[Jacob-list] Extra Teat

[Neal and Louise Grose]

OK,OK,OK

Mammals normally have twice as many teats as they NORMALLY have offspring.
Cows have four but normally have only one offspring (and do less well with
twins than sheep or goats), possibly because they have been selected for
milk production. I noticed that our Scottish Highland cows have rear
quarters (one "quarter" or mammary gland per teat) much larger than front
quarters. Immediately after birth, the little calves could not nurse the
large teats in the rear, but had no problem with the smaller ones on the
front. I did not notice that they nursed the front ones later, and they did
not seem to produce much milk.

The number of glands in sheep appear to vary. Most sheep have two, I think,
but our Finns have more. The Finns are hardly considered primitive in this
regard, and need all the help they can get when feeding those triplets and
quads. I have not surveyed the Jacobs, but assumed that the front ones would
be mostly non-functioning.

"Extra teats" are ones that are more than one per mammary gland, and are
generally smaller than the normal ones. If these are left on the animal,
they can "invade" the developing udder tissue and develop secretory
tissue...the larger the teat, the more problem. I can not imagine that extra
teats would be a problem on sheep. The thicker milk may well be a result of
somewhat different nature or quantity of the secretory tissue. On animals
that are milked by humans, extra teats get in the way and can pose another
entry way for mastitis; so, removing them is more than just a cosmetic
procedure.

YES, your rams have teats. Bulls have teats. "Useless as teats on a boar
hog" teats. I have "teats".

Years ago, my animal science professor related that he had a very sincere
and studious student that was given a take home test in a survey course. The
test included information on mammary glands and milk production in various
farm animals. Included as a gag was the question: "How many mammary glands
do human females have?" The student left the question blank. When questioned
on this, he replied that "he couldn't find it in the book". There is an
obvious question here that is beyond the scope of jacoblist....

Neal

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Ellen Hansson" <mhansson1 at triad.rr.com>
To: "'jacoblist'" <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2003 8:34 PM
Subject: RE: [Jacob-list] Extra Teat


> Hi,
>
> I have lots of ewes with extra teats here from multiple bloodlines.
> Lambs don't seem to bother about the vestigial teats, but there is a
> tiny amount of milk that can come out of them---doubt it would be enough
> to feed a lamb though.
>
> Neal....How are cows set up for "chambers" in the udder----4 in a cow
> and 2 in a sheep???
>
> Mary Ellen Hansson
> ISeeSpots Farm www.iseespots.com
> Jacob Sheep, Fiber, Spinning equipment,
> Books, Patterns, Knitting/Crochet/Tatting
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>
>
>
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