Teat size

[mominpa]

Are you tired of my questions yet? lol

We had 2 goats freshen last week..

#1- is a 6 year old GREAT milker, great teats, getting 1/2 gallon per milking...

#2- is her 3 year old daughter, 2nd freshening, never milked before, very good on the stand-- giving 1 quart a milking--- but SUPER small teats...



When do goats get big teats if they are going to get them?

Being she has never been milked I'm okay with them being small right now--but I was hoping they would get bigger like her moms??

Any tricks to this? I don't pull when I'm milking, just squeezing down my fingers-- so i can't see that making them any bigger...

Just curious....

[shiandpete.1]

Our two 3 year old second freshners have the same teet size as last year, I think you get what you have and they don't change all that much.

[Heritagefarm]

No, I disagree. We have a small-teated girl who's teats are stretching. We bought a girl who's teats were small and they have since gotten hand-sized.
It depends on the goat. Sometimes they will stretch, sometimes not. I think it also depends on how strongly you can milk them.

[rnmom23]

I've been milking my FF nubian for a week and I'm pretty sure hers have stretched a little. Much easier to get a grasp than it was a week ago. I don't expect they'll get much bigger than they are now, though. Good luck

[jBlaze]

I have two FF 2 year old does, one has small teats, the other barely hand sized, They are both better a month after freshening. I asked my mom (who has many years of many goats experience) she said, good if they start out on the small side.
(so that when they do grow, they are not huge, lol.)

[The Tin Mom]

But, since this is a 2nd freshener, will her teats get any bigger? I am asking because I have a FF whose sire's dam is an outstanding doe but this girl's teats are so small that it takes me forever to milk her out.... She gives a ton of milk - but I almost hate that since she takes so long.

My FF last year had small teats at first, and by the end of the season they were a reasonable size, so I was giving this girl until the end of this season in the hopes that her teats would grow.

[jBlaze]

Hard to say.
I have only had one doe with teats that we could not really reach an agreement on. She milked a ton too. Big round udder, well attached and all, but very short and skinny teats. I don't remember who said "pimples on a balloon" I thought that a great expression. My horse was much easier to milk.
I did milk this doe with my thumb in, so that you are milking fingers against the back of your thumb, not the fingers against palm or base of thumb. knim?
We sold the doe. kept a boy out of her that we were supposed to wether, well, never got around to it, he looks like such a nice boy. Now we have a doe that is nearly a year out of that buck, I can't wait to see what she will develop, lol.
Hard to predict teat genetics, I have a doe with huge teats, and her daughter with short teats.

[ozark_jewels]

There really is no telling. Most of the time, a does teats will continue to grow some with the years. Some never change much, some change *a lot*. Each individual is different. Some the udder gets bigger, but the teats stay the same. Others, the teats stretch and the udder remains the same.
Only time will tell. Cows are the same way.

[southerngurl]

Leaving babies on the mom helps.

[Natural Beauty Farm]

Originally Posted by southerngurl

Leaving babies on the mom helps.

LOL, Actually the opposite happens in my herd...... Guess different things happen in different herds.

I never judge a FF teats during culling. By the second freshening/hand milking they are much nicer.