Are they polled? PICs included

CJBegins · #1 04/16/12, 05:43 PM

In all my great wisdom, I thought getting a polled buck would make things easy at disbudding time. HA!
Of the 4 kids I have, one doeling clearly had pointed little peas that I could feel by 2 weeks. The other 3 have me second guessing myself. Of the kids in questions there is a doe and 2 bucks. The does has small rounded areas but no points. The bucks have larger rounded areas and no points. I shaved their heads today to see if I was missing something actually coming thru the skin. I see nothing other than the rounded areas.
The bucks:
Are they polled? PICs included - Goats

The doe:

What do you think?

CJBegins · #2 04/16/12, 05:45 PM

BTW, the first buck is 7 weeks old and the second buck and doe are 5 weeks on Wednesday.

JBarGFarmKeeper · #3 04/16/12, 11:30 PM

Polled kids do NOT have flat heads. They are *probably* polled.

CJBegins · #4 04/17/12, 12:06 AM

Thank you for your reply, JBarG. I was begining to think that no one was gonna share their thoughts.
I feel silly about this but the first doe (not pictured) obviously had horns developing by 2 weeks. The rest have those bumps that are growing but so is the rest of the body also. I shaved them thinking that I would see something besides skin if they actually were horns. My dehorning iron, x-30 wouldn't cover the horn on the bucks now even if they were horns.

wintrrwolf · #5 04/17/12, 07:04 AM

yeah I did the same thing got a polled buck (it doesn't really make it easier) the babies he threw about half were polled, and they all would have those nubs. So I now have one buck with horns and one doe with those nubs. When they were babies I looked for the hair swirls the buck had them the doe didn't.

CJBegins · #6 04/17/12, 09:24 AM

None of these guys had the hair swirls, that is why I shaved their heads so I could clearly see what was there.
So if these 3 are polled we had one horned and 3 polled. I guess I thought it would be easier to figure out. The joke is on me!

mary,tx · #7 04/17/12, 09:42 AM

Can't tell looking at the pictures with no hair. That's how you tell. The swirls indicate horned; straight hair indicates polled. It actually gets easier to tell after you've seen a few. But the bumps don't tell you one way or the other.

Backfourty,MI. · #8 04/17/12, 01:56 PM

My guess would be polled since they are 5 & 7 weeks old & nothing poking through the skin yet.

I have a polled doe & I've never got a polled kid from her yet, maybe that only works with a polled buck.

Blue Run Farm · #9 04/17/12, 02:22 PM

I agree with Backfourty, at that age I would think they are polled. My horned kids usually have horn buds within a few days of birth, a week tops. Not that I have that many does or am any kind of expert.

My polled girl Snickers had quints this year. Of the two I kept, both appear to be polled. Not sure about the other three, I will have to ask their new owners. The two I still have had pretty smooth heads at birth and now have the rounded bumps like yours have, no pointy ends on the bumps. Since Snickers is "giraffe" polled and has big bumps on her head but never had horns, I figure they are too. I sure hope they are because I want to keep the doeling if she is polled.

My twins from my other doe this year both had bumps the day they were born and pointy buds by two days old. Snickers' kids from last year (twins) both had buds by a few days old. So I figure at 4 weeks, this year's kids would have had buds by now if they are not polled. Crossing my fingers that I am not wrong, lol...

ozark_jewels · #10 04/17/12, 02:50 PM

Looks like polled to me. Polled goats do not have flat heads, as mentioned. They are rather, "lumpy".

Suzyq2u · #11 04/17/12, 03:10 PM

This sounds familiar. So far of our 6 goats duke threw, 2 have about 2inch horns, they're now 6wks old. The other 4, nothing... Maybe we both got some polled kids

We shaved ours looking for bumps before knowing about the 'swirl' trick.

PS they're too cute! Love the wattles

mary,tx · #12 04/17/12, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Backfourty,MI.

I have a polled doe & I've never got a polled kid from her yet, maybe that only works with a polled buck.

Polled is a dominant trait, and should show up, eventually, in about 50% of the kids. It doesn't matter whether the polled parent is the doe or the buck.

Backfourty,MI. · #13 04/17/12, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mary,tx

Polled is a dominant trait, and should show up, eventually, in about 50% of the kids. It doesn't matter whether the polled parent is the doe or the buck.

Well I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is her year then. This will be her 5th freshening for me.

mary,tx · #14 04/18/12, 08:10 AM

No insult intended, but is it possible you are just not recognizing it? I only ask because one of the first kids born on my farm was polled. I did not realize she was, and burned her head. I did not know she was polled until she had already kidded a few times. Suddenly I looked at one of her kids and said, "that's polled, where did that come from?" From then on I observed each of her kids VERY carefully. I'm guessing she'd had polled kids before and I just hadn't known it.

Backfourty,MI. · #15 04/18/12, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mary,tx

No insult intended, but is it possible you are just not recognizing it? I only ask because one of the first kids born on my farm was polled. I did not realize she was, and burned her head. I did not know she was polled until she had already kidded a few times. Suddenly I looked at one of her kids and said, "that's polled, where did that come from?" From then on I observed each of her kids VERY carefully. I'm guessing she'd had polled kids before and I just hadn't known it.

Not possible because I don't disbud any of the goats. She usually only has a single each year although she has had twins twice.

CJBegins · #16 05/08/12, 10:16 PM

Just wanted to follow up on this post. It has been 3 weeks since I took those pictures and none of the 3 have developed horn/hornbuds. So 3 of 4 were polled. I like those numbers and maybe next year I will know what I am looking at.

Minelson · #17 05/08/12, 10:23 PM

Thank you for the update...It helps us all to learn about stuff and the pictures help a lot too!

Suzyq2u · #18 05/08/12, 10:30 PM

Same with ours (just posted 9wk old pics), we ended up with 4/6 polled. : ) Congrats!

CaliannG · #19 05/09/12, 11:45 AM

I had missed this thread before. But I just wanted to say that, for the future, by 2 weeks old, my babies have HORNS...there is no doubt about them. By five weeks old, those horns are growing fast.

I had one, large buckling born this year who had the tips of his horns poking through *at birth*.

You should be able to feel horn tips, if they are going to have horns, before they are two weeks of age.