double teat question

[ShyAnne]

Today I got a 3 yr old boer doe. She has a double teat one one side. I have a few questions about it.
1. Will this condition effect her ability to conceive?
2. Will this effect her ability to nurse her kids if she can conceive?
3. Is this likely to be passed down to future kids?
4. She also has a small beard and I am wondering if this is common in boers or if this is related to her dbl teat condition.

This is Ruthie :

[susanne]

Originally Posted by ShyAnne

Today I got a 3 yr old boer doe. She has a double teat one one side. I have a few questions about it.
1. Will this condition effect her ability to conceive?
2. Will this effect her ability to nurse her kids if she can conceive?
3. Is this likely to be passed down to future kids?
4. She also has a small beard and I am wondering if this is common in boers or if this is related to her dbl teat condition.

This is Ruthie :

that is one weird picture. i can not figure out from what angle this picture was taken. makes me wonder if that is a functional udder?
has she kidded before? if not, she might be a non breeder. if she get kids, yes this is hereditary and will be passed on. not advisable to keep a buck out of her.

[ShyAnne]

The picture is looking from the front to the back and up as if about to milk.
From what I was told she has kidded twins before. But they have a large herd, so I wanted as much info as possible about this condition.

[chewie]

i believe that is not uncommon with boers. probably dont' want to keep anything to milk from her, but if she can raise babies (meat only) then fine.

[ShyAnne]

Thanks for some info. She was put with a saaenn(sp) buck so she may be bred and due Jan/Feb. I just didnt know if they were infertile from this condition.
Is the small beard also common to boer does?

[dosthouhavemilk]

Multiple teats definitely does not affect fertility. It is common in some Boers, unfortunately. Also can occur in dairy breeds as well and most breeds. It is usually overlooked in meat herds though as long as the doe can nurse her kids.
We have a doe, Twyla with five teats that have six functioning orifices. She's kidded three times for us so far and all the orifices work. Her offspring have mostly been clean teated...well, four out of five anyways. Her daughters have thrown clean teated kids as well. The biggest concern with this is if one of the teats is non functional and a kid gets caught up trying to nurse only that teat and does not move to the others for their colostrum. A weak kid could get weaker trying to nurse a non-functional teat. Twyla had to be milked early on in the lactation this year. We pulled the doe and left the buck on her. I'll tell you, milking a doe with four orifices and only having to milk twoish teats? It went a lot faster than milking four individual teats. I did have to be careful with aiming though. Four streams at once can be hard to manage.
Your doe can throw clean teated kids, but it is recessive from my understanding, so the offspring could carry the gene and display it in offspring if paired up with another animal carrying the gene.
Beards on does is not uncommon. We have quite a few does with beards. The higher up in the pecking order, the longer the beard. You don't see them all that often in dairy herds that show because they take away from the appearance of the doe.

[PNP Katahdins]

I thought it looked like her left rear leg was held up and out to show the udder better.

Peg

[pookshollow]

She'll be fine, and the kids will figure out how to nurse. I had a BoerX doe with "twinned" teats - basically two teats growing together along their length. She raised two nice doelings for me this year. One of my Boer does had six teats, although only two functional.

My Saanen and Nigerian does have the biggest beards - haven't noticed anything on the Boer does to speak of.

[KimM]

From ABGA - http://www.abga.org/page.php?pageid=8

"Does should have well formed udders with good attachment with the number of functional teats not to exceed two per side. A split teat with two distinctly separated teats and openings with at least 50% of the body of teat separated is permissible but teats without a split are preferred. It is most important that the udder is constructed so that the offspring are able to nurse unassisted."

Here is their illustrated chart of teat structure of Boer goats.
http://www.abga.org/teat-structure.php

[Allan Mistler]

Thanks Kim for the link... That was very informative and useful since I retained a Boer Doe strictly based upon her lovely attitude and body construction. She has double teats on each side and I thought that it would make her undesirable for sale anyway. She is such a good girl I'm breeding her this year for her first time and it's great to hear that all her offspring won't necessarily have double teats too!

Our main course of business here is Toggenburgs but we do sell meat goats to the local ethnic community on occasion.

Thanks again!

[KimM]

You're welcome. I'm happy I could help. Some Boer breeders prefer double teats for feeding more than 2 kids at once.

Originally Posted by Allan Mistler

Thanks Kim for the link... That was very informative and useful since I retained a Boer Doe strictly based upon her lovely attitude and body construction. She has double teats on each side and I thought that it would make her undesirable for sale anyway. She is such a good girl I'm breeding her this year for her first time and it's great to hear that all her offspring won't necessarily have double teats too!

Our main course of business here is Toggenburgs but we do sell meat goats to the local ethnic community on occasion.

Thanks again!

[ozark_jewels]

More than one teat on each side is not a double teat. It is an extra teat. I prefer 4 working teats on my Boer does. I have seen triplets all eating at once this way.
Double teats are teats that run together.

Extra teats, fine in Boers as long as they are within standard.

Extra teats, bad and a serious cull factor in dairy goats.

[KimM]

Yup, that's right. Thanks for the correction.

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

More than one teat on each side is not a double teat. It is an extra teat. I prefer 4 working teats on my Boer does. I have seen triplets all eating at once this way.
Double teats are teats that run together.

Extra teats, fine in Boers as long as they are within standard.

Extra teats, bad and a serious cull factor in dairy goats.

[mommatoseven]

Fish teats are very common in both boer and pygmys. Meat breeds often have them. They are usually clipped off when the doe is young. They do not affect birthing or nursing. They are undesirable in dairy breeds, and have been almost bred out, to make milking easier.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by mommatoseven

Fish teats are very common in both boer and pygmys. Meat breeds often have them. They are usually clipped off when the doe is young. .

This by the way is a very bad idea. Clipping teats off when a goat is young is a good way to cause problems when they freshen for the first time. I have seen this practice cause a forever leaking teat, and also a teat with no way for the milk to be expressed. I don't clip teats off, ever. If they have teat issues that are outside breed standards, I butcher them.
If it is a problem that someone thinks needs clipped off, then the goat should be eaten, not altered.
While extra teats are common in Boer goats, I have rarely seen fish teats. Fish teats are not allowed in registered Boers by breed standards.

[Goat Servant]

I too am a fan of 4 working teats because of the multiples factor. One of my 4teated girls has only two functioning. Another has 4 working. Kids quickly figure out which faucets have the goodies.
The ones with two teats have a harder time keeping trips fed, the weakest is usually crowded out so that one grows slower but catches up around weaning time if he has been bottle fed.

[SheriM]

I had a doe with 3 working teats on one side and two on the other, although the 3rd one was so small it wasn't much good for the kids. Bred to a clean buck (one with good teats) she produced mostly clean udders, extra teats but no splits or fish teats. The teat issue in the Boer is a real crapshoot and it depends on what you're breeding for. You might not want to keep any breeding stock with splits or fishes, but around here, for meat herds, as long as they can raise babies, they will sell as breeding stock.