray to gods both orifices (orifi??) aren't functioning!
Millicents left teat is like that, and when being milked spirts 2 jets at right angles to each other >:( I CANNOT milk her into a bucket, it is impossible to get both streams in ???
I dried her off as I was narked off with wasting milk. I did have some success milking her into a jar held so the teat was inside but that was a nause too.
I feel a milking machine will be the only way, or just let her rear meat kids herself and rely on the others for milk for the table.
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Oh dear :(
It looks like what is called a "fish-tail teat" so called because of the shape obviously. It is a deformity, and is generally a secondary (usually false- ie an invalid teat which won't have any milk come through it) which comes off at an angle to the main teat.
It doesn't mean that she is incapable of breeding, but you must be aware if you breed from her, the deformity may pass on to her offspring. Also, obviously it is going to be very difficult for a kid to suckle, or for you to milk her as the deformity will get in the way.
Personally I would not breed from her. Fish tail teats can develop (or become visible) after the goat is a few weeks old. It is useful to keep a check on how their teats are doing as they grow.
I'm sorry to break the news :(
Beth
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Trust Millie to have both holes functioning!
Fortunately she was able to rear her kids splendidly!
I would also mention it to her breeder though incase she isn't aware of this in her goats ;)
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That's not good news. I bought her to use for milking and she came from a farm where they keep goats for dairy purposes so I can't imagine her mother had the problem. They also have her grandmother who is used for milk production.
She was five weeks old when I got her and it was only noticed when she was having her hooves trimmed a month ago. Today it looked a bit bigger. I wonder if the vet can remove it. I suppose I could breed from her but use the kids for meat.
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Sadly a highly inheritable trait........most breeders will check for signs of this carefully, particularly when the kid is 'out' at disbudding time. At one time, before meat kids werein vogue, these kids showing signs of fish tail teats were PTS.
There are more about these days because the huge dairy herds are not as scrupulous about checking. Also, a lot a new goatkeepers buying from commercial herds, assume that all will be well.......sadly finding out later that the opposite is the case. It is only perhaps 2 generations down the line, this fish tail deformity reappears with the sad result identified.
I personally, however well bred a kid is, would put such an animal to sleep.
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Don't dispair MGWoM, you could use one of thoses eze milker thingies of get a milking machine. I would just be careful to make sure no kids are kept to pass the trait on ;)
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Trouble is Farmed Dairy goats usually come from farms that were former Cattle Dairy farms and they never bothered about it on their cows which is why they are rife in cattle.Someone recently told me about their goat "If I'd've seen them earlier I'd've cut them off" I told him you can cut out the teat but you can't cut out the gene" He'd never thought of that! I wonder how many others just cut the teat off and carry on.I know Pygmy goats have them and it can lead to the loss of the kids
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I persoally would NOT breed from her and if I sold one of my kids and she would come out with fishtail teats later I would refund the money or exchange the kid for a sound one, and deal with the kid myself. As a breeder I would be glad (in a sad kind of way) if that were pointed out to me, as it would mean I could check the parent stock, not repeat the mating etc etc.
However I think there are some breeders out there who would just "snip" them off.... but it could also be that this was "out of the blue" for the breeder.... :-\
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I had decided to continue to breed from Millicent but her kids male or female would go in my freezer. I am assuming there is no ethical problem with this? I could not bear to 'get rid' of Millie now, but she does have to earn her keep somehow :-\
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I had decided to continue to breed from Millicent but her kids male or female would go in my freezer. I am assuming there is no ethical problem with this? I could not bear to 'get rid' of Millie now, but she does have to earn her keep somehow :-\
No I don't think there is a problem with it if you are able to eat any of her kids - but lots of people would find it difficult. And if you have found a way of using her milk than maybe that is the solution for you. But everybody has to find their own I guess....
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CW I feel the same way about Cloud. I wouldn't be keeping her kids as I don't have the space but I would have sold any females but I think they will just have to go for meat. I will get my vet to have a look and see if it can be removed though. Otherwise it might mean a milking thingy, which I might have to get anyway because of my hand. :(
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If you are considering the udderly eezy (I remembered ;D ) anyway then I wouldn't worry!
It is a shame about not being able to sell on the nanny kids but these things happen eh?
I shall always put Millicent to a boer billy now, she did her kids so well this year I couldn't believe it!
I probably won't try and milk her again TBH but at least this way she isn't simply an expensive pet ;D
It is a shame though as she threw the prettiest polled nanny twins this year :(
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Get your vet just to have a look , but you may be able to feel urself if the milk duck in side the teat is split . I would personally not breed the animal but thats my choice . You need to make the breeder you got her from aware even if it was a commercial herd as it may be comming from a certain line . It use to be very common years ago and was often found in differant lines and could be traced back to certain males or females . Remember if you take your females to a male to use at stud to check he does not have any extra teats , as some people will snip them of a stud male if he is really well bred rather than culling him !!!!! as dont forget it can be inherited from the male line TOO !!!! Many years ago the best BA i ever bred kidded twin females both with extra teats :-( Then when i bred her again the kids were born again with extra teats :-( I never bred her again and she ended up as a house goat such a shame . At a show i was asked by a well none BA breeder ( Macness prefix) That lovely BA of yours did she ever have any female kids , when i explained what had happened and told her the breeding she told me there and then where it had come from it was in her sires line .
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Thinking now that I may well need extra freezer space. What's the betting that when her time comes, she has female kids? Still she's half Boer so they should be good for meat especially if I mate her with another Boer.
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You have just answered the query in the back of my mind.............fishtail teats are common in Boers.....it is said that some strains actually have 4 working orifices. Whether this is due to a connection with some of other breeds in Africa who are prized for 4 teats....this connection would go back 200 years or more.....I dont suppose it is known.
I had assumed we were discussing a swiss type breed where of course fishtail teats are a no no.......but in Boer/Boer crosses, this can crop up.
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Glad you mentioned this as I had thought I would cross Pom with a Boer to get meat kids, if I can't find a pure Sanaan. I won't now. Cloud was bought in when my old girl died earlier this year.
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Thinking now that I may well need extra freezer space. What's the betting that when her time comes, she has female kids? Still she's half Boer so they should be good for meat especially if I mate her with another Boer.
Someone like myself mite want a doe as a friend for there other goat :goat:
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Someone like myself mite want a doe as a friend for there other goat :goat:
I'll have a think but I will need a companion for Pom when Curry goes for slaughter. I really want to have two milkers as well.
What makes it worse is that she was a birthday present from my OH who doesn't really want to have goats anyway.
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That does make it more difficult !!!!! I would breed from her for your own use....you know that anything you keep will carry this genetic fault.
Certainly anything that is surplus is meat/freezer material. Perhaps any youngsters that are retained wear a different colour collar/or same as Mum's. That way they easily identified.
It is probable the next generation...if mated to swiss male...wont have this issue.......because the kid will effectively be threequarters swiss.
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I don't have problems identifying mine as there are so few of them and Cloud would be the only one to kid that year. Do you think it's worth the risk of keeping a female kid if I use a Sanaan male? I suppose by the time any kids are ready for slaughter, fish tails will have appeared if they're going to.
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IMO if you would be keeping any female kids it wouldn't be a problem ethically.
I wouldn't feel happy selling a female from Millicent even if she didn't show the trait as I know she would be carrying it :-[
But having said that, there is no Boer in Millie at all so as Cloud is part Boer it may be acceptable?
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I wouldn't risk selling one but just keep one for my own use.
It's all academic anyway because if the doctors can't sort my mobility out, I might not be able to keep the goats I've got. Trying to be positive though and act as if I'll have goats for the foreseeable.