it's where the end of the teat splits, causing it to look like a fish tail.. and yea, I do believe there is a heredity factor involved.
A fish teat is where there are two teats attached together that resemble the tail of a fish. In some, both teats work which can be bothersome while others do not function. And I don't think you're dumb for asking....
Put two fingers together and imagine a fish tail(the split at the end). Teat abnormalities are hereditary. How often they will surface is anyones guess. For me to deal with it the genetics would have to be outstanding and irreplaceable. A lot can go wrong, like it shows up in every kid, the wrong teat is cut off, the correct teat is cut of and when the doe freshen the udder looks really bad, etc. Jolene
OH, well then, I can actually answer this one!! :woohoo I have a doe with fish teat! And she gave birth to a doeling last month that has ....guess what.....fish teat! Now that I can't milk either of them I am going to sell the doe. The doeling I have already sold, but I made sure that the person that bought her knew about it and that it was next to impossible to milk the mama. She didn't care and bought her anyway. Of course she also bought a doeling she could actually milk too! I don't feel so dumb now! :biggrin Andi
It's a lot more prevelant in Boers...unless the breeders are culling for it. It happens in Dairy Goats but we generally cull the animal with it and not repeat the breeding. Kaye
Yep mostly in Boers, I have one that has a fish, she just had twin does and neither of them have it, any bucklings from her will be wethered though.
So if you cull the kid...but it has a genetic component...why not cull the dam as well? What about any littermates, even if not affected? And if it ONLY the dam or the dam and the sire together? What of a dam who is 6 or 7 years old and you have NEVER seen this before, even when bred to the same buck, then at 7 years old it pops up, do we still conclude that it is genetic? At this point do you cull the dam? What of her daughters from years 2, 3, 4, 5 etc? And their daughters?
Some of the South African Boers have natural 4 good placed teats, there are 4 teat good placed Boer bucks,but when you breed a 4 teat to a 2 teat ,thats where I have had problems. I have never and would never cut a teat off as what if the other teat was malformed and it wouldn't milk ,the doe had kids and had lots of milk in the side that the teat orifice wouldn't milk, that would be horrible ! Check your bucks teats if you have a multi teat or fish teat kid , if it's your buck cull him. On the doe (if you keep her) always breed to a 2 teat buck,always ,as I have found that breeding to a 2 teat buck usually means 2 teat kids. I have a Boer doe now that has 3 teats,I keep her as she has pretty kids,I breed her to a 2 teat buck and this year she is feeding 3 buck kids !! Sometimes a extra teat comes in handy, the bucklings all have 2 nice placed teats. If I see 2 teats on a doe or doeling from a fish teat or multi-teat, I am not worried as a 2 teat will usually always have a 2 teat unless breeding with a 4 teat buck. I have in the past bred my dairy girls to the boer buck and we had a fabulous South African black skin buck with 4 nice teats but breeding to a 2 teat doe Boer or dairy almost always messed up the teats, every doe with messed up teats was culled . Breed a 2 teat doe to a 2 teat buck, always check the bucks teats ! Dont repeat a fish teat breeding ,find another buck.
Linda that is good to know, but I do not now, nor do I ever forsee ever owning boers. So my questions still remain specifically relating to dairy goats.
Thats why I dont like breeding dairy to Boers because most of the doelings have teat problems but I have never seen a 2 teat dairy doe with fish tail/extra teat :nooo I would cull them tho but that's just me .
