[Jacob-list] teats

[Jacobflock at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/1/2004 9:30:15 PM Central Standard Time, 
castlerockjacobs at yahoo.com writes:

> As Nibbles bag fills evermore fully, another teat
> has appeared.  My vet book says sheep are only to have
> 2 and the others are to be snipped off while lambs.
> She now has at least 3.  It must have been way to the
> back because at shearing last year it was not visible.
>   True for Jacobs' too?  The book said this is
> genetic and so does this mean I should wether any
> males born?
> 

The practical answer is sheep have two functional teats (one on each side) 
that provides the spigot and pipe which in turn is connected to the milk tank 
which in turn is connected to the milk producing gland (often referred to as the 
udder).  The vet book is right for all practical purposes.

In reality, it is a little more complicated.  Sheep (and other mammals) can 
have several extra sets of what we call teats that are non-functional as 
mammary glands; sometimes we call them nipples or teat buds.  They may appear as an 
extra set of two or four nipples or teat buds on both females and males.  
These nipples or buds are formed within the first few weeks of conception but 
don't develop into the two full blown mammary glands in the female for about a 
month.  If you have a ewe with three functional mammary glands it would be worth 
noting.

Either Henry Ford or Thomas Edison decided that if he selected ewes with 
these super numerary buds they would be more prolific. I think the logic being the 
rudimentary teats must be related to rearing lambs and they would become 
functional to support more lambs.  The idea went bust.

I am not aware of any reason one would snip off the super-numerary teats.  I 
have two nipples or teat buds and would not have them snipped off ... and if I 
did, I would still produce sons and daughters with the appropriate buds or 
functionning teats.  The cosmetic alteration will not change the heritability of 
the nipple trait.

Udder shape is rather highly heritable.  The Jacob udder is generally 
described as small and held close to the body and ... has good maternal ability (milk 
for lamb(s)).  These "breed" traits (small and close) are actually pretty 
simple.  But conformation for mothering ability might also include length and 
width of the udder at birthing and length and angle of the teat.  Another element 
is the seperation of the udder chambers; does the udder hang like a 
basketball below the hock or does it have an "upside down valentine" shape and is above 
the hock ... and after how many lambings.

Udderly ridiculous.

Fred Horak










-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20040226/f911e41d/attachment.htm