Double Teat Dairy Cow

[Awnry Abe]

Peaches is a Holstein/Jersey cross FF heifer that is due in April. For the first time since getting her, she is letting me make contact from the side. I happened to get lucky enough to feel her teats, and noticed that the back left was a double, or maybe a fish-tail. I am having a tough time finding info on the net about it. What am I facing with this cow? Is she a no-go? Can I still milk her? If not, could she still be a nurse cow?

ETA: Boy, do I sure know how to pick 'em...

[Waiting Falcon]

Don't think I have ever seen it in a cow but in goats it is /can be hereditary.

[badkitty]

In goats, it is called a 'spur teat'. I've had a goat with the condition. She threw a daughter who is normal, so if it's genetic, it is not dominant. However, the daughter had trouble nursing, and the doe was almost impossible to milk; we will probably cull her, since we are pretty much guaranteed that any of her kids will be a bottle baby.

Anyhow, you might have problems with milking your cow. I have read that spurs can be removed, but I don't know how that might affect milking.

[francismilker]

Extra teats and fish teats aren't that uncommon with dairy heifers but they're taken care of early on. The dairyman I worked for as a teenager showed up immediately at birth to give tubed colostrum and do a full inspection. If extra or fish teats were found, they were simply clipped off with a pair of scissors and splashed with iodine the day they were born. They bled little to none at all and healed up so that could never see they'd been there.

A word of caution, if you decide to do anything about it there's a chance of getting the dead side of the fish tail and end up with a dry quarter.