We just finished up the breeding season with kids heading off to new homes. It was our new buck's first year. When we banded his bucklings at 11 weeks, one of them not only had an undropped testicle, but it was underdeveloped (about the size of a pea). His new owner contacted me a couple weeks later and it still had not dropped. In doing some reading, I have heard that this can many times be genetic. Now I'm not sure what to do. He has fantastic breeding (Pholia Farms) and seems to have the makings of a great buck. The doe he was bred to is out of a doe my friend bred on her farm (Camana's Petite Paradise). So how big of a genetic issue is this? I don't suppose there is anyway to tell which line it came down (or was it two recessive genes?). Do I use him one more breeding season and see what we get or do I whether him and get a different buck? I would appreciate your thoughts! Thank you!
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I'm glad you shared your experience, Michael, but I still wouldn't say that it's definitely hereditary based upon only two cases. Because they had the same sire and dam, it very well could have been a nutritional or other stress issue with one of the parents. If they are still in the US, that might be something to discuss with their caregivers before getting more embryos.
Before we discovered we had a copper deficiency problem here, we had a ridiculous number of kids born with extra teats and other teat defects -- as in several per year when breeding 10 or less does. However, since we corrected our copper deficiency problem in 2007, we have had only two kids born with teat defects, and we have 2X as many kids per year as we did back then. Although you do see goats with teat defects throwing kids with teat defects, when a goat without one throws a kid with one, there could very well be something else at work. And in your case, embryo transfer opens up a whole additional world of possibilities, as it is a very new field for goats, so we're all still learning.
Testicle defects vary greatly from species to species. In some, it is actually normal for them to be born with undescended testicles, which then drop in a few months or even a year, so it's tough to draw a conclusion on goats based upon a study in humans. And we do know in humans that genes generally only predict something in about 30% of cases. The rest of the picture is nutrition, stress, toxins in the environment, etc. For example, most women who get breast cancer do not have the breast cancer gene.
Our experience would suggest that cryptorchidism IS genetic. We had two kids born with undescended testicles last year.
These bucks were from frozen fertilised embryos.
The two boys had same sire and same dam, but to strengthen the case for a genetic origin, each was carried by a different surrogate so it rules out something in the gestation process. That is almost as close to a controlled experiment as would be wanted. We will know next year about this time because we will implant some more embryos from that same breeding, just to be certain, but at this point it looks pretty much like there is a genetic component.
We tried to learn about the sire and dam. The sire HAD sired a cryptorchid previously. (We did not know that when we bought him!) The dam's records are a bit less clear except by inference. There were 10 kids registered with AGS from her, but all were doe kids. (We didn't know that about her either, when we bought her.) Our supposition is that any buck kids were not registered, quite possibly because they had a cryptorchidism problem, and thinking it highly unlikely she had 10 doe kids and no buck kids.
We wethered both boys surgically.
Here is an article which suggests a possible genetic cause:
http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/11/19/2309
I would be careful in using a buck known to have thrown a cryptorchid and or a doe that has produced one.
Thank you for easing my mind, Deborah! I was referring to the Sire so I will relax a little. :) For the first couple of years, the plan has been to wether all buckings until I see what he is producing and how his daughters do. I have a very small farm and I have no interest in propagating bad genes! I can't afford it. :) The new owner wanted wethers only (she does not have a breeding operation) and will have him wethered herself (I knocked off the wethering price). I actually sold her two kids (brothers) and this one was much bigger than the other and has been healthy so far. Fortunately, the new owner is goat savvy and was also made aware before she hauled him home. When all was said and done, she basically bought one goat and got the other one free. :)
It is probably just bad luck. Neither Goat Medicine nor Diseases of the Goat list it as hereditary. And if you think about it, if it were hereditary, then the carriers would have become extinct because it is associated with reduced fertility, although a goat with one testicle is usually still somewhat fertile. The other thing to think about is that the one testicle is quite small. That could mean that he is a hermaphrodite, according to Goat Medicine.
We've had two cryptorchids here in 450+ kids, and they were from completely different parents who never threw a kid with an undescended testicle before or since.
Unfortunately, if a kid is born with an undescended testicle, it does not usually ever drop. I have never heard of one dropping at any age after birth. And even if it did, the kid should not be used for breeding because we should only be using the best of the best for bucks, and there is a good chance something else is wrong with him. The first cryptorchid we had here died when he was only a few months old. Our second one was just born in April, and I'm raising him for meat, but he is not gaining weight like he should, so I am starting to worry about him. I've heard of other cryptorchids dying quite young.
Cryptorchids are really only good for meat, as you cannot easily castrate them. When we had our first one, we were still new enough to goats that I could not fathom the idea of eating one, so I was willing to give him to someone as a pet. However, she called her vet to see what castration would cost, and he said it would be $100-250 and would go up in price depending upon how long it took him to find the second testicle.
I'm not sure which goat you are talking about when you say, "He has the makings of a great buck." If you are talking about the cryptorchid, forget about it, and let the new owner know that he needs to be surgically castrated if they want to keep him as a pet. Otherwise, he may start to stink and act bucky. :( If you are talking about his sire, don't worry about it. It is highly unlikely that you'll see another cryptorchid in years. If you do, you should look at your nutritional status, as mineral deficiencies can result in birth defects.