My first Nigerian doe that I bought last summer had two kids this spring, a buckling and a doeling. I sold the buckling as a wether pet and was planning on keeping the doeling until I discovered she had an extra teat. I decided the best thing would be for her to be a pet only and sold her without registration to a really good pet only home. My doe doesn't have any extra teats and neither did the buck she was bred to. I'm wondering if she shouldn't be bred again, I don't want this to happen in the future. So I guess I'm wondering if this is likely to happen again or is it pretty rare? I use my goats for milking and would love to eventually get involved in showing. Any advice?
Third teats are not uncommon......no reason not to breed her (the mother doe)....you just don't want to breed the offspring that has the three teats....it can happen to the boys too so you don't want to breed them either.
the idea is that you dont want to breed those two animals together again. Sometimes its just random other times a doe will consistently throw them so watch next year and see if the kids have any extra teats, most likely they will not
Thanks everyone. I feel much better about having my doe bred this fall. I was so sad to find the extra teat, the doeling was the first ever kid born on our farm...& she was also the only doeling the other 5 kids were bucklings!
Aww it's tempting to get a buckling, seems like it would be more convenient. I bet he's sweet! Eventually I'd like to have my own buck but I only have two does and one doeling that's just 3 months old right now so I think I'll wait a couple years before I get one
I know of a buck who, near as the owner and breeder knew didn't have any spur teats, yet upon examination he did. He had already sired many kids non of which had a spur teat. As well as at least 8 grandkids on the ground and non of them had it either.
It is very much a random thing, however, i wouldnt repeat the breeding just to err on the side of caution. While on the subject has anyone ever attempted to remove the extra teat like they do on dairy cattle? When discovered on baby heifers we use dog claw trimmer and cut them off at the skin, so I wonder if you could do the same for goats, obviously it wouldnt work on spur teats, but the seperate ones maybe?
I was just curious. I guess I feel that it would be estheticly more pleasing although it would leave a scar, and no, I wouldnt sell them without telling the buyer. And i wonder how many breeders do it anyway. we do not have that problem at this time, but you never know when it could come up.
Third teats are not uncommon......no reason not to breed her (the mother doe)....you just don't want to breed the offspring that has the three teats....it can happen to the boys too so you don't want to breed them either.
Breed her to a different buck next time. She may never throw another teat issue. However, if she does, then she'd be one I would sell as a pet or milker without papers.
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