How do I know which buck bred her?

[TroutRiver]

So, all of my does were *supposed* to be kidding at the end of May. But I have one who has started bagging up this past week, and I'm thinking she won't wait until the end of May. We had a few fencing mishaps earlier in the fall and were hoping that no one was bred... but it's not looking that way. The doe is a purebred nubian, and both of my bucks were purebred nubians. But I had one for breeding and the other was the companion/meat. I am really keeping my fingers crossed that the meat buck is not the one who bred her.

I don't know much about color genetics, but I am hoping that when she kids there might be a way to tell which buck bred her. The one that I wanted her bred to was black with white spots. The other was white with tan spots. The doe is black with white ears and a white spot on her forehead. I know that white is a dominant gene, and black is recessive. So, that means, if her kids have a white base coat, they are definitely from the meat buck, but if they are black, they could be from either? Is there any other way to tell based on color, if they do come out black?

[RiverPines]

Sounds to me like the only way to know if one is from that meat buck is if you get tan! Other than tan I dont see how you could tell.

How do you know that meat buck might not toss a great kid? I have seen some sad looking bucks still toss a great kid. Its not the usual, but it happens.

[dosthouhavemilk]

The only way to know definitively is DNA testing. If your plan is to register the offspring, that is the only way it can be done.
With color and Nubians it is a crapshoot. It goes so far beyond with the dilution genes etc.

[Alice In TX/MO]

If they are both Nubians, and you aren't registering them, it doesn't matter. If you are registering, then you *must* have the DNA testing done.

[luvzmybabz]

The genetics are bizarre I had a doe white with tan and a black with white spot buck one year the had one white doeling and one doeling that at birth I could only describe as brindled black with brown marbling which grew out to black that is super wildly spotted with white and a couple of brown spots. This year they had a couple of boys best described as looking like holseteins and a little doeling that looks just like her mom. So it really is a tangled mess this doe with a red buck through a blond doeling. The first year I had her.

[TroutRiver]

I am not planning on registering them, so I guess it doesn't matter that much. I just really liked the buck that I had for breeding. His dam was a great milker and he had a super sweet personality. The other was scrawny and loud and didn't have as nice of a background. Neither were top-quality show animals, but the one clearly had much better breeding than the other.

I guess we'll see what I end up with. Thanks for your help everyone!

[hyamiranda]

Maybe when the kids come you can put pictures of the doe, the two bucks, and the kid(s) and we can play the guessing game. It may be obvious, but then it may not. My La Mancha buck is a light cream with a darker mask on his face and out of the does he has bred, he's only had one cream baby, the rest were chocolate brown with one almost black (and she came from a light cream doe). It would be fun to see the pictures, though.