Polled Goat Genetics

Our new doeling, "Tillie" is naturally polled.
She comes from a horned Registered Saanen Buck and a naturally polled mixed breed Doe (Boer, Nubian, Saanen). Her twin brother was horned and has been disbudded.

Polled Genetics in Goats

Taken From:
Polled Genetics | American Goat Society

Genetics for Polled vs. Horned

The dominant trait is for goats to be polled which is indicated here by the capital P for polled.  Horns are the result of two recessive genes which are indicated here by the lower case p for horned.  You would not be able to tell the difference in a polled animal that carries two dominant genes from one that carries one recessive gene for horned.  This explains how it is possible to breed two polled animals and have some offspring have horns.  This would indicate that both parents carry a recessive gene for horns.

PP: This animal is polled, and does not carry the gene for horns.
Pp: This animal would be polled, and carry a recessive gene for horns.
pp: This animal has horns.  An animal must carry two genes for horns to have horns.

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.

We Have New Kids!

Born on Friday, June 14, 2013 at 6:30 and 6:40. The first born is a Doeling and she is naturally polled (no horns) like her Mother. The second born is a Buckling and we aren't sure yet about whether he will have horns or not. I really hope he doesn't because I hate disbudding, but we will have to wait and see.

Here are some pictures that I took of Hazel kidding, so if you are squeamish about this sort of thing turn back now or just close your eyes.

 Hazel needed a little help with the clean up process and Angel needed to make sure everything was alright and that anything that might draw in predators was cleaned up. She also needed some bonding time with her new charges.

The Doeling has erect ears like her Saanen Daddy.

The Buckling has floppy ears like Mom.

My New Goats

After waiting on Collette to kid in January and nothing happening, we decided to give up on her. We sold Pascal after I was certain that Collette was bred. You can read about them here: In One Year.

We sold Collette this spring and I was totally goatless for quite awhile. Then I bought Hazel who had just had a wether weaned off of her and was ready to milk. She was born in 2011 and had been raised on a bottle. She was bred in the fall and had twins in the early spring. The owners took the doeling off of her and bottle fed it because Hazel didn't have a lot of milk. But she raised the buckling twin on her own.

We brought Hazel home and she drove us crazy. She was a lonely goat and she was not happy. She cried constantly and a goat crying constantly will wear you out pretty quickly. She was fine if I went out and sat with her but the minute I left, she was howling again.

We thought about buying another doe but in the end, we went back and bought the little wether that she had just weaned. She was happy, he was happy and we were happy. Having him here meant that I could be lazy about milking her. When I want milk, I just lock him up away from her for a few hours and milk her. He is getting pretty big now and I know that I will have to really wean him sometime soon.

Hazel

Gimli

Where To Begin?

I know that I haven't posted in a long while. But we are fine, I have just had a few health problems, a death in the family, a lot of halter orders to finish and get shipped and too much to do around the farm. I had promised to blog on Sunday night before going to bed but all of my plans were foiled again.

We were getting ready to leave the house for several hours on Sunday evening and I asked my DH if he thought that I should put Paris in the barn stall while we were gone. She was in the goat shed and had not come out when I fed grain to the others. But we had changed feed and she didn't like it anyway so I thought that was the problem. My DH said that I should put her up but that he had looked at her and he was sure that she wouldn't be kidding anytime soon.

Sunday was her due date but after I evaluated her, I didn't think that she was ready either. Her udder was not full or tight and she was not dilated at all.

I went into the house to clean up and change my clothes and was ready to leave when I heard the water pump running, I asked the DH if he had left the water running outside and he said, yes, so I put my shoes on and went out to turn the hydrant off.

I opened the door and immediately heard the sound of a doe in labor. I could see her from the door and she was pushing hard. I turned around and said, "She is kidding!". He said,"You're kidding?" and I said, "NO, she is kidding!". He ran outside and I ran for towels.

Nothing happened, she was in terrible hard labor but nothing was happening. My DH asked me for gloves and I came in to get them, then came back in and changed into my dirty clothes again. When I got back outside, still no bubble. He tried to open her up to see inside and we could see the bubble but she just was not dilated enough.

We gave her as much time as possible without waiting too long and then he went back in to assist the bubble without breaking it. His hand made her contractions harder and that helped more than anything.

After the bubble was out, still no feet, so we waited awhile then he went back in and found the feet and started pulling. The nose came out with the feet, so we knew we were in the right position. He pulled and she screamed with each contraction.

I tried to push back on the skin to work the babies head out but I could feel the head and it was enormous, I was afraid that it was a single and it was just too big. After a lot of pulling and working her big head popped out and when it did her whole body came out too.

He handed the white with brown headed doeling to me and I slung her around a little bit and really didn't expect her to be alive but she was. We wiped her mouth and nose area. Mama didn't get up and so we put a towel down at her head and since it was a hot day and Paris is a first freshener, we let her clean the rest of her up.

We waited and waited and nothing else happened, we were sure that there was at least one more in there. Finally my DH put his hand in again to start more contractions and she popped out a very tiny, black with brown points buckling.

Paris cleaned him all up and still just laid there. The kidlings were wanting to nurse but she would not get up. My Husband finally helped her get to her feet and from there on everything has been perfect. She passed both of her afterbirths and I let her eat them. She is a very good mommy.

We learned a valuable lesson, goats usually give birth on their due date whether they look ready or not.

More later...

Kids For Sale

Collette is the doe that I sold, at my DH's urging, last fall. She was bred to my buck, Cooter. On or around March 15th she had triplet doelings. The lady who purchased her from me has decided to sell Collette and all three kids because she doesn't have the time to take care of them.

I told her that I would take her and the kids to try to sell them and teach Collette how to be a milk goat.

She had originally bought Collette for milking purposes but with the three hungry mouths to feed poor Collette didn't have much milk to offer for anyone else. She has done a great job and continues to put everything that she has into producing milk for these three growing doelings.

Some goats have to have at least one kid pulled off and bottle fed when they have triplets. But Collette has been a great producer. However, she has not been hand milked at this point but I plan to start milking her as soon as they all get settled in here.

The three kids are currently for sale and should be good milk producers like their Mommy. They will have to stay with their Mommy for a little longer but if you are interested, you need to purchase them now. I will be selling Collette sometime in the near future after the kids are weaned and she is used to being milked.

You have already met the littlest of the three doelings if you have read my previous post "When Goats Fly". Her name is Francine and she is mostly white with a Champagne colored head and neck. She is very feisty.
Renee is the biggest of the three girls. She is mostly white with a medium brown head and neck.
Nicole is mostly white with a multi-colored head and neck that is black, tan and white. She is colored like her mother.The girls are priced at $75 each or all three for $200. They should make good milk goats.

When Goats Fly

Goats tend to be built with the rare ability to fly. They are aerodynamically designed for flight. Nubian and Boer Goats are more likely to use their sleek characteristics and generous wingspan to practice take offs and landings than are most other breeds. Though staying aloft for long periods of time is generally not achieved by most goats.

Having witnessed Goat flight on several occasions, I have never before been able to obtain actual footage of this phenomenon before now. To prove my theory, I offer these actual, unaltered pictures.

This is Francine, she has come to live with us here until we can find her a suitable home. As you can see she is built for flight. Her wings are perfectly placed, broad and held away from her body. She has not two but four landing gears. She also has a movable rudder at her stern.

Francine is proud of her flying abilities and practices as often as possible. Here you see her practicing an emergency landing with only one landing gear.

The photo above shows her unique ability to take off with a backward thrust, that is, achieving lift off while traveling backwards.

Francine has aspirations of joining the United States Military when she is old enough and weaned. Here you see her practice lifting off from an Aircraft Carrier.

If you are interested in purchasing this exceptional doeling from us, please let us know and she can be yours for only $75.

The Boys

I was standing in the door of the chicken/goat shed the other evening, just watching the goats play and some horse antics, when I realized that all of our intact males are just forces to be reckoned with.

Cooter, my buck, had been pushing his limits with me all evening. He had been cooped up in the horse trailer too long and I had turned him out with Collette and Paris for awhile to get some exercise, since his buck pen wouldn't hold him anymore. He was pushing everyone around and was just generally being King of his domain. We are keeping him separated from Calico and Cinder now because we don't want them bred back.

From my vantage point I watched Cooter strutting his stuff. I could also see Badger, our Grullo AQHA Stallion, who was busy chasing my chickens who had just happened to wonder into his pasture, he was not only chasing them but trying to kill them.

I looked off to my left in time to see Jazz, our Appaloosa Stallion making a dive at the fence that separates him from Shorty, our miniature horse gelding. Shorty has a talent for driving Jazz insane by ignoring his strength and not showing any fear of him. I also personally think that Shorty makes rude remarks to Jazz that send him into a rage. Because one moment Jazz is calm and quiet, then the next moment he totally loses it and tries to crawl over the fence to get at him.

My Roosters like to find a high place to crow, they will also stand up to almost anything that threatens their hens, it's a guy thing. The testosterone driven males on this farm will take on any challenger. They can be quite annoying at times but are to be admired at others.

We did get a hot wire installed on top of our buck pen. So I don't have to deal with Cooter's posturing anymore. When I go into his pen now, he is just glad for some company and I don't have to deal with his buckishness, he is just a friendly puppy dog.

The icing on the cake for me when I was pondering these things, was when my little buckling Jasper got shocked by the electric fence. He yelled and jumped straight in the air but didn't run away like a doeling would do. He pulled himself up to his full height and marched right back over to that fence to let it know that he wasn't afraid of it and would fight it if necessary.

Goats for Sale

One Black Doeling and one Dun colored Buckling, these twins are from good milking bloodlines, mostly Nubian with a small percentage Boer.

$45 for the doeling and $25 for the buckling (or wether), born April 2nd.

These have been sold!

Back To Normal

My whole life has been obsessed with Miracle for the past week. But life has continued without my 100% attention.

My twin kids are growing like weeds and I am using the same naming theme for them that I am using for the foals, I named the black doeling "Onyx" and the dun colored buckling "Jasper".

I am trying to sell both of the kids in order to give their milk supply to Miracle. I was not planning to keep them anyway, because I don't need anymore goats and I was wanting to use the milk for us. But now I need to use the milk for Miracle.

I am also missing a hen, one of my Barred Rocks didn't show up to roost last night. We looked for her then and again today and can't find her. Either something has gotten her or she has gone broody and hidden a nest full of eggs somewhere that is very private and we can't locate it. I really didn't want any baby chicks this year unless it was from my Mille Fleur D'Uccles.

We had a visit from the neighbor's dogs today and I know without a doubt that they would be chicken killers, if given the chance. Angel stood her ground and barked at them but they didn't seem afraid of her because there are two of them. I went out with my BB gun and took a shot at one of them and she actually acted like I hit her, unbelievable because I can't hit anything with that gun. We talked with another neighbor tonight and he said that those same two dogs have been chasing his calves.

Doe's Secret Code of Honor

The Doe's Secret Code of Honor is as old as goats themselves and is ultimately the species best kept secret. No doe shall ever kid before its time. (Its time being determined by the following factors):

1. No kid shall be born until total chaos has been reached by all involved. Your owner's house must be a wreck, their family hungry and desperate for clean clothes, and their social life nonexistent.

2. Midwives must reach the babbling fool status before you kid out. Bloodshot eyes, tangled hair and the inability to form a sentence mean the time is getting close.

3. For every bell, beeper, camera or whistle they attach to you, kidding must be delayed by at least one day for each item. If they use an audio monitor, one good yell per hour will keep things interesting.

4. If you hear the words, "She's nowhere near ready. She'll be fine while we're away for the weekend," Wait until they load the car, then begin pushing!

5. Owner stress must be at an all time high! If you are in the care of someone else, ten to fifteen phone calls a day is a sign you're getting close.

6. When you hear the words "I can't take it anymore!" wait at least three more days.

7. You must keep this waiting game interesting. False alarms are mandatory! Little teasers such as looking at your stomach, pushing your food around in the bucket and then walking away from it, and nesting, are always good for a rise. Be creative and find new things to do to keep the adrenaline pumping in those who wait.

8. The honor of all goats is now in your hands. Use this time to avenge all of your barn mates. Think about your friend who had to wear that silly costume in front of those people. Hang onto that baby for another day. OH, they made him do tricks too! Three more days seems fair. Late feedings, the dreaded diet, bad haircuts, those awful wormings can also be avenged at this time.

9. If you have fulfilled all of the above and are still not sure when to have the kids, listen to the weather forecast on the radio that has been so generously provided by those who wait. Severe storm warning is what you're waiting for. In the heart of the storm jump into action! The power could go out and you could have the last laugh. You have a good chance of those who wait missing the whole thing while searching for a flashlight that works!

10. Make the most of your interrupted nights. Beg for food each time someone comes into the barn to check you. Your barn mates will love you as the extra goodies fall their way too.

Remember, this code of honor was designed to remind man of how truly special goats are. Do your best to reward those who wait with a beautiful doeling to carry on the Doe Code of Honor for the next generation of those who wait.

--Author Unknown