# One floppy ear on a saanan?



## phyllislady (Mar 23, 2013)

I have no idea what good confirmation is for a goat so I am wondering would floppy ears on a saanan be really bad? Should I not use this kid to breed? Or would she probably be fine to breed just not show?


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## Kaneel (Oct 7, 2012)

From what I've seen on here the kid is probably selenium deficient. I think that other TGS members might suggest...a dose of BoSe?


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Floppy ears would be a disqualification in the saanen breed standard. For me personally, I wouldn't use the goat for breeding...i'd probably be selling it as a non-papered milker/breeding/pet doe...but it depends on your herd goals and if you're breeding registered saanens or not. However, how old is this kid? It's not all that uncommon for dairy breed kids that are supposed to have erect ears...have slightly floppy ears at birth. Usually if I have a kid born with floppy ears, they'll straighten out within the first week. It's fairly normal...not real real common, but does happen occasionally, sometimes mineral or selenium deficiencies can cause the ears to flop a bit on newborns as well.


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

what kylee said. 

but also depends on why they are floppy and whether they have always been like that. my pure saanen kid now at 7 mths has floppy ears but had perfectly sticking up ears at birth. hers were damaged due to photosensitization and liver damage. she is still registered and she will breed babies just fine. other people have told me they have had a similar thing happen from infections from tattooing.


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## phyllislady (Mar 23, 2013)

Hm, well none of my goats are registered but I have an idea of what all their breeds are, and their father had one floppy ear, which i wasnt expecting to show up in the babies since i thought it was just a fluke but the more i sat thinking about it, the owner of him said that he was saanan with a little bit if alpine, but now that I think about it, he looked kinda Nubian so maybe they jut had their breeds screwed up, but I ll keep in mind the selenium deficiency in case. Thanks!


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