Udders- Good/Bad/Ugly/Improved UPDATED! 3/12/18

[Southern by choice]

Those lateral attachments look great! IMO (Yellow marker)
I agree with all you say.
The parts in red- did she have any injury to the teats? They are differently shaped.
The right side teat- how is the orifice? Tight? Small?
This is me just talking out loud- wondering... she does have a pretty medial but I wonder about the medial sometimes. This is where when we get LA'd I think will be helpful to understand more- but anyway- my thoughts... when I see a real pronounced medial it seems over years the udder ends up split... the teats end up really bulbous. Do you have any thoughts or insight on this?
Just something I have noticed.
They say the medial is real important to keep the udder up, I am sure there is much more to it, but Millie has a strong medial and her udder is now really split- got worse over the years, teats just go right down from the udder.

I also wonder about where the milk is stored, so to speak.... some goats have milk stored higher up, some lower.
I will have to try and get some pics of what I mean.

I like her udder too, and very cool that you bred according to where you saw the need.
Do you have side view? foreudder?

 

[Hens and Roos]

really enjoying reading and learning, the marking to show helps with understanding!

 

[Green Acres Farm]

The parts in red- did she have any injury to the teats? They are differently shaped.

Actually, yes. I bought a cheap hand milker and the first time I used it on only one teat. It turned purple! Of course, that was the last time I used it. I'm not sure if the difference in size is due to that or single kids.

The right side teat- how is the orifice? Tight? Small?

She is the only standard sized goat I milk, so I can't really compare it. I would say it is pretty good, but maybe not as good as it could be.

This is me just talking out loud- wondering... she does have a pretty medial but I wonder about the medial sometimes. This is where when we get LA'd I think will be helpful to understand more- but anyway- my thoughts... when I see a real pronounced medial it seems over years the udder ends up split... the teats end up really bulbous. Do you have any thoughts or insight on this?
Just something I have noticed.
They say the medial is real important to keep the udder up, I am sure there is much more to it, but Millie has a strong medial and her udder is now really split- got worse over the years, teats just go right down from the udder.

I've never thought about that. You are right in that her teats have gotten a lot bigger than compared to her FF udder. For me, I like her teat size for hand milking, but we'll see how she holds up. I *possibly* may get her LA'd at a host herd next year and would be interested to see what the appraiser thinks.

I don't have fore udder pics, but she has a pretty smooth fore udder, but minimal extension.

Her rear udder height definitely looks better the fuller she is, but it also doesn't fill only from bottom to top. This may be attributed to a "meaty" udder?

 

[Southern by choice]

@Green Acres Farm - later I will put up Millie! She is one of my favorite goats but has the worst udder- yet we will continue breeding up with her! Some may find the reasons why interesting... others may think I'm nuts.

Now I'm going to go back to that side udder shot from earlier.
Take a look at this and critique it. click to enlarge
same goat ff udder

 

[Southern by choice]

really enjoying reading and learning, the marking to show helps with understanding!

I am glad, I am enjoying it too.
I have learned alot over the years, and am still learning so much.
When I talk to breeders that have exceptional herds and that are very well established the one thing they all say is that they are always trying to improve. That says a lot to me. These are some of the best breeders in the country and yet they are encouraging, share their wisdom, and at least the ones I talk to are humble. I am very blessed to have the wisdom of those that have years of experience.
I know there are amazing fantastic goats in people's backyards and I think that is what makes it fun for me.
I love goats, simply love them! No herd has perfect everything on every goat.

 

[Green Acres Farm]

@Green Acres Farm - later I will put up Millie! She is one of my favorite goats but has the worst udder- yet we will continue breeding up with her! Some may find the reasons why interesting... others may think I'm nuts.

Now I'm going to go back to that side udder shot from earlier.
Take a look at this and critique it. click to enlarge
same goat ff udder
View attachment 40731

IMO...


I like the rear udder arch. Teat placement/medial could be better. Teats are tilted forward a bit more than I'd like. I'd like to see her vulva so I can see how high it is. Personally, I like udder clips where the side attachments are visible, but I know some people differ on this and like only the udder clipped. I'd imagine they are nice from the way the udder is held above the hocks with the nice rear udder arch.

 

[Southern by choice]

LOL it looks like a face!

So this is the same goat 3F overnight fill... so she is NOT full.
Her lateral attachments (RED) are not long enough and the udder is too far forward- not extreme though but you can see where the line is (YELLOW) and the arrows are pointing showing you it is a bit too far forward. She actually has a good arch but because the forward udder and the shadows it makes it harder to see.
She has nice capacity and with a fill most of this would not be as noticeable- IOW- some things are hidden from those real full udders.
As you can see their is hardly any medial.

So... this I why I don't put much into a FF udder. Of course you can see some things but as they progress with freshenings you see more.
I wish I had some full udder pics

Her teats are dreamy! Large and long making for milking a Nigerian very easy. Those long handles make a difference.
She milks wonderfully, wonderful orifices, very soft skin (dairy skin).

Our friend has her sister and her lateral attachments are better.
We put bucks over this doe that have sisters and dam/grand dam that are stronger in that area.
Not every goat we have or work with has LA... so that is where you need to also really look at the goat.

Her sister(my friend has) and this doe milk with the most incredible ease... they are hard working does that are the easiest of keepers.
Our doe makes milk easily with orchard hay, field forage and very little feed. She is the world's slowest eater (which is so weird because Nigies LOVE their food and tend to inhale everything) we leave on the stand to eat because I swear the goat eats one pellet at a time.
She always keeps excellent condition, kids great, and has excellent parasite resistance. EXCELLENT! This is a no fuss no muss forever keeper goat! We have been very pleased with the kids from this doe.

Keep in mind some goats and she is one, once you start cleaning their udder to milk them they start dropping or letting down... and that makes a difference as well... not sure but more than likely she was already cleaned and letting down when this was taken.

We have another doe I might be able to get a pic of showing this... all the goats are getting dried off, but one is on once a day milking and she is a good example.

 

[Southern by choice]

There is a fantastic discussion on FB about LA. One of the appraisers just piped in - in a nutshell said too many rely on the final score and not on the process and it is your herd that you see every day...how the final score is used more for marketing than anything else.
Many others are sharing how the low scoring animal ended up phenomenal and produced awesome goats!
No one is discounting the process, just reminding people that don't be too quick to cull based on a score. There may be qualities that a goat or goats have that are great in your herd... use the data... improve.

This was very encouraging to read. The emphasis was that LA is a TOOL! Not the end all be all.

 

[Hens and Roos]

These picture are of Rio(Lamancha) FF:
This one was taken about 1 month into lactation with her doeling with her 24/7, nice easy to hand milk, smooth udder.

Side view-taken at fair about 3 months into lactation. Can't wait to see how she does as a 2F.

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Southern by choice]

She is going to have a gorgeous udder I think!
Width is awesome
lateral attachments fantastic
foreudder looks beautiful
height is great!

Her teats are forward but I wonder if next freshening when she really starts producing if that will improve... IOW when udder fills that can pull those teats down some. I bet she is a great hand milker too!
How are her orifices?