I just noticed this on Poplar today and thought others might be interested to see it. I have no idea what it means in terms of milking. I do know that she could never be shown, but I'm not interested in doing that at the moment anyways. She is bred and due to kid, oh, sometime between now and then, so I'll find out if it affects milking eventually. Once again, gah! to pen breeding.
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Hello All! I did contact the breeder and they were VERY professional about this situation. They agreed to reimburse me for the difference of a registered doe and a pet quality doe. I have decided to sell her as a pet to a good home, and folks that understand the implications of breeding her. I am saddened, but things happen in nature that is out of anyone control. I can only be thankful I discovered it now, rather than when she was older and possible already bred. Thank you for all the very kind responses :)
Hi Kirsten, the very same thing happened to me a couple of years ago when I bought my doe for quite a bit of money with papers only to discover a year later that she had a spur. I told the breeder and she just had an "oh well, sorry!" attitude about it. I did breed her and she gave birth to twin bucks (who are wethers now) at first I was sad that she didn't have a doe but looking back I am glad she didn't. I am now looking at a few more reputable breeders to purchase a higher quality doe. I was really disappointed with my breeder's response I really thought she was going to respond like Deborah said she would, oh well I guess that's the difference between a breeder with high standards and just a mediocre breeder, you live and learn, hope you have better luck than I did!
Oh Kirsten! How sad!! But good for you (even with your emotional attachment) to think of the implications of breeding her and passing this trait on. *hugs*
Thank you for replying Deborah. I have decided to sell her as a pet, and contact the breeder. I won't let her go to just anyone though. I will find her a good home that will give her proper care, and until then she will stay here. It does open up a space for a new doe that can help improve my herd. She is my little Rosie, and I am so heartbroken :(
I can totally understand your disappointment. I'd contact the breeder and see what he/she was willing to do. Personally I don't sell goats with papers if they have DQs, and if I did accidentally sell one with a teat defect and the buyer contacted me later, I'd happily refund the difference in the cost of a registered vs unregistered goat provided they returned the papers to me. (I sell unregistered does for $150.) The main reason I don't sell does with paper when they have a teat defect is because some people have a very short memory, and I don't want someone selling that goat down the line to someone who might walk into the show ring with her. I'll never forget a story I read in a goat magazine years ago written by a girl who bought her first goat and took her to a show only to be DQed because the doe had a teat defect. I would feel terrible if that ever happened with a goat I bred. And recently my conviction of not selling those goats as registered was reinforced because someone called me who had bought one of those unregistered does five years ago wanting to know how she could register the offspring now. She had completely forgotten our conversation from five years ago where I explained to her that the doe was being sold without papers because of the teat defect.
I know this is an older thread, but I have some bad news about my little doeling Rosie. I was trimming hooves yesterday and noticed a teat spur on her. I was devastated as she was one of my first goats, and I paid good money for her as a registered breeding doe. I am not sure what to do, or where to go from here. I was thinking of contacting the breeder, and letting them know what I found. The strange thing is I have looked at her teats many times and this is the first time I ever noticed anything. She is four months old now. I love her, but I did not purchase goats for pets per say. I want to start a breeding herd of sound, healthy goats that have wonderful dairy qualities. I know this can happen from time to time, but being new to goats I am a little bummed.
That is a teat spur. Opinions vary widely on what to do. I know a lot of people snip them off with nail clippers. The younger they are when you do it, the less of a big deal it is. Some boer people think extra teats are great because they think the doe will give more milk to her kids, although I really don't think that's the case. I know a vet who says they should be snipped beause they lead to mastitis, but I'm not sold on that idea either.
Most people think they're genetic, although I've heard a couple people say that it's environmental. We used to have a lot of teat defects here (several a year), but we haven't had a single one since we got our copper deficiency problem under control, so I lean towards the environmental cause. There is one doe that I think might have had a genetic predisposition to throwing teat defects, but other than that, they were all random.
We bred our first doe that had a teat spur, and we had no trouble milking her. We then sold her without papers, and we sold all of the other doelings with teat defects without papers, as well.
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It sounds like you got the best out of a couldn't be helped, not so great situation... hugs!! I'm off to check goat boobies.
Hello All! I did contact the breeder and they were VERY professional about this situation. They agreed to reimburse me for the difference of a registered doe and a pet quality doe. I have decided to sell her as a pet to a good home, and folks that understand the implications of breeding her. I am saddened, but things happen in nature that is out of anyone control. I can only be thankful I discovered it now, rather than when she was older and possible already bred. Thank you for all the very kind responses :)
Hi Kirsten, the very same thing happened to me a couple of years ago when I bought my doe for quite a bit of money with papers only to discover a year later that she had a spur. I told the breeder and she just had an "oh well, sorry!" attitude about it. I did breed her and she gave birth to twin bucks (who are wethers now) at first I was sad that she didn't have a doe but looking back I am glad she didn't. I am now looking at a few more reputable breeders to purchase a higher quality doe. I was really disappointed with my breeder's response I really thought she was going to respond like Deborah said she would, oh well I guess that's the difference between a breeder with high standards and just a mediocre breeder, you live and learn, hope you have better luck than I did!
Oh Kirsten! How sad!! But good for you (even with your emotional attachment) to think of the implications of breeding her and passing this trait on. *hugs*
Thank you for replying Deborah. I have decided to sell her as a pet, and contact the breeder. I won't let her go to just anyone though. I will find her a good home that will give her proper care, and until then she will stay here. It does open up a space for a new doe that can help improve my herd. She is my little Rosie, and I am so heartbroken :(
I can totally understand your disappointment. I'd contact the breeder and see what he/she was willing to do. Personally I don't sell goats with papers if they have DQs, and if I did accidentally sell one with a teat defect and the buyer contacted me later, I'd happily refund the difference in the cost of a registered vs unregistered goat provided they returned the papers to me. (I sell unregistered does for $150.) The main reason I don't sell does with paper when they have a teat defect is because some people have a very short memory, and I don't want someone selling that goat down the line to someone who might walk into the show ring with her. I'll never forget a story I read in a goat magazine years ago written by a girl who bought her first goat and took her to a show only to be DQed because the doe had a teat defect. I would feel terrible if that ever happened with a goat I bred. And recently my conviction of not selling those goats as registered was reinforced because someone called me who had bought one of those unregistered does five years ago wanting to know how she could register the offspring now. She had completely forgotten our conversation from five years ago where I explained to her that the doe was being sold without papers because of the teat defect.
I know this is an older thread, but I have some bad news about my little doeling Rosie. I was trimming hooves yesterday and noticed a teat spur on her. I was devastated as she was one of my first goats, and I paid good money for her as a registered breeding doe. I am not sure what to do, or where to go from here. I was thinking of contacting the breeder, and letting them know what I found. The strange thing is I have looked at her teats many times and this is the first time I ever noticed anything. She is four months old now. I love her, but I did not purchase goats for pets per say. I want to start a breeding herd of sound, healthy goats that have wonderful dairy qualities. I know this can happen from time to time, but being new to goats I am a little bummed.
That is a teat spur. Opinions vary widely on what to do. I know a lot of people snip them off with nail clippers. The younger they are when you do it, the less of a big deal it is. Some boer people think extra teats are great because they think the doe will give more milk to her kids, although I really don't think that's the case. I know a vet who says they should be snipped beause they lead to mastitis, but I'm not sold on that idea either.
Most people think they're genetic, although I've heard a couple people say that it's environmental. We used to have a lot of teat defects here (several a year), but we haven't had a single one since we got our copper deficiency problem under control, so I lean towards the environmental cause. There is one doe that I think might have had a genetic predisposition to throwing teat defects, but other than that, they were all random.
We bred our first doe that had a teat spur, and we had no trouble milking her. We then sold her without papers, and we sold all of the other doelings with teat defects without papers, as well.