# Ugly udder on a high producer?



## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

Millie is a GREAT producer who milks through, and her milk quality is fabulous! She's half Alpine and half Nubian. But her udder is a disaster! Should I promote her offspring as dairy, or just try to find pet homes for them? I've bred her to a NDG from a strong dairy line.
The first photo is her udder while she's dry (due in a month), the second is from last spring while milking.


----------



## Cali (Aug 2, 2012)

A milker is a milker! I know someone who has a goat with a really ugly udder but MAN does she put it in the pail. As long as people know they aren't buying babies with show-quality udder potential and they just want a good family milker, I don't see a problem with it.


----------



## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I agree with Cali. I've had does with worse udders than your girls who really pounded out the milk. I made sure they were always bred to an "udder buck". None of the daughters had udders as bad as moms.

It's really not as bad as you make it out to be!


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I agree with the others... ;-)


----------



## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

Thanks! She fills the pail alright! Milking her twice a day we were getting a total of 8lbs/day! And her milk is sweet like a NDW's.


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

You need to email me pictures when she kids! I sold her doe kids as homestead milkers. Can you post some pictures of her front too? I have missed her since I sold her to you. I'm glad you still like her and have her.


----------



## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

OMG we LOVE HER! I wish she was a little nicer to our three NDG does, and she beat up our Mastiff so we can no longer let the Mastiff be the LGD, but really she's just the lead doe, and she takes her role seriously!

Will she be ok with the other doe's kids?


----------



## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

Millie and Gang, our farm is on Facebook under "Squibwych Farm"


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

She looks good. As long as the kids leave her alone, they should be fine. Give them places to run and hide from her too. 

Not on facebook.


----------



## GoatieGranny (Jul 26, 2013)

<<<....Meet Bella, stage left!

My best milker has an udder that looks just like Millie's. She's been in milk 2 years and 3 months, and is still giving me 11 cups a day, with only one milking p/day. We even dried her off for a month when we thought she was pregnant, but when we discovered she had absorbed her kid, we started milking her again. She started back with 1/4 cup, and increased her amount daily, and has now leveled off at 11 cups. I don't care what her udder looks like, she is a wonderful milker, and a sweetheart to boot. She is also the herd queen, and is bossy to other does, but sweet as pie to any kids. Millie and Bella could be twins, by the way it sounds. LOL. To answer your question, I'd sell her kids as milkers because she is a good milker. Like others have said, just breed her with bucks who come from good udder lines.


----------



## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I think a healthy productive udder is a BEAUTIFUL udder. I'd love a pic of it full from the back!


----------



## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

Bella does sound like Millie's twin! I can't remember when she last freshened, but I think it was in 2012?

I'm not sure this is a full udder shot, but it was before I milked her (it was probably less than 12n hours since the previous milking)


----------



## ciwheeles (Apr 5, 2013)

If she's producing really well I would see no issue with selling kids out of her as home milkers. Just wether any bucks and try to use a buck on her that will keep up the production and help improve her udder. So many people sell worse home milker types that aren't even good producers.  To me production is the biggest thing. I can forgive conformational faults if they are healthy and productive.

I have one girl, Violetta, who is sweet as can be. We just bought her to have someone else in milk. My friend sold her to us for cheap because of her attachments. She didn't have room for non show quality goats. Despite her attachments she is an AMAZING producer. We've gotten attached to her so we'll be keeping her. I was going to market her kids as home milkers for 250. I figure it's a nice chance for someone to get kids from a doe who is going to earn her *M without paying an arm and a leg.


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Yes. She freshened in 2012. I have always sold her boys as pets and the does as homestead milkers. Agree with breeding her to bucks who can improve attachment and keep up milk production.

Because I always had Nigerian males, she was always bred to a Nigerian at my place. Found that 4H kids liked the idea of a smaller wether but not as small as a Nigerian.


----------



## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

I have a mixed Alpine doe that looks like her! Not a show worthy udder, but, her milk saved 5 kids this year! She 
produced enough milk to feed her kid plus triplets and a new bottle kid. I pasturized her milk and she had 
enough milk to feed all 5 through weaning! But, man is her udder horrid! Big and pendulous when empty, 
bulbous teats but when milked, the milk just falls out! (no effort at all!) I wouldn't trade her for anything. (Oh, and she is a sweet girl, too).


----------



## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

I'll be purchasing a NDG buck since I totally fail at detecting my girls heat cycles, and since I am in this for the milk, then the cuteness, I'll be looking for one from strong dairy lines with good attachment. 

I just poured the last quart of her milk into our milk pitcher. It's WEEKS OLD and still tastes fine, no curds... My farm helper (I've had surgery on both hands and have been one handed since January- 2 more months before I'm back to full usage) came in to pour himself a cup of coffee, took a look at the pitcher and asked "is this still Millie's?" I said yes and he sniffed it, shrugged and poured it into his coffee, then used more on his cereal. So it's not like my nose is off =) We have been savoring it, normally we drink the milk within a week, and use the bulk of it for cheese and yogurt!


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Wow, that is great. You will miss the milk. I went without it for over a year. At least you won't have to wait that long.


----------



## Barnes19 (Sep 8, 2013)

I wouldn't be too worried!!

Here in New Zealand we have a reasonably small genetic pool of goats, and the nubians carry a heavy gene for udders much like this one.

An increasing number have nice udders, but if you're looking for a single, decent home milker without the price tag of a full show pedigree, you would be extremely lucky to find a nubian with an udder better than that. Many are much worse, and uneven.

There's nothing wrong with them ... they're just as likely to milk well as another nubian with a perfect udder. Although I would definitely second the suggestion to breed her to good udder bucks!

Here I find a good way of breeding the nubians with bad udders is to cross them over a different breed, although I see she already has been and still looking typical nubi udder ... I'm impressed!!

Inform the buyers of her conformation fault, and make sure they also know that she's such a good milker its of little concern.
And, it wouldn't hurt to tell them you've put her over a good udder buck as well, so the kids are getting those genes too.


----------



## Hollowdweller (May 5, 2011)

HonestOmnivore said:


> Thanks! She fills the pail alright! Milking her twice a day we were getting a total of 8lbs/day! And her milk is sweet like a NDW's.


I think her udder is not terrible but if she is giving 8 lbs a day I would not consider her a huge milker unless she's a Nigerian.


----------



## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

Even if it had been over a yay since she last freshened?


----------



## Sylvie (Feb 18, 2013)

When I think of a huge milker, I think 15 lbs+. 8 lbs is about 1 gallon - just a good milker


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

What makes her a good milker is that she can milk that longer than a year.


----------

