- Jan 31, 2009
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This came up in Helmstead's Nubian post and seeing as that was a veeery looooong post I thought I'd start a new one.
Just wanted to say, that there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between bottle teats and blown out teats.
Helmstead's doe has BOTTLE TEATS. It is simply a conformational problem with the teat. The teats would have always been like that from her FF, though probably not as pronounced. Its more a cosmetic issue than anything, they are easy to milk (in fact, some people choose does with teats like that, for ease of milking) and if you look closely they are small at the tip which generally means a kid can suck it no problems.
BLOWN OUT TEATS are entirely different, and as another poster mentioned can be the result of weak teats combined with heavy production, irregular milking or mastitis. They can look similar to the bottle teats but more often are a lot worse, usually you cannot distinguish the teat from the udder, and the udder becomes rather divided. Usually these are more difficult but not impossible to milk, and there is more chance of kid feeding difficulties since the udder doesnt tend to retain its teat structure. These are also called CALABASH TEATS.
Bear with me, and tomorrow I will post some pictures of blown out teats and udders. I've had a few, but its late and the two year old just woke up I need to go put him back to sleep.
Just wanted to say, that there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between bottle teats and blown out teats.
Helmstead's doe has BOTTLE TEATS. It is simply a conformational problem with the teat. The teats would have always been like that from her FF, though probably not as pronounced. Its more a cosmetic issue than anything, they are easy to milk (in fact, some people choose does with teats like that, for ease of milking) and if you look closely they are small at the tip which generally means a kid can suck it no problems.
BLOWN OUT TEATS are entirely different, and as another poster mentioned can be the result of weak teats combined with heavy production, irregular milking or mastitis. They can look similar to the bottle teats but more often are a lot worse, usually you cannot distinguish the teat from the udder, and the udder becomes rather divided. Usually these are more difficult but not impossible to milk, and there is more chance of kid feeding difficulties since the udder doesnt tend to retain its teat structure. These are also called CALABASH TEATS.
Bear with me, and tomorrow I will post some pictures of blown out teats and udders. I've had a few, but its late and the two year old just woke up I need to go put him back to sleep.
