# Third Teat!!



## Chelsey (Dec 7, 2018)

I have an unregistered Nigerian Dwarf who I haven’t been able to tame yet. I’ve had her for almost a year, and she’s honestly come a long way from when I first got her. She’ll eat out of my hand but won’t stand for petting. Anyways, today I noticed she had a cut under her eye that I wanted to look at and decided it was time for a hoof trim and copper bolus. She’s a month pregnant so I haven’t wanted to stress her out by constantly trapping her. She wouldn’t calm down with the rope around her neck so I resorted to holding her legs so I didn’t choke her out. Eventually I had to have my husband hold her down so I could look her over and trim, and with her on her side is when I noticed she has a third teat! It’s about a quarter inch from her other teat, hairless, is slightly smaller, but doesn’t appear malformed besides being an extra. I’m super bummed because I’ve been trying to better my herd. Last year I didn’t have anything registered and now I have three does registered and an amazing buck from nice milk lines. The buck isn’t registered, but I fell in love with him. This doe isn’t registered, but is from registered stock (as is the buck), my plan had been to keep the best doeling from the two unregistered goats and work on having her registered as Native on Appearance, since I love my buck so much and would like offspring from him. My goal with goats is to have registered milking stock to possibly show. My questions are: are extra teats hereditary? If they are hereditary, will her third teat possibly turn into fish teats or something else horrible in future generations? Is this something that can be fixed with a single good breeding, maybe two, or are extra teats hard to breed out? How horrible is an extra teat in the milking goat world? I would hate to have lost the last year with her, but want to be able to start over as quickly as possible if I need to so I don’t lose this breeding season as I’m trying to breed in pairs for milking. She does have the positives of excellent hooves (very little trimming), and seems to have a nice parasite resistance, but the negative of being an overbearing bully plus the whole extra teat and not being friendly part.


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## NigerianNewbie (Jun 6, 2018)

With dairy goats, a third teat is a disqualification, and highly undesirable. It is something that can be hereditary, and usually the goats (either sex) with more than 2 teat are not used for breeding purposes.

Depending on the OP, most of the time the registration papers won't be transferred to the purchasing owner and they are sold only as commercial stock.

What are "fish teats"?


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## Chelsey (Dec 7, 2018)

NigerianNewbie said:


> What are "fish teats"?


From what I understood it's a teat that starts out normal at the udder base and splits off into two or more. Kinda like a fish tail? Something I don't want to deal with at all.


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## Calistar (Jan 16, 2017)

Yeah, you really don't want a bad teat on a dairy goat. I recently discovered a teeny tiny split on my absolutely gorgeous, amazing bloodlines, $700 buck. I've pulled him from my breeding program and will be wethering him soon. Soo disappointing! His teat defects was so inconspicuous that I didn't even notice it until one of his daughters was born with a very prominent, very ugly fish teat. You definitely don't want to perpetuate anything like that.

Also, I was under the impression that Nigerian dwarfs can't be registered as NOA. At least with ADGA. You might want to check into that and be sure before you put too much time and energy into your unregistered stock.


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## NigerianNewbie (Jun 6, 2018)

Chelsey said:


> From what I understood it's a teat that starts out normal at the udder base and splits off into two or more. Kinda like a fish tail? Something I don't want to deal with at all.


Thank you for explaining this. (thumbup)


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Very good advice given.


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## Chelsey (Dec 7, 2018)

Calistar said:


> Yeah, you really don't want a bad teat on a dairy goat. I recently discovered a teeny tiny split on my absolutely gorgeous, amazing bloodlines, $700 buck. I've pulled him from my breeding program and will be wethering him soon. Soo disappointing! His teat defects was so inconspicuous that I didn't even notice it until one of his daughters was born with a very prominent, very ugly fish teat. You definitely don't want to perpetuate anything like that.
> 
> Also, I was under the impression that Nigerian dwarfs can't be registered as NOA. At least with ADGA. You might want to check into that and be sure before you put too much time and energy into your unregistered stock.


I'm sorry about your buck! That has to be really frustrating. From your experience, I don't think want to deal with weird teats at all, so I'll have to sell her as a pregnant pet.

Man, this registered world is so confusing, it almost makes me want to give up on it. I only bought that buck because I thought I could do NOA with his daughters. Now I have to research that a ton.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Because they are still registering Nigerian Dwarf goats in an "Open" book, only kids from registered parents can be registered. Currently, there is no NOA for Nigerian Dwarfs. This is ADGA. The Nigerian registery may be different, I have no knowledge about that.


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## Calistar (Jan 16, 2017)

You could always wait until she kids and see what you get. I'd definitely sell the doe as a pet with full disclosure though. 
I think you'll be happier without her in your breeding program anyway. I have never, ever regretted selling a goat that was difficult to deal with. It's hard to put them up for sale, but once they're gone, you won't miss them. Shy goats that I can't catch easily just have to go. 

It sounds like you've had a really discouraging start, but don't give up! Even if you can't do NOA with your buck, I promise there will be others out there that are just as nice! It seems like there's always a buck popping up for sale that I wish I could buy, even though I have some really amazing bucks already!


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

AGS doesn't do NOA either but I think I read MDGA does and it takes 3 generations.


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## Morning Star Farm (Sep 26, 2018)

Chelsey said:


> Man, this registered world is so confusing, it almost makes me want to give up on it. I only bought that buck because I thought I could do NOA with his daughters. Now I have to research that a ton.


Don't give up! It is a lot simpler than it seems! And no, ADGA, AGS, & NDGA do not do NOA because it is too easy to mistake a pygmy for a Nigerian in some cases. All you need for NOA is the signature of another ADGA member and so it is too easy to falsify or just make a mistake. If you want to do registered, I would suggest selling your doe bred or with her kids, especially because she's not tame. That is not something you want in a future milker as they can pass it on to their kids too. There are lots of very nice registered bred does for sale right now all over the country. I would get one and start over. It will save you a lot of time and headaches with taming your doe.

(For clarification, a real dairy Nigerian looks totally different from a pygmy, but there are still some old style Nigerians who aren't so dairy and resemble pygmies, so it would be easy to register a pygmy or other mixed breed small goat as a Nigerian if NOA were allowed. I'm not saying yours isn't Nigerian, just wanted to explain a little further about why it isn't allowed.)


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## Goat Whisperer (Dec 3, 2018)

Per the ADGA rules, an extra teat on does is a very serious defect, not a DQ (on bucks it would be a DQ). That being said, I would not intentionally breed or show a doe with an extra teat. The other posters are correct, you cannot NOA Nigerians. That was part of the agreement when they were accepted into ADGA, the do not want Nigerian crosses registered.
Don't give up! It is not as complex as it sometimes sounds  

You said the the parents of this doe are registered, but she is not. Do you know why she was sold as unregistered? Some breeder will sell a doe with an extra teat unregistered, but it should be disclosed.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

You can't do NOA for Nigerians or any bucks with ADGA or AGS. And yes, extra or deformed teats are a genetic issue.


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## Chelsey (Dec 7, 2018)

I was told that they (her and her two half sisters) were being sold unregistered because they were untamed and the breeder just didn’t want to deal with them anymore. The breeder is an acquaintance of a friend. My friend breeds Nigerians and had sold some to this acquaintance, who asked for help selling these three yearlings. Four months after I brought them home, one of the twins gave birth. The breeder was convinced she couldn’t have been bred at her place since the buck was only out for a second. Unfortunately I’ve already had to sell the other two since I’m breeding for milk and I can’t milk something I can’t touch. I have someone looking at her on Tuesday who very much understands that she and her unborn kid are for pets only. I wish I could keep her, but I wouldn’t feel right breeding her, and I don’t have the space for pets right now. Thank you all for your help!


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## Morning Star Farm (Sep 26, 2018)

That is wonderful! I hope she gets a good home and I think that is the best decision to make for her and your herd. If you have any more registration questions in the future, it's not as confusing as it looks! I think dairy goats actually have one of the simplest registries when compared to other animals.


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