# boers and udders



## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I understand boers are meat goats, and as such people have certain traits they breed for. I'm wondering if, other than proper teat structure, people breed for good udders?? Looking through the internet I see so many boer does with horribly long saggy stretched udders. Reading ads, many are not that old. Just curious


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

You know I was just looking at some of my does, Im on bag watch right now  and I do have a few with low bags and are not that old. I have one that is 6 years old and her bag is almost to the ground. I am going to be selling her, I would rather have extra messed up teats then a low hanging bag, its so hard on them when they eat brush  But no I think you are right, more people are worked up about the extra teats, which I do see how that can cause a issue, then with....I dont know the right word, 'low hanging bags'.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Boers will never have beautiful udders compared to dairy. Having said that, so long as they can feed their kids is primary.
On the flip side dairy will never produce the meat that a Boer does, so you gotta kinda go with what you have; not that dairy doesnt produce good meat nor meat goats produce enough milk, it's what your goals are.
Boer udders horrified me when we first started out. Now I love em, specially if there are four working teats.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

Nancy, I agree with dairy not being boer and vice a versa. I was referring more to ones that had udders lower than the hocks. With teats so low once kids a few weeks they'd have to do more than the normal nursing position. I wouldn't post a pic, obviously, of someone elses goat. Although it would be nice to see how acceptable some of those really low ones would be for breeders- again more learning, not to be mean.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

No worries ClearwtrBeach, I had one old Boer doe who's udder was below hocks & teats even lower.The older she got the more that udder sagged; weak ligaments I assume.
But she fed her kids just fine.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 28, 2011)

Our rule is, if I have to spend the entire day trying to get the kid on the udder because it has gotten too low or teats to big for a healthy newborn to find it, I add her to my cull list. Doesn't for sure mean she will be culled, But it is taken into consideration. If she were under 5 or 6 years of age, I would consider culling the entire line of daughters that I had kept from her. Of course it is possible I had sold some by that point to other farms. But let's say she was 4 years old and has a blown teat, and had two does that year. None of them would be kept, I would offer the doelings for sale for 4H/FFA meat shows and tell the buyer why we are not using her as breeding stock. 
We also track growth rate. I expect my 2 year olds and 3 year olds to beable to produce twins that are growing at .5 lbs per day or more. Of course there a other factors that would cause slow groth rate besides poor udder qualities. But A doe with twins that are only growing at a .3 lbs per day is very closely looked at. I will also not sell those kids for breeding stock. 

But in my opinion an attractive/perfect udder is pretty far down on my list of things to look at when purchasing a meat goat. We do always check teat structure and purchase 1x1 and clean well spread 2x2. I would really rather my entire herd be 2x2. We also only purchase does that have been dam raised so we can check out their dam's udder. HOwever I have purchased a couple bucks that have been embryo transplants. That does make me a little nervous. I would really prefer all my stock come from farms that are dam raising to make sure their mothers can raise their own kids. Since that is what we do.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

well put 20kids


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I dont mind helping a kid out, but thats me, understand what you are saying. The biggest concern I have with low udders is like I said the brush. It cuts them up so bad and I dont know if its the girl in me speaking but I just feel so bad on that part. I do have a dairy goat who hangs low, I keep up on milking her and when its time to dry up she is penned. The one that I stated above she actually never has been cut up from the brush but she has also never had a kid with me, I am mainly selling because she is cripled and seriously needs to be put down but I would rather her go to feed someone then the coyotes around here. Any how back to the point, lol, I do have a few does with 'cluster' teats and have never had a issue with the kids not figuring it out. They even had kidded 2times before I found out that is somthing that they should not have, I have never once had to help a kid out on these does but I have on the low udders.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

20Kids, man, I like your buck Goldman. 

I haven't been at it long enough to have any big theorys, but I know when it comes to breeding stock show
Boers, in the ring it is pass/fail. Period. The ABGA had some stricter rules set up to go into effect and changed
their mind and kept the old rules. You might think a perfect 1X1 or 2X2 well seperated doe would get the nod
over one that barely passes, but that is not how it works. I try to keep this in mind when grading my own as
my goals are for competitive show goats. If I have a doe in the future that has a really bad hanging udder,
I'll consider that a strike against that doe, but I doubt I would cull my favorite doe for that, if you know what
I mean. I would try to breed her to a buck that didn't have a pendulous scrotum and was known to come from
a line of good milking, good uddered goats.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I like him too!! Silly but my fav. is his horns. I love the horns that go back like that, head goes into fence, head comes out lol, no but the rest of him is nice as well. Tenacross, Im right with you, my favs get away with lots that I should cull over. #3 on my 'if I die you can not sell' list has bow legs, out of 6 kids only one has had that but she will die here . The same as my dairy girl has a low hanging udder, its a pain, but between being #1 on that list, I count all the babies that needed milk and she raised, she has earned her right to die here. She raised a foal for a few days, 2 calfs, and 9 kids, thats a #1 keeper in my book


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 28, 2011)

Tenacross said:


> 20Kids, man, I like your buck Goldman.
> 
> I haven't been at it long enough to have any big theorys, but I know when it comes to breeding stock show
> Boers, in the ring it is pass/fail. Period. The ABGA had some stricter rules set up to go into effect and changed
> ...


Thank you, he is a little more than we needed,considering we don't show. Well, we show wethers and sell wethers, but we don't show in open shows. Sticking to the discussion, he is 2x2, in fact all our bucks at this time are 2x2. It seemed like the fancier the farm we went to, the more extra teats the goats had.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

You don't want the udder, to drop below the hocks, none of my does, old or young, go past that, so, I guess, it is bred into them.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

Pam, that was kind of my thought, should they really go below the hock. I prefer mine not to, I was just wondering what others thought about this.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

clearwtrbeach said:


> Pam, that was kind of my thought, should they really go below the hock. I prefer mine not to, I was just wondering what others thought about this.


 Yep, if they go below that, they get into problems.


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