# Probable Hermaphrodite - Pictures



## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

I thought you guys would be interested in seeing some pictures of a very obvious hermaphrodite.

My Blog Post: http://knsfarm.blogspot.com/2012/06/her ... goats.html

Now here's an interesting subject for you!










That's a pretty masculine looking goat right there, isn't it? That's certainly what I thought when I walked up to it.But the owners claimed it was a doe, or female.

Baffled, I took a closer look and examined the goat's teats and vulva area.

My suspicions were correct. This was no female goat!

Of course, niether was it a male goat.

It was a hermaphrodite.










Hermaphrodites aren't very uncommon in goats, believe it or not. It occurs when a goat has both male and female reproductive organs. In this case, the goat has a female vulva, but inside was a nodule, which is actually a penis. If we were to examine the internal structure of this goat, we might find testicles in the abdominal cavity.










You can see the visually evident penis within the vulva of this goat above. Fascinating, isn't it? The goat also exhibits immature looking teats much like a buck or wether would and masculine attributes instead of a more feminine look.

There is some debate about the genetic link between the polled (hornless) gene and what causes intersex goats. While it has not been proven, there are many cases of two polled goats being bred together and creating a hermophrodite kid. There are also plenty of cases where it did not.

When breeding polled goats, it would be worth your time to take a closer look at both studies done and anecdotal information to decide for yourself if the risk of breeding a polled goat with a polled goat is worth it to you.

The goat in question here, while very kind and "handsome" in its own way, will likely be butchered this fall along with my own meat goats. I hope to take a closer look at the internal organs at the time and learn more about this fascinating genetic abnormality.


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## Fittin it in Farm (Apr 10, 2011)

Great post. Thanks for sharing.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Very interesting stuff. I met one earlier this year while looking at some goats. The woman's friend brought it to raise, and they found out it wasn't female...or male! But it screamed like a girl! It was just a couple of months old, fullblood boer goat bottle baby that looked and sounded like a doe. Being a bottle baby, it was so very very sweet.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

It's a cutie, anyway =3


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Interesting. She's cute though!
I would also be interested to know the internal anatomy.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

thanks for sharing... :thumb:


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Great pictures...very strange looking goat for sure.

Is there a reason you bring up the polled/hermaphrodite issue? Is the goat a result of a polled breeding? The goat looks like it was disbudded and has scurs. :shrug: I was just wondering...


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Are you sure? Because the male goat's plumbing would be under the belly I would assume. It maybe just a female goat with abnormalities. This is not normal and is not something I hope anyone would hope to breed for any purpose. (I know that they can't breed but I also know some hope to have one pop up mysteriously in their herd which I cannot understand why.) I would think hermaphrodites' would have other health complications too that we may not possibly be fully aware of as of now.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

The goat above is a pretty classic example of a hermaphrodite. :shrug:


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

The polled issue was brought up because this is a post from my blog, and many non-goat owners read it and the biggest connection to hermies is the polled gene. 

This goat was indeed disbudded, but scurred much like a buck will.

There is no doubt in my mind this is a hermaphrodite - one of the most obvious I've seen. The penis is within the vulva, not on the belly like a true male goat would be.

When we go to butcher, I hope to have the time to look at the internal organs and the reproductive track. I may try to get pictures.


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## WhisperingWillowNDG (Jul 20, 2011)

Thank you for the photos... I had never seen a hermie before. Now I know what to look for :thumb:


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Aw makes sense. :thumb: That will be really interesting when you can look at the internal organs and reproductive parts. It would be fascinating to see how exactly this goat is "built" internally.


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## Red Maple Farm (Jun 5, 2012)

This is such a cool post! When I first started breeding goats, a lady told me the same thing, that the polled gene is more likely to make a hermie. The pic's where great, Can't wait to see the anatomy of the goat, thats if you put up pics.


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

That looks very much like the one I had here. It was a friends goat, they had it in the city and got in trouble, it was also a bottle baby. But, she was a freak! Mean, mean, mean! She was an Alpine with horns! Really pointy horns! they looked like someone sharpened them! She would "hook" me around the leg with them. I told them what she was and that she'd gotten really mean. So, she went in the freezer. I didn't get to see the internals, they did it at home I guess. 

It would be interesting to see the pics, if you can get them.


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## Lily's Mom (Jun 8, 2012)

My doeling (?) doesn't have the anatomy in the picture. She has a very small vulva opening with a pea shaped growth at the bottom but not the deeper colored one this goat has. There is no 'internal penis' showing at this point but she is only 3 weeks old. Could it come later? Her gender situation makes a huge difference in how the kids are distributed to buyers and who becomes a wether or stays a buck among the other kids in the barn. URGH!


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

I have read also that breeding polled to polled can create infertile offspring..as with the hermie. not always....: )


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## Riverside Fainters (Feb 6, 2013)

There was a breeder my sister knew that bought an awesome fainter buck and used him that fall and never got kids. He was a polled to polled and was sterile.


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

When I get home I can post a couple more of another hermie. I had a hermie and a Freemartin born in a set of Quads last year. Neither parent had any polled genetics in their history, both parents were horned/disbudded. I got rid of her before she started really looking like a buck, but she was just started getting that slightly bulky buck look about her. She was great about telling me when all the does were in heat!

She had almost non-existant teats and her vulva was abnormal with a tiny penis internally. If you poked at what should have been her udder, you could feel what felt like 2 small testes.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I hope that you are able to get pics of the inside when you butcher. I for one, would love to see them and am wondering how the inside plumbing looks.


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## Lily's Mom (Jun 8, 2012)

will never know what the inside plumbing looks like as I have raised her since the day she was born. Her mom died delivering the other two triplets. She laid across her momy's neck and cried for her as she passed. I balled! If she is a mix or sterile she will just become a pet. At the most sold to someone who I will tell myself gave her a wonderful home where she lived a long life.  Butchering her would be like trying to eat my Aussie. haha


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