four teats?

April Rain · #1 04/20/06, 01:26 PM

I bought a bred Boer that will kid soon. We just noticed she had double teats on each side. Is this a defect or a Boer characteristic? I paid good money for her and was a bit unsettled that my foundation breeding doe might have a genetic defect! How might I respectfully handle this with the breeder? She is a great breeder and I trust working with her. She probably wasn't aware of this. We just now found this and we've had her since Dec. Thanks for your counsel!

moosemaniac · #2 04/20/06, 01:32 PM

Boers, from my experience, do get multiple teats and it's supposedly perfectly normal.

Ruth

dkdairygoats · #3 04/20/06, 01:36 PM

Yes, Boers are allowed to have multiple teats, the breeder probably knew about it but thought nothing of it. It's just the dairy and pygmy does that are only allowed two.

Key · #4 04/20/06, 01:41 PM

I think it is ok to have 2 or 4, but it is not good if you plan to show her or her offspring if the teats are literally on top of one another. Are they all separate? They should all be about the same size if they willl be functional later on.
Teat problems are a tricky thing to breed out of a herd as they sometimes pops up even if the trait isn't expressed on either parent. Grrrrr......

April Rain · #5 04/20/06, 01:46 PM

I have dairy goats except this first boer. Each side has a normal teat with a smaller teat right in front of it. It's not like a cow with four uniform teats at equal distances.

ozark_jewels · #6 04/20/06, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by April Rain

I have dairy goats except this first boer. Each side has a normal teat with a smaller teat right in front of it. It's not like a cow with four uniform teats at equal distances.

Boers are allowed to have more than 2 teats as long as it doesn't interfere with the kids sucking. I have does with three teats, two teats, four teats, etc. I have a FB Boer, Tootsie, who has four fully functional teats.

dosthouhavemilk · #7 04/21/06, 12:11 AM

We bred our polled Nubian buck to Boer doe and had planned on retaining a buck kid for breeding...well, I got to looking at the Boer doe more closely. SHe had five teats. All five produce milk. There are the "normal" two, except the normal teat on the right side is a double teat. Two teats taht are together and separate a short distance from the end and have two separate canals. Then the two smaller in front. I watched the 5 1/2 pound polled doeling nursing from one of the double teats and then moving to the other.
I doubt the buck kid will be used though. He has four separate teats but it looks like he may have a fish teat as well. I'll be able to tell better as he grows. The doeling has two teats.
We had a Boer cross doeling with four teats last year and I was anxious to see how many would produce but she was killed by dogs last Fall.
I'm not so fond of them because you run the risk of fish teats popping up on down the line. We have another doe with fish teats and it doesn't interfere with her nursing her kid, but not all turn out well.

Goat Freak · #8 04/21/06, 09:46 AM

It is a boer trait. We have a doeling that had a dead baby, but when we milked her for the colustrum we got a surprise, even though I thought she would have them anyway, frou milkable teats, I had to milk her out of all four too or there still would be milk. She is a good girl and I hope we can breed her again fairly soon. Good Luck everyone. Bye the way, we have a doeling with 6 teats, and four of them might be workable. Bye.