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Blind Teats And Other Udder Defects In Goat Ewes

Blind teats and other udder defects in goat ewes

By Shane Brody |15 July 2024 | 6:00 am

Before purchasing livestock for breeding, it’s crucial to identify and understand troublesome or disqualifying traits, such as blind teats and other udder defects. This knowledge will also help you determine which female offspring to retain for future breeding purposes.

Often, novice farmers rush into purchasing breeding animals without thorough research, leading to costly mistakes.

It is important to undertake breed-specific research before purchasing breeding stock, as this will assist you to ascertain which genetic traits, deformities and health issues to look for when viewing animals that you may be keen to purchase.

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It is wise to deal with reputable breeders rather than buying from livestock speculators who may have little or no knowledge of the animals they are selling.

While there are numerous traits, faults or health conditions to consider when classing or appraising breeding stock, my experience has taught me that female animals, particular older ones, may have issues with their udders, and this is sometimes why farmers will be selling or culling the animals.

Females with faulty or dysfunctional udders or teats may struggle to properly suckle or feed their offspring and this either results in infant mortality or in stunted young that do not obtain sufficient milk.

Remember that much about the successful and thus profitable farming of livestock is about producing better animals, and livestock that has suffered hardship early in life may become poor breeders going forward. If you use such inferior animals, it may result in you breeding weaker animals.

Defects in goat ewes

In addition to udder or teat deformities caused by conditions like mastitis, goat ewes can also have defects such as when there are no holes or milk exit openings in their nipples.

This condition is referred to as ‘blind nipples/teats’, or ‘non-patent teats’. This condition disqualifies ewes from being functional breeding animals and is usually a genetic trait, but can also be caused by injury, infection, or from scar tissue resulting from such injury or disease.

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Some animals may have only one blind teat – allowing it to suckle offspring from the one good teat – but in the case of both being blind, this results in a blind or dysfunctional/useless udder.

Animals with such deformities (even if only one nipple is blind) should not be retained for breeding purposes, because such traits could be inherited by offspring. This can make it difficult or impossible for the ewe to nurse, potentially leading to health issues in offspring and low milk production.

Remember too that offspring not obtaining colostrum during the first few hours after birth – the first ‘thick yellowy milk’ the ewe produces that contains important immune system-building antibodies – may become increasingly weak.

I’ve known such animals to either become stunted or to die at a few weeks or months of age because of compromised immune systems.

Treatment

Some farmers ask whether this condition can be treated, but it depends on the underlying cause. If it’s a genetic or inherited trait, there’s no way to treat a blind teat. However, ive breeding can assist you in minimising the occurrence in your herd.

If, on the other hand, the cause is related to injury or infection, surgical correction or treatment may be possible, but a veterinarian would need to evaluate the problem and will need to discuss the cost and complexity of the required procedure with you as the farmer. Perhaps the cost may be more than what the animal is worth to you.

Kalahari Beefmaster 3 October 2024