# Baby Goat Anatomy questions?



## Katgowen (Nov 3, 2008)

OK; so I have been going out and playing and working, with the baby goats to try and get them used to being handled. Today I wanted to get their bellies used to being scratched and I held them in my lap, I noticed some things that looked a little odd on the baby goats. I'll try and get pictures and post them.

The doeling;
Has either a third teat or just a mole or something on her udder. It is not the same size as her two teats it about the size of a pencil lead around and about the size of a pencil lead that is broken. 

The buckling:
Has two teat looking things right in front of his sack; I know that males of course have nipples and what not, its just that it makes it look like he has an udder too. 

I was going to keep the doe and breed her when she was older; but I am not sure that I do if she is abnormal.


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## dragonchick (Oct 10, 2007)

It sounds like the little doe has a 3rd nipple. Usually its a bad trait but sometimes it never grows into anything. If you breed her, her kids will be pre-disposed to extra teats. 

The little buck sounds normal. The teats on a baby are back a little further than they would be in an older goat. They will move up as he grows. This is why its important to make sure when banding you do not get a teat. Them little suckers are real close to the business end your working on.

I would not use either the doe or the buck that was used in this breeding if your going to show or sell as show animals, for meat it doesn't matter. One of them throws eatra teats


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## Katgowen (Nov 3, 2008)

The buck is going to be a meat goat or just a pet; the doeling I was going to breed more for the milk than anything. I have had my fill of showing when I was young and showing my horses; don't get me wrong it is fun, just LOT'S OF WORK. 

The goats we bought were more for personal use and sell any of the buckling if we had any and didn't want to keep them. 

The mother from what I can feel DOES NOT have a third teat and I do not know what sort of buck she was bred to when I got, her so it could come from the daddy. 

I am just waiting for the pictures to down load and then I'll post them


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## Katgowen (Nov 3, 2008)

Here are the pictures I took, please let me know what you think.

Buckling










Doeling


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## Chaty (Apr 4, 2008)

Yep thats a 3rd teat but its probably a non functional teat. It wont hurt her and some breeders clip it off...which isnt good. They arent registered as nost wont let that happens as its considered a fault. She should make good breeding stock and since she isnt registered I wouldnt worry unless you just dont want her. Also the male looks normal to me...he should be fine when the testicles drop.


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## Katgowen (Nov 3, 2008)

Chaty said:


> Yep thats a 3rd teat but its probably a non functional teat. It wont hurt her and some breeders clip it off...which isnt good. They arent registered as nost wont let that happens as its considered a fault. She should make good breeding stock and since she isnt registered I wouldnt worry unless you just dont want her. Also the male looks normal to me...he should be fine when the testicles drop.



What is NOST? I don't know what sort of buck their mom was bred to; so I couldn't register them even if I wanted to. Their mom is a Nubian/Boer cross, and I am guessing she was bred to a mix or a boer, I have been trying to find out. I was planning on keeping on keeping the doe; and breeding her since I am just really want a family milker I plan on keeping one or two bucks for the meat and selling anything extra.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

She probably got the extra teat from the Boer side of the family, as Boers are known for having extra teats (and often, bad udders as well). When I bought a 3/8 Boer doe four years ago, she was already bred to a Boer buck, and both of her doe kids had extra teats -- one doe kid had 'fish-tail' teats, which made her un-usable for milking. (I sold them to some people for pets, which I will never do again, but that's another story.) I think the extra teats probably came from the sire, as I'm now milking the daughter of that original doe, sired by my Ober buck, and she has a nice udder, and her daughter has normal (baby) teats. 

The little teat I see in the picture shouldn't cause any problems with milking your doe, but if you want to keep any of her offspring, it would be good to breed her to a buck that doesn't carry that trait.

The buckling is normal.

Kathleen


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## Katgowen (Nov 3, 2008)

I was going to try and breed mom and the doeling(when she is old enough) to a milk breed, I have a place I can get an unregistered nubain buck for 115.00 delivered to me(since I have to way to transport) I was also thinking of a sassen or maybe an apline. Not really sure I am really still pretty new to all of this goat breeding stuff; her mom is about 2 years old now and I wouldn't breed the doeling until she is at least a year old. I don't want to breed her to young and I don't want to wait too long either.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Katgowen said:


> What is NOST?


I think she meant MOST


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## Chaty (Apr 4, 2008)

Yes I did ...lol...finger hit the wrong key...yep bet the extra teat came from the Boer side...most do. Its shouldnt hurt milking her either...


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## betsy h. (Sep 28, 2008)

Extra teat on doeling is no big deal since she is going to be a breeder/family milker. I don't know why folks make such a big deal out of them if they are only going to be used as beloved family milk goats! 

OTOH, 'if' she was a high dollar registered goat, *THEN* I'd take a look her genetics, clip the teat and send her to a pet/family milker home with no papers. Or send her back as a recorded grade- if you explain it to ADGA they will help you out with that at breeder's request- I know someone who did that- and grade her kids back up to an American level.

Just clip the teat and be done with it. No biggy. I was told by a very well known and respected ADGA judge/DVM to just clip them and go on if they are just for milk use.


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## Madfarmer (Mar 22, 2008)

And there's no reason whatsoever to wait till your doeling is a year old to breed her, provided you feed her well, give her adequate minerals, & control parasites. If you do that, she should be at 80 lbs around 7-8 months old, & ready to breed in Oct. or Nov. to kid when she's 12-13 months. Waiting simply costs you 10% or so of her productive life.

Madfarmer


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## goatkid (Nov 20, 2005)

That kid can't be registered with ADGA because she's part Boer. For a Boer cross, the extra teat is no big deal like it is in a pure dairy goat.


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## CountryGoalie (Aug 31, 2004)

I was going to start a post asking about extra teats, but when I did a search, lo and behold this thread came up. 

So, what I'm gathering from the discussion thus far, is that it's not a health issue to breed a doe that has a third teat? We just had our first kids in the past couple of weeks - twins to all three does. Of course the Nubian had bucks, and three of the four Boer crosses are does. :viking: Premuch the opposite of what we were hoping. :shrug:

Anyway. The Boer who had a buck and a doe - her doe has normal teat development. The Boer who had twin does - one has a third teat, and the other has... well.. her _ears_ are weird. Almost like the bottom section is folded up on itself. When they were born I thought they were just sticking that way from afterbirth that didn't clean off, but now that she's a little older, I'm realizing the skin is actually formed that way. So, should I just put them in the freezer? What about the mother?

None of them are registered, they are just a personal herd. Like I said, this is the first time we've had kids. THe Boer does are full sisters - they were two years old, had never been bred - don't know much about their background, as I acquired them from an elderly gentleman who had downsized because he got cancer, then could no longer keep even these, his favorite two. Could these abnormalities simply be because the doe is "older"? Should I cull _her_? I'm just curious.

The buck they were all bred to is just a "scrub" buck that we picked up a couple of years ago. You know, one of those "hey-was-that-a-sign-for-a-free-goat-I-saw-in-that-yard-as-I-drove-by" deals. :nono: I was hoping to perhaps "up-breed' by getting a fullblood Boer buckling in the future (right now we have an 87% that we planned on crossing to this fall)... should I give her a chance by breeding her to him and seeing if it came from the "scrub" side instead? 

Just sort-of thinking out loud and looking for input. So, is the third teat not an issue for breeding then? I was thinking it might cause complications ... but having never had a doe with three teats, I wasn't sure.

Thanks for the input.


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## cayenne47 (Nov 7, 2004)

When you say their ears are folded up and weird do you mean like this?








Sometimes they fall down by themselves. If it really bothers you, when they are born you can pull them apart and use tape or something to keep it down. It doesnt bother me and gives them personality, lol.


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## CountryGoalie (Aug 31, 2004)

Cayenne, kind-of like that kid's left ear, yes, but when I look at it, the skin is actually, like... _attached_ there, as if it grew that way. I don't know if that "comes undone"? Like I said, I've never had kids before. It doesn't bother me per se, I just wasn't sure if it was a birth defect and if I should keep her as breeding stock in the herd or not. :shrug:

I'll have to take a picture to show you guys what I mean, then maybe you can tell me if I'm just paranoid.


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## Jcran (Jan 4, 2006)

Those "dutch baby" ears are fine if you are not going to show; its a one point fault at a boer show because they are supposed to be out on range, and ticks or bugs could get in there and cause problems. If I get an ear like that on a kid I want to save for showing, I usually just "pop it" at birth, and then tape it. I pull on the end of the ear as soon as the kid is born. They are usually so "out of it", they do little more than squirm. There is a little tear in the skin, but it heals up very quickly and then the ear hangs normally.


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