Guernsey milk, Guernsey goats

betsy h. · #1 09/30/10, 08:27 AM

Here is a public link to my Facebook photo album of Guernsey milk and goats- alas, the milk does not show up gold on photo- at least not from my camera. It does show up if you look at it directly in the bucket when warm and looks like milk from a doe who is a few days fresh, with just a hint of colostrum still in the milk. It is rich, creamy and very delicious. Email me privately about the Guernsey and Saanen does pictured.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...9&l=d1c91de3ec

We are one hour east of Knoxville, TN and one hour west of Asheville, NC. Just off of I-40.
thanks, betsy

Minelson · #2 09/30/10, 09:52 AM

I love that picture of the goat laying by the red bucket...cute!!!

SilverFlame819 · #3 09/30/10, 02:14 PM

Holy crap, look at the udders on that girl in the pasture!! I don't even think there's a way for those to be considered "teats"-- they're like bigger than cow udders! Wow!!

Too bad I don't have a place for goats right now... LOVE the long hair on some of the girls you have for sale!

Alice In TX/MO · #4 09/30/10, 02:38 PM

I think that is called "blown teats." It's not a positive thing.

Pretty goats!

betsy h. · #5 10/03/10, 09:48 AM

she is drying up- and it looks way worse than it is- you see this in cross breds and are in does who are too outcrossed in their own breeds. .......but this many times this what we are dealing with in 1st and second crosses- by the 2nd or third cross, the teats are normal sized.

SilverFlame819 · #6 10/03/10, 03:32 PM

Interesting. You would think it would be the other way around. "Hybrid vigor" and all that...

KSALguy · #7 10/03/10, 04:09 PM

i have never heard a blown udder blamed on the animal drying up or being a cross breed, blown teats like that can happen to ANY heavy milking animal if the structure of the teat isnt strong enough regardless of what the breed is, i could be wrong in my understanding and i am sure some of the Dairy people will chime in here and correct me if i am wrong but if that traight is something that comes out genetically when the GG is crossed with something else that to me says there is a genetic flaw in the breed, which considering the limited gene pool available its going to be fun to get rid of,

betsy h. · #8 10/03/10, 11:49 PM

I do not see where anyone is 'blaming' anything- to say 'blame' is so not correct.

I have does like this one and other breeds who do this when they dry up. All the left over milk goes to the teats and sits there, then the next day it is back up in the udder. Then on the next freshening it is back up in the rear udder. It also depends on the delineation of the teat. This doe has not been relieved for over two weeks. Al of her milk, which was not much, was down low. Today there was almost no milk in her udder at all. And her teats were normal. I could take a picture for you, but it would be suspect to any nay-sayers because I could have fiddled with her to prove my point, so why bother.

The genetics I am using have come from EX90 Alpines. Some are getting solid udders with good teats on first cross, some are not. It is the luck of the draw.

You see many good cross bred does in the US where they have very nice udders. Perhaps not as much milk, but very nice udders just the same. Inject a heavy milk gene and voila`, you get lots of milk and no attachment with it. Besides, the gene pool of the graded up Guernsey is quite large and diverse. And in ID'ing the GG 'udder bucks' we have available in the US has not been that hard. In my case, one generation has been all it has taken to take that udder and make it correct. ie: this one worked, this one didn't.

The biggest problem I see is that UK udders do not focus on the rear udder as we do in the US. One will see much tighter fores. This is changing in UK breeds as US genetics are getting in through Belgian and such genetics.

Breeding these guys is a labor of love- if you want finished 'show' udders, you'll have to be pay for them. But if you are willing to work with the breed and develop it, like the Oberhasli were- which BTW> you can take an E mammary in an Obie and turn it into a P mammary with one breeding very easily- the time and commitment are worth it. Not everyone wants that, they want easy and finished. That is the downside of forums like this one. One comment can turn everyone off just because they are not willing to work on the creation of something very nice. It is years worth of work and commitment to the breed that not many are willing to put in.

The Guernsey in America is a work in progress and likely to be for quite some years to come. Who out there is willing to make a commitment to the end result?

PulpFaction · #9 10/04/10, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by betsy h.

The Guernsey in America is a work in progress and likely to be for quite some years to come. Who out there is willing to make a commitment to the end result?

I'm interested in learning more about them. What resources do you suggest for reading up? (Preferably online.)

betsy h. · #10 10/04/10, 06:02 AM

There is a link to the GGGS= the Golden Guernsey Goat Society- on the BGS website- allgoats.com

There is also a list on yahoogroups- GGoats@yahoogroups.com where folks who like Guernsey goat hang out- you'll find many US breeders there- keep on them, they sometimes do not pay attention to subscribers. There are files there with lots of info and pictures.....