Polled Goat

[Starsmom]

My son & I went to a friends to purchase one of their goats. We were looking at a doe, she was one of triplets. I originally didn't want any of their babies as I noticed they all had horns. Then I saw a beautiful little doeling with no horns. We looked at her and went home to think about it. A couple days later we went to pick her up. While talking about her, I mentioned that I was glad to see no signs of her horns coming back in. He looked at his son and asked when they disbudded her. The son said he didn't recall and asked why he would have disbudded her and not her brother and sister. I then looked closer and realized that with her age, she would not have been so completely healed from a disbudding. It was decided that she must be a polled goat. He only charged me $30 and she is a nubian/saaneen cross. A beautiful little girl with gorgeous markings on her face.

My question is this, what are the chances of her producing polled kids? She will be bred to an Alpine/nubian/Saneen buck who definitely had horns.

[apirlawz]

Originally Posted by Starsmom

My question is this, what are the chances of her producing polled kids? She will be bred to an Alpine/nubian/Saneen buck who definitely had horns.

The only thing I've heard on this subject is that this characteristic is linked with hermaphroditism (sp??). So, I would have to imagine that if you have no plans for the kids beyond the freezer... But again, I have no knowledge on this subject, so I'll defer to those who do!

[mary,tx]

If she is polled, the chance for each of her kids being polled is 50%.
The problem mentioned above is ONLY a consideration if she is bred to a polled buck.

I love my polled does. Polled is decidedly NOT a problem. The gene for polled is dominant, meaning your doe would have to have one polled parent to be polled herself. She would carry a gene for polled and a gene for horned, the polled being dominant. Thus when she is bred to a horned goat, each of her kids will either inherit the polled gene from her or the horned gene, plus a horned gene from the sire, making roughly half of her kids polled. If she was bred to a polled buck, this would up the chances of polled kids to 75%, but possibly risk the hermaphrodite issue.

Also, if she is polled, the hair over where her horns would be will be straight, not in swirls.

mary

[Starsmom]

The hair is straight, no swirls. There are little bald spots where the horns should have been, but no scar or any signs of having been disbudded. She is 2-3 months old and if she had been disbudded, there would still be signs of it. It wouldn't be healed so completely.

I don't have any polled bucks, so she would only be bred to a horned buck. What is hermaphrodite? Is there a risk having her?

[dosthouhavemilk]

I love our polled goats!
Charlie was a polled buck we used for two years. Only had three polled bucklings out of him, but he didn't get a chance to settle very many before we sent him on his way. We now have Rudy who is also polled and I am excited to see what percentage he throws.
We also have polled dairy cattle as well and I have more experience with it there.

Hermaphroditism is when reproductive parts of both the malea nd female are present. The offspring is not fertile.
This is most common when two goats with polled genes on all sides are bred together. Heterozygous is when they carry one of each gene, I believe and homozygous is when they carry two of the same gene.

[natybear]

To me disbudding is the worst thing I have to do to my babies. (Not that I don't do it, they are dairy goats of course.) I love my polled girls. My first goat Petunia was polled and every daughter we kept from her was polled. They are Daisy Mae, Sweet Pea, and Shasta Daisy! I find it easier, and less confussing to only keep the girls and send off the boys as wethers.

Enjoy these special girls, they are wonderful!

God Bless.

[TexCountryWoman]

I have always been thrilled when I have come across a polled goat. If the rest of the goat is up to par, then it is the perfect addition to your herd. I love polled goats. Put her in your herd and always breed her to a horned or disbudded buck. She will throw lots of polled babies. I had a polled doe throw polled triplets. It is sure nice not to have to disbud. To me it is a great find. As long as your buck has horns, don't worry.

[Starsmom]

Thanks for the information. I thought that she was a great find, even more so when she turned out to be polled. I plan on breeding her with a disbudded buck, so all should be well.

I just wanted to make sure it was as good a find as I thought.