Author Topic: Teats (Read 2971 times)

maddy · « **on:** September 17, 2014, 08:00:28 am »

Hi can anyone give me some advice on multiple teats.

Bought an expensive pure bred boer buck last year and put him to my 4 purebred boer females which had normal teats.

March produced 3 females + boys. The female kids all seem to have a variety of 1 normal teat plus either a small cluster of 2/3 little teats plus 1 normal, or 4 teats (2 on each side). I don't think they are fish teats as seem to be separate and dont appear to have an orifice.

What I would like to know is would this be inherited from the buck? From past generations? or just one of those flukes? Can they pass it on to their offspring? Can the doelings be registered? Should I not breed from them? As always is the case they are cracking, strong females.

Any help much appreciated. Thanks

cuckoo · « **Reply #1 on:** September 17, 2014, 09:38:58 am »

The BBGS produce a breed standard book which you can get from Tiff. This shows pictures of the teat formations which are more and less desirable. PM me and I can try to talk you through it if you like

Anke · « **Reply #2 on:** September 17, 2014, 09:52:12 am »

If ALL of your dams produced faulty teats, then the problem is certainly inherited from the male. If only one would have done that, it could have been concluded that that particular female produced the fault, but if all of your kids have faulty teats the finger can be clearly pointed to the male.

The genetic fault will almost certainly continue down the line, not in every generation but it will crop up again. If you want to sell sound offspring you can ruin your reputation quite quickly with one of these faults...

cuckoo · « **Reply #3 on:** September 17, 2014, 10:24:45 am »

Boer goats are primarily a meat breed of goat - the south African approach as far as I am aware is that teat formation must be functional I have pm'd you.

The breed standard for the Boer goat is available at
http://britishboergoatsociety.co.uk/about-the-bbgs/breed_standard/
The reference for the teats is
"Sexual organs

Females- well developed udder, with well-developed teats. Males- two moderately big, well-developed and healthy testes in one scrotum. The scrotums must not be split more than 2 inches. Both sexes, two teats are preferable but more are acceptable."

Refer to the breed booklet if you like - see my PM and if you send me your email I can scan the relevant pages for you to look at - or google the south African boer goat breed standard as they are on there too

Hope this helps

cockerhamgoats · « **Reply #4 on:** September 17, 2014, 10:37:08 am »

HI

I run a large herd of Meat goats based on the Boer.

From a personal point of view you should consider a lot of things before you make rash decisions on this male. Importantly - why are you breeding boers, is it for perfect boers or is it for meat goats? Perfect Boers will need you be harsher on the kids than comercially viable meat goats would.

The BBGS does not automatically exclude certain multiple teat formations and you should do as suggested already - see the breed standard booklets for pictures of acceptable teats if you are hopeing to register the kids.

However as a rule of thumb, we personally take an objective view of the teats and work out if the extras are going to affect suckling, if the answer is no then we do not consider them to be a cull fault (but remeber that we are a meat herd and are making choices for that use)

I can also say that whilst teats must be hereditary in some ways - it appears to me to be fairly random- We have bred from more than 10 Boer Bucks now, some with 2 teats and some with extras and the kids seem to come out random from either.

IF you choose to select only for the number of teats then you MUST NOT loose sight of the carcass conformation. It is all too easy to get hung up on 1 aspect of the goat and find yourself in a mess later down the line when all your goats have a different issue you had not noticed arriving. eg week pasterns or poor legs etc.

Make sure you always look at the bigger picture and if this male throws the best carcasses then don't disregard him for future breeding for having the wrong number of teats, just be aware of it and make sure that you put him only to the does with the teats you are most pleased with.

After all this is the essence of all breeding - put animals with complementary traits together and then only keep the ones which have taken the traits you desitred and remove those which have taken both the bad bits

Good luck with your breeding - Enjoy owning Boers they are a wonderful breed to have around.

jinglejoys · « **Reply #5 on:** September 19, 2014, 07:26:37 pm »

Lets hope no one buys any of his progeny to breed up from then,obviously someone had the same idea...doesn't matter keep stum and dump our buck with faulty genes on some other poor bugger.
I remember going to see a pedigree dairy nanny and when I got there the owner said "Oh by the way she has two extra teats,I usually cut them off but missed her" my answer was "Oh you've worked out how to cut off the genes too have you?" they had no answer to that.

Lesley Silvester · « **Reply #6 on:** September 19, 2014, 09:35:32 pm »

I bought a Saanen x Boer female who, at five weeks, had perfectly normal teats. After a few weeks one developed a fishtail. I posted a photo on here and several people suggested having her pts. I was also told it is fairly common in Boers. My vet had a look and said that he thought she would be able to feed young alright so I kept her.

She was mated with a pure Saanen and produced two live female kids one of which has two teats on one side. I had already decided that any kids she had were going for slaughter as I'm not prepared to sell a goat that could pass on this genetic disorder. They are such pretty girls and it's a shame but they are going in the new year.

Whatever you decide, these kids are very likely to produce kids of their own with problem teats. If they are only being bred for meat it may not be a problem but if you want to sell them, buyers should be made aware.