boer udder discussion

[blufftonboers]

We raise boer goats and I LIKE 2 X 2 teats. The reason is that my 2X2 does produce as much milk as my 1X1 does but there udder attachments are 100% better. And yes they are almost always all or at lease 3 teat functional. All of my does have originated from the same lines too so I don't think that genetics have anything to do with why my 1X1 attachments are not as good. I have been raising goat for 20+ years started with Nubians and then went to Boer. In that time I have only had mastitis 2 times and that was with my 1X1 teated boer does. I think it was because there udders were so big and hung closer to the "Stuff" to make an udder infection.

My double teat girls teats always travel in a strait line for you dairy breeders just think of a teat being about 3 fingerwidths higher on each side of the toward the foreudder attachment.

I think that this new rule is horrible and find it discouraging. Many breeders have been trying to breed for double teats for up to 10 years. Those genetics are deep in those herds and will be very hard if not impossible to breed out.

 

[20kidsonhill]

We raise boer goats and I LIKE 2 X 2 teats. The reason is that my 2X2 does produce as much milk as my 1X1 does but there udder attachments are 100% better. And yes they are almost always all or at lease 3 teat functional. All of my does have originated from the same lines too so I don't think that genetics have anything to do with why my 1X1 attachments are not as good. I have been raising goat for 20+ years started with Nubians and then went to Boer. In that time I have only had mastitis 2 times and that was with my 1X1 teated boer does. I think it was because there udders were so big and hung closer to the "Stuff" to make an udder infection.

My double teat girls teats always travel in a strait line for you dairy breeders just think of a teat being about 3 fingerwidths higher on each side of the toward the foreudder attachment.

I think that this new rule is horrible and find it discouraging. Many breeders have been trying to breed for double teats for up to 10 years. Those genetics are deep in those herds and will be very hard if not impossible to breed out.

HOw consistant do they throw properly placed 2x2 teats, do you end up with a lot of fish teats?

 

[blufftonboers]

We have about 75% that throw 2X2 teats and the others are 1X1 teats. We have two does that throw fish teats or extra teats but there kids are always sold for market wethers and market does to area county fairs and they always do well so we keep the moms. When it comes to market goats you don't eat the teats. And these 2 moms can sucessfully feed and care for there kids.

I wounder if they are changing the rule because alot of good breeders have been getting excused from one show for split teats and at the next show they have been winning because that judge conciders them double teets. If there is more than a 50% division between the 2 teats they have been considered double teats. But if they are close it comes down to the judges opinion. I like personaly like more of a division than 50% I like to fit a few fingers between them.

I think that alot of the problem is that when people buy a buck they don't think to look at his teats because he's a boy. A buck is half the genetic makeup of your herd and too many people have sold a three teated buck or fishteated buck and the buyer never thinks to look. This is true for our clients. They are ready to buy and we will point out to them that the buck they are looking at is 2 teated or single teated. And they would have never thought to look before that.

 

[20kidsonhill]

We originally purchased 1x1 does and a 1x1 buck, yes we looked,plus we looked at the parents and we still end up with an occasional fish teat or really close to being fish teats. I got so frustrated getting rid of a nice little doeling with extra teats that I kept a couple of them and use their offspring as show whethers. At our fair you can show does or bucks in the whether class. Or I sell them without their papers as replacement does to commercial breeders. It seems like if you didn't keep culling them out, you would eventually end up with an entire herd of extra teated goat, some fish-teated, some really close, some with 3 on each side.

We have mostly percentage, so maybe that is the reason why we see such inconsistancy.

 

[blufftonboers]

I don't see anything wrong with that. If you are not breeding for ABGA standard boer goats. And honestly we are starting to get away from that too. We have been focusing our herd more on market wethers and less on breeding style animals. If your doe is able to raise and feed her offspring and you are raising them to be sold and shown as market animals sometimes you have to sacrifice one thing for another. Like a great looking, thick, long, larged muscled doe with a fish teat. We have one this year that was going to be a 4-H project but she has one of the biggest butts I have ever seen on a doe and of course a fish teat (she is out of 1 of our 2 that throw them) but I am really thinking about keeping her and taking the risk.

 

[20kidsonhill]

I don't see anything wrong with that. If you are not breeding for ABGA standard boer goats. And honestly we are starting to get away from that too. We have been focusing our herd more on market wethers and less on breeding style animals. If your doe is able to raise and feed her offspring and you are raising them to be sold and shown as market animals sometimes you have to sacrifice one thing for another. Like a great looking, thick, long, larged muscled doe with a fish teat. We have one this year that was going to be a 4-H project but she has one of the biggest butts I have ever seen on a doe and of course a fish teat (she is out of 1 of our 2 that throw them) but I am really thinking about keeping her and taking the risk.

Thankyou for the information and welcome to the board.