# Breeding question on Polled goats....



## Bellafire Farm (Jan 5, 2010)

Ok... so I was taught that breeding a POLLED goat to a POLLED goat was a REALLY REALLY REALLY bad thing? But I came across a breeding schedule that specifically states breeding a polled doe to a polled buck (on purpose)?????

Am I wrong? I thought the kids have an exceptionally high chance of turning out genetically defective when breeding a polled goat to a polled goat??


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Theres normally no problems breeding polled to polled if one parent of the polled goat was horned. My doe is polled, dam was horned...sire polled. My buck is polled...dam was polled, sire horned.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Some people say the slight risk of infertile offspring has been exaggerated. Search for "polled hermaphrodite" on here and you'll find some other threads that discuss this.


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## Bellafire Farm (Jan 5, 2010)

Yes, the hermaphrodite issue was exactly what I was thinking/talking about...

Hmmm...It's always been drilled into my brain that it's A REALLY BIG no-no... and I've never heard or seen (that I know of) a kid from a polled-to-polled breeding... so I guess I just assumed it must be really bad.

Interesting info...


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

my friend did a polled to polled breeding and the kids were perfectly fine. She had 2 bucks and 1 doe (triplets  ) oh and the breeding was a linebreeding back to her grandsire.


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## Victoria (Dec 20, 2008)

I had a polled buck and loved the 75% no horns, until he threw a hermaphrodite...I was really wanting a doe out of my Old Mountain Farm doe, when she finally had a doe it was not a doe. Broke my heart so bad I sold the buck. I just deal with horns now. I know alot of people that love polled goats, which is awesome!! I am not longer a member of that club however...


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## SkyesRanch (Nov 11, 2010)

Aso remember that a polled goat is ONLY a goat that never had horns. If it had horns and was dehorned it is called disbudded. Some people call goats that are really disbudded, "polled". That could just be a misconseption from the breeder. :shrug: I have raised goats for y-e-a-r-s and have only done it twice. I haven't had any problems but I hardly ever do it.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

My only polled ND doe is Binkey...she has freshened 3 times, first and 2nd...horned does and her last delivery was very sad for both of us as she had a still born.My polled buck( he was mistakenly disbudded) was bred to only horned does and produced 8 polled kids out of 16. I'm guessing that when Binkey delivers...those kids should be polled.


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## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

I breed Polled X Polled on purpose... ALL THE TIME... I also breed Polled X Polled, out of Polled X Polled to Polled.... and so on. Quite happy with my kids and my lines are as prolific if not more so than breeders that strictly deal with a horns only policy.  My "polled" lines are my does and bucks that produce the most kids and are my best dams.

The study that everyone bases the "Polled breedings" theory on was not a very open study as it was based pretty strictly on a minimum amount of polled genetic lineage. Meaning.... most likely the line of goats they tested CARRIED THE HERMIE GENE. 

I know more breeders that breed horned to horned and get hermie kids then people who breed polled X Polled getting hermies. 

The end result anyways... a hermie... not much different than a wether.... so why the big fear???? 

If you were to get a hermie, sell it as a pet or for meat (depending on the breed and purpose of your goats) and don't repeat that exact breeding. This goes for ANY breeding (horned X horned, Polled X Polled) just another reason why good record keeping is important to good goat breeding management. Know your lines and you won't have anything to worry about.


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## Victoria (Dec 20, 2008)

I must agree as the Vets I worked with both graduated in the 70's and were dead set against any polled goats..well I respectfully disagreed, and bought my beautiful buck. And don't ya know he threw a hermie!!Grr, I never told them!! I also gave her to a good friend as a pet. I was mostly upset as the doe was in her senior years and this was her last breeding...There are threads on here that talk about horned goats throwing polled kids, it happens..



myfainters said:


> I breed Polled X Polled on purpose... ALL THE TIME... I also breed Polled X Polled, out of Polled X Polled to Polled.... and so on. Quite happy with my kids and my lines are as prolific if not more so than breeders that strictly deal with a horns only policy.  My "polled" lines are my does and bucks that produce the most kids and are my best dams.
> 
> The study that everyone bases the "Polled breedings" theory on was not a very open study as it was based pretty strictly on a minimum amount of polled genetic lineage. Meaning.... most likely the line of goats they tested CARRIED THE HERMIE GENE.
> 
> ...


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm going to post my findings here with the breeding of Binkey and Chief.

As I posted earlier...Binkey is polled and never gave me anything BUT horned kids so I think genetically she's a "Pp" (Sire polled, dam horned)

Chief was mistakenly disbudded as a kid....he's been bred to nothing but horned does and produced polled kids, so I think that he too is genetically a "Pp"(Dam polled,Sire horned)

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.

Binkey had triplets on 2/22... 2 bucklings(1 deceased) very obvious smooth round heads with no bumps...1 doeling who has bumps but I don't see the "hair swirls" over those bumps, if she is horned, she'll be disbudded but not until I'm positive about her "horn" status. All 3 kids appear to be normal, including the one that died from an umbilical hemmorhage.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I personally don't think breeding a polled to a polled is going to increase your chances of getting a hermaphrodite. Though i've never done heavy researching on it...i've heard of breeders crossing polled goats all the time and never having a problem. 

Try searching for old threads on this topic. I know there have been some good discussions on it in the past.


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