Bisquet has 4 teets

As a child, my family raised Nubians, Lamanchas, Alpines, and more. We kept about 6-8 full size goats at a time and showed them at fair. Now as an adult, I knew I wanted to start over with goats (I love so much!). I don't own the same land and the shed I converted into a barn with a stall for my girls isn't much. I thought, for the space I should start small. I picked up twins, two cream colored does who are registered and dehorned, around August. 

Now my girls, Bisquet and Honey are about 6 months old. I've read they are mature for breeding around 7-8 months of age. First, is 7-8 months a bit young for Nigerian Dwarfs? Should I at least wait till they are a year old? 

Now, about the deformity. Is it a deformity for a Dwarf to have 4 teets? If so, will it pose any problems with nursing her babies when I do breed her? Should I not breed her because it could lead to problems with kids or milk production? Any advice is helpful, so thank you in advance.

~Liz

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  • Welcome to the group, Liz, and congrats on your new goats! 

    Age is not as important as size when it comes to breeding. ND does should be at least 40 pounds when bred the first time, which is about 2/3 of their adult weight. So, that means some does might be big enough to breed at 6 months while others need to be a year or 18 months old. If they're not big enough, you can have kidding challenges.

    As for extra teats, it is a disqualification in the show ring if a doe has more than two teats. As far as milking goes, it depends on where the extra teats are located. Some are quite easy to work around, whereas others might be a problem. The extra teats may or may not be functional. We had a couple of does with them, but we only had them for one lactation and then sold then without papers, but we didn't have any problems with them when we had them. I also sold a doeling without papers that had an extra teat, and her owner kept in touch for quite a few years, and she never had any problems with her.

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