# Large Forehead in Goats?



## ETgoatygirl (Mar 23, 2012)

I have a question.. My friend has a really nice Nigerian buck. He has a huge forehead, though. He seems to pass this on to his kids. Is this a good thing (that he has a large forehead, or not?) Is it just a personal preferance for breeders to breed for this, or not? I don't really mind that they have big foreheads, but was just curious about it.. Thanks. Here are a few photos of some of his kids (with those large foreheads.


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## Goat Lover 98 (Mar 25, 2012)

Plenty of room for nice big brains :laugh: Sorry, I really have no idea.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I have a little bubble headed doeling. She is a smart little thing and we should have named her and her brother Pinky and the Brain because they are the smartest ones of the whole bunch but arent much for looks.


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## VincekFarm (Jun 27, 2011)

Does his doelings have big foreheads also or is it just the bucklings. What I've seen so far is that bucks always tend to have rather large foreheads, but thats just my experience. :2cents:


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## ETgoatygirl (Mar 23, 2012)

Thanks guys for the ideas. I guess I'll never know for sure... Also, both the boy and the girl kids out of this buck have rather wide foreheads. Well, I don't mind it one bit. And I guess it does leave room for bigger brains


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## Goober (Aug 21, 2009)

Are they by any chance polled?


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## ETgoatygirl (Mar 23, 2012)

Goober... No, the kids are not polled.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

The kids look pretty normal. 

You want a goat with an attractive head, nice shape, nice feature placement. If a goat has an obviously larger forehead then average, that would be something you don't really want to breed for...i'd have to see a picture of the buck to get an idea, but these kids don't really have the noticeably different heads. Their muzzles do look a bit small though.

The muzzles on kids should be good width and size. Small muzzles should not bred for and are something to stay away from...newborn kids can have trouble getting those first breaths and in nigerians we want to make sure kids can be born on their own and not have to worry about taking in air.

I read a really good article on this...if I can find it i'll post...it may have been in Dairy Goat Journal? Not positive. But a breeder was in the article discussing what to look for in newborn kids. She would make it a point to look at the muzzles and face...looking for that width, size, and shape in the face.


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## ETgoatygirl (Mar 23, 2012)

*Thanks*

Thanks for the great info KW farms! I will definitely have to keep that in mind (about little mouths).. I will go out and compare forehead size of the normal kids to the one with the big head. Then I should be able to tell if she has a big forehead or a little mouth I'll ask my friend if I can post a picture of her buck. She probably won't mind a bit.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

You're welcome. Sounds good. :thumb:


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