Polled or not?

I know she wasn't disbudded at that time. Honest, take my word for it. I have seen enough newly disbudded kids to know that! I took those pictures! She wouldn't let us have her until the dam weaned her, so we didn't get her until she was 3 months old.

My buck had horns for sure... my other buck had horns as well, but we never got polled kids.

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LinderCroft

Do you know if she started growing horns before she was disbudded? Are all those babies from the same doe?

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

You are happy about having polled goats? Just curious because I know around here nobody buys them for anything but meat. They go for a lot less money due to the sterility type issues in the lines?

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Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

We had polled goats and we never had a sterility issue except when you breed polled to polled. You must breed polled to horned, but other wise I LOVE polled.

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

Well, I think it's great. If she is polled, she has NO sterility issues! Considering she has always bred easily and is very fertile. Her first was twins, then triplets, and then quads... not a problem there.

If it is considered really a bad thing, that may be why they disbudded her anyways. After all not every breeder is honest. She's registered and I paid $300 for her... I don't regret a penny of it either.

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LinderCroft

Not a clue. She was not socialized and you couldn't get close enough to her to feel her head. Yes all those babies are from the same doe. Quads, two were white and two are brown like their daddy.

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LinderCroft

That's awesome!

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

In my area people loved polled goats. Congrats they are adorable!!! I think the polled to polled breeding has a high likelihood of producing hermaphrodites?? That is what i herd anyway... But as long as they are bred to horned goats I haven't herd of any issues.

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LinderCroft

Awe, they are all beautiful!! Sure expanded your goat herd in a hurry. LOL

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

It did! But the whites I have found a home for... I hope anyways!

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LinderCroft

I LOVE polled goats too! Doesn't hurt their sale here, I have had several people contact me for polled kids if Sabrina has any. Sabrina is polled, has two polled sisters and her dam is polled.....One sister has triplets on the ground right now, the other sister kidded twins for the second time in December, and Sabrina is preggo and going to pop any day.

I was told that you have a higher chance of hermaphadites when you breed polled to polled, but polled to hornless is okay.


And to the OP, congrats on your babies.....they are so cute!

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Best Wishes,
Crystal
http://noodlevilleadventures.blogspot.com

Keep up with Noodleville Goats on Facebook!
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Thanks Crystal!

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LinderCroft

The genes for horned are double recessive--so both parents with horns can only produce horned kids. Genes for polled can be hetereozygous and homozygous dominant --meaning the parents can be polled and carry both the horned gene and the polled gene. This is why polled goats, even TWO polled goats are capable of having a horned kid (because each polled parent can potentially pass on the recessive horned gene to the offspring). But two horned parents can ONLY make horned babies. You don't want to breed polled to polled because there is potential for freemartins and/or hermaphrodites, but I can tell you my youngest doe is horned and pregnant and she is the product of an mating between two polled goats (her mother and her mother's father. YIKES!). Anyway....
Polled goats also have little knobs on the top of their heads where horns would be if they had them. They are not horns, but bony skull protrusions that remained covered with fur. A hornless disbudded head looks quite different in an adult animal. I have one polled and one disbudded -- the disbudded has a round head, while the polled has the protrusions. I like the look of a disbudded doe better, but when I breed, I wish for polled because I hate disbudding!! :-))

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Chris

2 dogs, 1 parrot, 2 horses, colorful flock of egg-layers, peafowl, dairy goats, porchful of hummers, and a garden full of monarchs

That is very interesting PurpleMartineer. So if indeed any of my kids are polled then it has to be the doe because the buck was definitely horned! This is getting more interesting and intriguing by the minute! I looked on my does papers, it says she was disbudded... I'm still uncertain about some of the kids, but I am just about positive the white doe is polled.

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LinderCroft

I would just wait and see. If they start getting horns popping up, then disbud, but if you disbud now on the ones in question, you'll never know. To me it would be important to know if that gene is in there. PurpleMartineer is right. Horned is a recessive gene and so breeding horned to horned, you're going to get horned. But a polled goat can carry the horned gene, but will still be polled. You can think of it like a tic tac toe box with only 4 squares. On the left side, outside the box, representing the buck, are two small "h". That's a horned goat. Then across the top, on the outside of the box, representing the doe is a big "H" and a small "h" for a doe that is polled, but carrying the horned gene..represented by the small "h". The 4 squares inside the box represent 4 possible kids. You take the h's from top and side and fill in the box. So, the top left box would be "Hh" (a polled goat carrying horned), the bottom left would also be "Hh" (also a polled goat carrying horned). The top right would be "hh" (a horned goat) and the bottom right would also be "hh" (a horned goat). So if a polled doe carrying the horned gene is bred to a horned buck, in theory, half her kids would be polled carrying the horned gene and half the kids would be horned with no polled gene. LOL A very simple illustration of genetics.

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow