# Double teat



## KRuss (Apr 27, 2013)

I have a doe that has looked like she had a two ended teat but today when I milked her I realized she does and milk comes out of both of them! I noticed yesterday that that udder is a lot larger that the other as well so I decided to milk that side out. I haven't been milking her bc I'm letting her raise her babies right now and don't want to put too much on her with it being her first year.

The teat is like a regular teat maybe a little larger that the other one and it has two holes at the bottom (one on each side). I wish I had taken a pic to show.

Anyway is there a potential problem with this? Is it genetic? How uncommon is this?


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## KRuss (Apr 27, 2013)

it looks like the bottom pic

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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

So are you saying she has double orifices in one teat?
It is absolutely a DQ for showing.
Other than that as long as kids are being fed good you have nothing to worry about & it is not necessarily passed down.
I have a doe with double orifices in each side & kids do fine. She has never passed this down.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

*Double orifice teat*


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## KRuss (Apr 27, 2013)

Nancy d is looks like that only they are exactly the same length. I'm not planing to show her so I'm not too worried about that. Just hadn't seen that before


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## Summersun (Apr 24, 2014)

I have a doe that has a small teat attached to her regular teat. If squeezed it does leak milk but doesn't interfere in the babies. I haven't milked her to drink but have milked to feed her weak kid and it milked just fine. She HAS passed it on but since unregistered and is a pet I don't mind. You can snip the extra teat off within a couple days of birth if you want. Mine is an extra teat, not a double orifice.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Snipping an extra can cause more problems than it's worth. It is also considered unethical.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

It can very well cause problems. Unfortunately, my new mama has a double teat on one side and her new doeling is not able to nurse off of it.

Thankfully, she only had one kid and has one good side for her to nurse. If she had had twins or trips, I would have been forced to bottle feed because of not being able to nurse the double teat. I have been hand-milking the double side to keep her even and to freeze colostrum and an emergency milk supply.

I'm pretty sure we will be sending her to freezer camp once her baby is weaned. Which sucks because she is a great mom and a real sweet heart. I don't mind bottle babies in an emergency, but I don't want them EVERY time we breed her. :sigh:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Summersun said:


> You can snip the extra teat off within a couple days of birth if you want. Mine is an extra teat, not a double orifice.


A word of caution, do not cut off extra teats~!!!

When the Doe first freshens, it will balloon out badly, where it was sniped off, causing more problems then you had to started with.

Very unfair to breeders purchasing the Doe, or you, who had this done. 
You will most likely see major problems arise, when they have to care for their kids. It ruins the Doe further and doesn't correct the initial issue, it only makes it worse.

It is cosmetic, however for a good breeder/ Doe to care for babies it will be a disaster. 

Please, do not snip.


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## ndwarf (Dec 23, 2013)

Isn't there a way to band an extra teat?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

No, I wouldn't even try, to much risk.

The way goats are born, is what it is. I would leave them the way God intended.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Amen Pam!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Thanks NancyD :hug::smile:


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

ndwarf said:


> Isn't there a way to band an extra teat?


Ow Ow, geeze, just the thought made me turn green.

If the double teats aren't attached to each other, you can use medical tape to tape one up out of the way for the younger kids. Usually once they are a couple weeks old they can deal with them better.


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## Summersun (Apr 24, 2014)

toth boer goats said:


> A word of caution, do not cut off extra teats~!!!
> 
> When the Doe first freshens, it will balloon out badly, where it was sniped off, causing more problems then you had to started with.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the information. I have never snipped one, just heard thats common around here with show goats because its judged as a fault to have extra teats. I could see where it would be a problem for a goat that was bred to be milked. All I have is unregistered pygmies, but trying to find a couple dairy does so trying to learn first.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I hear ya,
I don't like that some show breeders, try to cheat and do this, it is not legal to do for showing. As it doesn't change the genetic flaw, but they are allowed to show only if it isn't caught. 
It is sad and it irritates me, when this happens and not fair to anyone. But the reality is, some will do this terrible thing just to show. It is so dishonest.

It is devastating to any breeder, to have a beautiful animal, flawed and not showable.
Honest breeders, will not modify to make that goat perfect. We cut our losses and deal with what is at hand and not hide it. :wink:


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Unethical breeders hurt everyone.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Yes they do.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Yeah I don't think I could ever cut a teat off and I'm pretty game on a lot of stuff 
I myself wouldn't worry about the teat as long as the kids can eat nurse from it. I have a few split teats and 2 have them bad where it splits off right at the tip and never had a issue with kids nursing. Also none of their kids have had split teats either.... Actually I have a daughter as well as a grand daughter of one and they are fine as well as the kids they produce.
But if you that those teats are odd... I had a doe that kidded for the first time this year. Where the teat meets the bag there was some crusty so I picked it off thinking it was a cut.... Nope it was a little hole that if I squeezed on either side milk came out.... Like it should have been a teat but never formed. That was freaky!!!


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

My first dairy goat had an extra teat that was snipped off. Didn't realize it until she freshened and the milk would leak out of the area that had been snipped. It made milking a mess because the leak was right where my fingers went to squeeze, which made the leak worse. And yes, a couple of her daughters and a son were born with an extra teat.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I am sorry you had a bad outcome over snipping a teat. 

Glad you shared this, it will help others know, it is a bad idea. :hug:


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## KRuss (Apr 27, 2013)

I have started to notice her kids won't nurse from that side at all now. She is empty on the other side so I've been milking her just to even her out. Both orifices milk out pretty much the same. One of them has a slower stream but they both milk wonderfully.


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