Hi, I am new here, and I am hoping that you can answer a question for me. I bought a bred, registered Saanen at the end of January and she freshened a month ago. I got beautiful twin doelings that I thought I inspected carefully at birth. However, looking at them the other day I noticed that one of them has small, extra teats on both sides. These are so tiny, almost like little hairs, that I guess it was easy to miss them. We bought the goats for our own home dairy... we are not going to show or anything. We are thinking of crossing the Saanens with a Nubian buck; we just want plenty of good milk. So what I am wondering is if it is too late to clip these little teats off of the doeling? We thought we would go ahead and breed her once and see how she milks and if she doesn't do well we thought we might have her butchered. That is much easier to think about with a grown doe rather than a five week old baby that the kids fight over bottle feeding ;0). And, since so many of you have much more experience than I do, what would you do if you had a little doe with double teats? Try to clip them or just cull the doe? I am assuming that since she has the double teats her sister and mom also carry the gene... and they are as likely to throw babies with double teats as she is. So I think that we would not cull just for that reason or we would decimate our little herd... but if she does not milk well we would get rid of her. Anyway, I hope I have made sense and I appreciate any help or advice you might have.

Thanks!

-- Leighanne T. (robertt@click1.net), April 02, 2002

Answers

if you are going to let the babies nurse off of her, then you must clip them , take her to the vet , and see what the vet says,

she will pass it to her offspring, so what you can do , since it might be a fluke(occasionally it happens), breed her to a buck known for good solid udders on his offspring, best bet would be a ++*B or better, it will almost surely have to be AI, but hey, Why not, think of the value to your own milk supply....

i know its hard to cull in a small herd, i would make sure, if you decide to get rid of her or any of her kids , that you reveal this fact... and make sure ALL bucklings are wethered, you wouldnt wAnt to worry about that on top of everything....

OTO, if it were any meat breed, its not even a serious defect...and she still would be bred.....

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), April 02, 2002.

Leighanne, if you are 100% sure that these little teats are non functioning, with no hole (orifice) in them than just snip them off. In a situation like yours it does no harm to keep these kids, you know they carry this fault now, as does the mom, but more importantly so does their DAD. Just don't repeat the breeding to this guys bloodline again! You could also freshen the does out then cut off the other teats if they are in the way of milking. This is of course a huge deal to us who breed, sell breeding stock and show, but in diaries and family farms it is only a nusiance. If they are nice in all other aspects, don't cull them for this one visible defect. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (Nubians) (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 02, 2002.

Thanks, Beth and Vicki. I am not interested in breeding or showing at this point, although my husband has expressed an interest in learning all he can and maybe getting into that in the future. Right now we are just starting our home dairy and we have a total of four does, only one of whom is freshened and two are only five weeks old. I think that we will try to see if there is an orifice in the extra teats and probably clip them off. Since we are only interested in good milk for our family right now and not selling or showing I think I will just be sure to find a buck whose dam has an extra nice udder. AI is waaaaay out of my league at this point!!

Thanks so much for the help and the advice.

-- Leighanne T. (robertt@click1.net), April 03, 2002.

Ever notice how folks say adamantly "I am not interesting in showing" then their is always that although or well maybe, etc. Leighanne, starting your herd with this quality of animal and then expecting to upgrade into something your husband could show is many many years in the future. Like most folks you will sell all of your stock you have now to buy a few showable does to start again with. Make very good decisions now, it will put you well ahead of the game. You should have a plan for your stock, and being new you need to find a mentor who has your breed you love, someone you can buy from, listen to, and learn from. With your Saanen registered, lets just hope that it was indeed a fluke her throwing the offspring with extra teats, do not crossbreed these goats if you really might show in the future, find a good quality Saanen buck to breed to and sell those doelings! You really should start with one breed, and if you like Saanen's there certainly is less competition in them than in Nubian! It takes a great deal of money to do right by one breed let alone 2 or more. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (Nubians) (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 03, 2002.

Showing/selling for us would be well into the future, after a lot of years. Not only learning about our breed, but dairy goats in general (you know what a beginner I am), and getting our kids big enough that we could travel. Do toddlers do well at goat shows?? Heehee. Those things would be in the distant, distant, distant future. Right now we would not be able to travel short distances to buy good stock, and I know that that is so necessary. I did want to start with the best goats I could find, which is why I bought the girls I bought. And, unfortunately, around here, not many folks keep goats and we were really limited in our choices.

You are such a wealth of information, Vicki, and I so appreciate you for your willingness to help all of us, even those of us like me who are so totally new to this :0). Thank you.

-- Leighanne T. (robertt@clcik1.net), April 04, 2002.