Goat bras: why, exactly?

February 19, 2008 1:22 PM

I'm curious about goat bras. I've seen a lot of goats wearing bra-like things (like this), and I'd like to know what, exactly, the function is. Protect the teats during lactation? Keep them from dragging in the dirt? Keep the baby goat from nursing? My animal husbandry experience is pretty limited, but I have faith that somebody on Metafilter has cared for goats.
posted by bookish to pets & animals (4 answers total)

You're mostly right, according to this article:

....the goats' udders and teats started getting badly scratched by low-lying thistles and thorns. "It was spoiling the goats' milking potential, so we had to do something," says David Sheppard of the English Nature Species Recovery Programme. The solution was a bag made of tough nylon which slips under the udder and straps round the goat's back. English Nature claims a world first - unless someone else has already invented the thorn-proof goat bra.
posted by iconomy at 1:41 PM on February 19, 2008

No animal husbandry experience, but a google search came up with phrases like, "keeps the utters safe and sound," and "thorn-proof." Hope that helps.
posted by farishta at 1:42 PM on February 19, 2008

As said devices like this are to prevent abrasions and lacerations of the udder.

This by the way is one of the things that has been bred for in domestic milk animals like cows and goats. A barn kept cow can have a large udder; a free range cow is better off with a smaller udder that won't get cut on rocks, barb wire and other range debris.
posted by Mitheral at 2:52 PM on February 19, 2008

Thanks guys. That was the most plausible explanation I could think of, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't something else weird going on, which I, not knowing anything about goats, was totally missing.
posted by bookish at 9:24 AM on February 20, 2008