Polled goat genetics

[CrazyChickGirl]

If you breed a polled doe and polled buck, are you guaranteed polled kids? I don't know if disbudding will be for us but I see the importance of not having horned goats. Thanks!

 

[happyhens1972]

Here are the various breeding scenarios with the resulting offspring:

Horned (pp) X Horned (pp) = 100% horned (pp) offspring.
Polled (Pp) X Horned (pp) = 50% polled (Pp), 50% horned (pp) offspring.
Polled (Pp) X Polled (Pp) = 25% polled (PP), 50% polled (Pp), 25% horned (pp) offspring
Homozygous polled (PP) X Horned (pp) = All polled (Pp) offspring.
Homozygous polled (PP) X Homozygous Polled (PP) = All homozygous polled (PP) offspring.

 

[cassie]

One thing to be aware of, homozygous polled females are often intersexes. Meaning they are neither male not female. They are sterile and when they mature they are even more obnoxious than a buck, and that's saying something.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Yeah, I was reading that somewhere. Hmm. So how do you find out what kind of polled they are? Is this information that the breeder will have? Does this mean we need to steer clear of homozygous polled, which will also mean we will end up with some horned kids?

 

[Rhandi74]

You can always disbud. I do not think you will know what the genes are unless you are working on them. Most people steer clear of breeding polled to polled because of the risk. I have polled goats and my 2 bucklings were polled and 3 doelings are horned from their previous kidding.







This is Buttercup she is polled and she had twins. Noel is horned and Rudy is polled. I purchased her bred and she was bred to a horned goat.

 

[farm n louisana]

I have 3 polled females goat one the mom had horns n the dad didn't the other 2 both mom n dad had horns so does that mean they won't b able to breed

 

[Rhandi74]

I have 3 polled females goat one the mom had horns n the dad didn't the other 2 both mom n dad had horns so does that mean they won't b able to breed

This is up to you. I have heard of people breeding polled to polled with no problems and I have also heard of people getting hermaphroditism from horned to horned which is supposedly more common with polled to polled. I do not believe there has been a lot of documented research on this subject. Mostly word of mouth. I have not bred my goats yet but I would not be opposed to using a polled goat if that is the right buck for my does.

 

[farm n louisana]

It had to be on the males side I bought the female breed n the man had a baby male that was polled to born that's was my twins female my other one was breed to a Nigerian dwarf the female was born polled but the male was born with horns this is my first time this had ever happened

 

[cassie]

This is up to you. I have heard of people breeding polled to polled with no problems and I have also heard of people getting hermaphroditism from horned to horned which is supposedly more common with polled to polled. I do not believe there has been a lot of documented research on this subject. Mostly word of mouth. I have not bred my goats yet but I would not be opposed to using a polled goat if that is the right buck for my does.

Actually, there has been a fair amount of research done on that very subject. You might have to dig a bit to find it, but it is out there. Polled to polled is not the only cause of hermaphroditism, but it is the major one.

 

[cassie]

It had to be on the males side I bought the female breed n the man had a baby male that was polled to born that's was my twins female my other one was breed to a Nigerian dwarf the female was born polled but the male was born with horns this is my first time this had ever happened

For your kid to have horns, BOTH the sire and the dam have to carry the gene for horns. Horns are a recessive characteristic.