[SDK]

has anyone else here heard about phytoestrogens? i had a buck kid grow a third teat after birth, we found it around 6 weeks. so one day when i took him with to a show, one of my friends said thats a nice buck kid( he is awesome!) you plan on keeping him. then i told them about the odd new teat and they said it was probably due to the phytoestrogens.

it has something to do with soy ' ill go find their website and link it up so you can read about it. this is why i don't feed soy products, can't help it with alfalfa though

 

[SDK]

http://www.geocities.com/desertwindsnv/herbspart4.html

this is donna and norms page about phytoestrogens.

i knew something was bad about tofu!

 

[hprice3920]

:?
I have a doe with an extra teat and a buck with undesended testicles that came from the same breeder. I did not really care since they are pets, but it makes me wonder about his other stock and if that trait would be passed down on to future kids.

 

[all1965]

I have never heard of it.
Most extra teats are genetic.
If any of bucks have splits then they are banded. Not sure if that is genetic but it is frowned apon by other breeders.

 

[enjoytheride]

I don't think that it causes extra teats- it might feminize to some extent but I can tell you from personal experience with trying to manage menopause with phytoestrogens, it's not very effective. The worse I would think it would do is maybe enlarge a buck's teats some if they were fed a whole lot.

 

[SDK]

its weird, both sides of this animals family haven't ever had anything close to extra teats. it isn't a spit teat, it a whole other teat. i don't plan on letting him stay a buck at all, but i was just curious about that stuff

could explain some of the fertility issues too

 

[goathappy]

idk if you saw my post on grass fed goats(ugh, won't let me load it to paste it) but anyway, check that out.

Soy is a bigger problem than alfalfa is, there are many breeders who have been feeding alfalfa(including myself) for many years and have never had a problem with the things mentioned in that article. I did a bunch of research on soy a couple of years ago and wrote an article(article is in my email which I can't get to right now :GAAH: ) But never has alfalfa been pointed to as a cause for infertility or other issues. It may cause fat goats when fed to non producing animals but otherwise no. Red clover is also a legume and we used to heavily feed that last year when our field of it was good(it has to be plowed up because it got winter kill) and we never had any problems with the does breeding that fall. But man oh man did they milk on it. Made a couple of my yearlings precocious too.

When dealing with fertility issues, the first thing I look at is are they fat? and are they properly mineralized? Fat goats tend to get cystic and cystic goats can't get pregnant. A goat that is mineral deficient will also have troubles getting pregnant. Minerals play a huge role in everything.

 

[SDK]

no i don't have any fat goats.. i monitor weight alot for that very reason(pregger issues). i love my alfalfa! and so do the goats. they wont eat grass of any kind, and hate their oat hay. though where i keep them now they eat all the wild oats that grow into the early summer. haha explain that one

 

[goathappy]

Haha, sound like the dairy goats. They are such brats!! We bale our own hay, and we have a batch of really nice alfalfa that got rained on maybe twice before we baled it, it is perfectly fine and they snub it! :hair: They want only the pretty green stuff :roll:

 

[SDK]

yea my spoiled brats!! the bucks are the worst which is the funny thing.

my boers eat anything!! i have to bottle baby wethers that are 6 months ( no more bottles as of 3 months ago) they're like 60-70 lbs. they stole the bottle for my little nigerian doe. pretty funny watching them run around with a little bottle in their mouths