Heifer with 2 non functional udders

[bird dog]

Arron is correct, make sure they are not working before you even consider culling. One of my best cows back half of the udder did not develop until her second calf. I had her on the cull list but noticed her calf would occasionally suck on the back teats. The calf grew out the same as the others so I let her be.
The udder finished developing as she grew older and was normal on her second calf. I kept a heifer off of her and it did not have the slow developing udder problem that mom had.
Lots of people rush their heifers into their first calving period and then are disappointed when some don't turn out as good as others. They spend a bunch raising out heifers and then are quick to cull after one calf. If you are only after the best than I guess thats OK but a whole lot of them turn into fine animals with just a little more maturity.

 

[Lucky_P]

Heifers sucking one another CAN result in undiagnosed mastitis and nonfunctional quarters/teats - but not always.

Have seen way too many cases of calves starving to death because the cow had keratin teat plugs that were unusually hard to dislodge; owner saw the calf 'nursing' - but it wasn't able to get anything. Have had some that I could NOT get open by just trying to milk by hand - had to put in a teat tube/dilater; hate doing that, but sometimes it's necessary.

Have one cow here that has one front quarter with a firm, hard, mass of scar tissue filling the teat canal all the way up to the gland. Never could bring myself to try shoving a probe up in there and risking mastitis. She brings in one of the top calves every year, so for now,she gets to stay.
Now, the one that came up at ~ 5yrs with one BIG teat and 3 blind quarters... lucky for me another cow lost her calf, and I was able to switch ol' one-tit's calf over and send her to town, rather than having her raise a runt.