Crab claw teats

[PrairieK]

Do they have a proper name for that?lol I just bought a mini alpine and she has what looks like crab claw teats where it's connected at the top but then their are two teats where one should be. So she has 4 teats.

 

[Glenmar]

Not sure, but that is not desirable for a dairy goat. She should not be bred.

 

[PrairieK]

Well she came bred and even if she wasn't I would breed her again. I know it's not "desirable" but it surely isn't debilitating. I'm not breeding for show or anything like that and she is beautiful and perfect for my little farm. My best friend's dad has one arm 8" shorter than the other arm with a "crab claw" type hand and one leg 4 " short than the other. Should he not have reproduced??? My friend is BEAUTIFUL, perfect and smart and so is her brother. Sorry, I don't believe in knocking something for a MILD deformity. I only wanted to know if there was a name for it but thank you.

 

[Bunnylady]

Well she came bred and even if she wasn't I would breed her again. I know it's not "desirable" but it surely isn't debilitating. I'm not breeding for show or anything like that and she is beautiful and perfect for my little farm. My best friend's dad has one arm 8" shorter than the other arm with a "crab claw" type hand and one leg 4 " short than the other. Should he not have reproduced??? My friend is BEAUTIFUL, perfect and smart and so is her brother. Sorry, I don't believe in knocking something for a MILD deformity. I only wanted to know if there was a name for it but thank you.

Have you milked this doe?

Whether you can call this a "mild" deformity depends on your point of view. If you are talking purely about aesthetics, no, it doesn't really detract that much from her appearance, nor will it affect her personality. But just because she has twice as many "nozzles" on the outside, doesn't mean she has double the "plumbing" on the inside. The extra teats may or may not produce milk, if neither one on that side do, then that whole side of the udder is useless (these are called blind teats). This can even result in a doe with an entirely blind udder - she makes milk, but none comes out. It can be difficult for a kid to latch onto a split teat; it may be impossible for a milking machine to connect properly. Mastitis can be more common in animals with split teats, because of the faulty internal "plumbing." The breed standards aren't just about beauty, you know; the animal that fits the breed standard also fits the purpose for which the breed was created in the first place. Breeding animals that can't perform the function of the breed kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

 

[PrairieK]

This will be her 3rd freshening and she's raised 2 sets of twins and was producing 1/2-3/4 gallons of milk a day so although she has a deformity she's not useless and can perform just fine. So am I defeating the purpose?

 

[PrairieK]

The extra teats do not produce milk. And never did I think hey she has 4 I'll get twice as much milk! No.

 

[PrairieK]

Although for sure you are right about the milking machine, there is no way that it would work. I didn't try it but I know it wouldn't. Which isn't a big deal to me. And I'll keep a look out for mastitis but the gentlemen I bought her from didn't mention her ever getting it and he was pretty thorough.

 

[Bunnylady]

Just because this animal produces doesn't mean that her daughters, granddaughters, etc. will be up to the task. That is the reason that people say "should not be bred" - they usually aren't thinking about that animal, they are thinking about the future generations. If you are only interested in her milk production and slaughter anything she produces in the way of kids, then her contribution to the gene pool is effectively the same as if she were never bred in the first place. But even if she doesn't have any surviving daughters, if somebody keeps a buck of hers "because he's pretty" and breeds him, the genetics that cause this get passed on, and somebody in the future may have a doe that is not up to scratch because of the "bad" genetics.

Occasionally, the animal itself will suffer because its deformity makes it unsuitable for breeding (I imagine a blind udder would be excruciatingly uncomfortable until the milk "dries up," wouldn't you think so?) A pendulous udder without good attachments gets stepped on and damaged - ouch! As animal breeders, we have responsibilities that extend beyond our immediate interests; we have to consider our "legacy" as well.

 

[PrairieK]

I understand what you are saying. I just wanted her as a milk goat for my family. And we were planning on eating some of the kids. Guess it will have to be all of them! I wanted a smaller doe to work with bc my lamancha is ginormous and this one fit the bill for me. There aren't many options available in my area.