| Author | Message | ||
     Barbra Schaener New member Username: falla Post Number: 10 Registered: 04-2006 Rating: N/A |
Maggie you are awesome! I have read thru this forum and found that you have the voice of reason. What you say is what I was feeling, but I'm so new getting back to this that I thought perhaps I wasn't 'thinking clearly'. I know that not everyone would agree with what you've said and how I feel, that's ok. I am, as I said, in this for a different reason than many others out there. I like the kid and I'll figure out what she's got and we'll work from there. Once again, thanks! I feel very comfortable posting here, whereas on a couple of yahoo lists I've seen people 'burned' for posting what seem to me to be innocent questions or comments and I don't want to go there. You don't know how releaved I am to have found this forum!!! I'm off to my outside job, <pout> I SO want to stay home with the goats..... Falla Falla's Lush Acres Dairy | ||
| Maggie Leman Moderator Username: maggieleman Post Number: 813 Registered: 07-2005  Rating: |
If extra nipples (and teat spurs) were so easy to breed out goats wouldn't have them any more. If she is nice and you like her keep her. Plenty of fine working girls have extras. She may or may not produce kids with mammary faults. You may have one or more of your perfectly normal girls produce kids with extra teats or spurs. Look at the end of the teat to see if you see an orifice. You may have to wait until she is 4 to 6 months old to really tell, but I can usually see what I need to see when my pygmies are about 8 to 10 weeks old. Really this is a very minor thing! And to tell you the truth MANY MANY SHOW goats were born with extras and spurs and have had them cosmetically removed. This may be an ethical issue to some. You have to make up your own mind. Me, personally, I just would like to know before I buy her whether this was done. And I have bought goats and used them for breeding that I very well knew had had an extra removed. Any long time breeder that tells you they have never had a doe with an extra or a teat spur must not be looking very hard! It is usually only a disqualifying fault for bucks to have a mammmary fault, it is not disqualifying for does. Bucks theoretically can genetically influence a great many more goats than an individual doe can. Maggie Leman Goat 911 Capri Medic | ||
| Barbra Schaener New member Username: falla Post Number: 9 Registered: 04-2006 Rating: N/A |
Maggie, This is a little nubian. How developed do they have to be to figure out which type they are (functional or not)? Perhaps this is just something I should have a vet look at. I am anxious to not make a mistake here. I have since read that this is not an animal that I should consider using for breeding. What is your opinion? I am trying to get a good base for establishing a dairy. My goal it to have a grade A dairy, and I don't want to make any mistakes that I will be regretting down the road. I have started out with very nice, registered, show quality Alpine does. They are lovely, offer alot of milk, and I know that they were a good choice. These nubians were more of a spur moment choice, having raised nubians as a youngster I really, really wanted to have them in my herd. While I don't think it is absolutely necessary to have registered, show goats as dairy stock, I do believe that I need to make sure I'm not starting off on the wrong foot. I look forward to hearing your opinion. They are young and now would be the time to cut, without spending more time/money on them. I know you can't give an absolute statement without seeing them, I'm just asking for an educated opinion. Falla Falla's Lush Acres Dairy | ||
| Maggie Leman Moderator Username: maggieleman Post Number: 809 Registered: 07-2005 Rating: |
This fault is amazingly common especially in meat goats. Any mammal including humans can have supranummarary teats, or extra nipples. Some are distinctly separate and called extra teats, some appear as a "branch" off the main teat and are called teat spurs. Sometimes the main teat is doubled (looks like 2 teats fused together with 2 orifices on teh end) and is called a bufurcal or fishtail teat. Most of the time extra teats are "blind" they have no orifice and don't function. I sometimes have them removed (after I am sure they are not functional) if they are going to interfere with milking. This can be a major fault in the showring and any buck with any of these faults is often disqualified from showing and from even being registered as a buck. Maggie Leman Goat 911 Capri Medic | ||
| Barbra Schaener New member Username: falla Post Number: 7 Registered: 04-2006 Rating: N/A |
I just posted a note about a pimplely sore on my kids butt. The same kid has, I just noticed, a third nipple. It's right beside the one nipple, as tho trying to put two in the same place. I tried to do a search to see if anyone else had posted something like this before, but don't find anything. If anyone can give me some hints as to what I'm supposed to do I'd appreciate it! Thanks! Falla Falla's Lush Acres Dairy |
