# polled kids head pics



## catdance62 (Mar 2, 2009)

here are pics of the two 7 week-old kids, that I believe are going to be naturally polled, and their dam.

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## Chaty (Oct 25, 2007)

Looka like knobs to me ...the way I can tell is they look like they have on a cheap toupee...lol...I think your safe at not disbudding them...My polled have the horn knobs is what I call them...feels like a base of the horn but no horn.
Kathy


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## Leo (Mar 10, 2008)

:yeahthat From my own experience/observations Dom/res. polled have straight hair(as opposed to swirls) and knobs, Dom/Dom polled have straight hair and flat head(no knobs).
Megan


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## pokyone42 (Oct 26, 2007)

Had a few polled goats over the years... no swirly hair, but straight, like said above, and the "knobs" are kinda cushy and smushy and fun to touch. lol. 
(And I have always told those polled gals how lucky they are NOT to have gone through disbudding!


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## catdance62 (Mar 2, 2009)

yeah, they're a little knobby, but I am pretty sure they are polled.


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## cariboujaguar (Feb 9, 2009)

just curious what breed they are... mini manchas or what? they are cute as buttons! Congrats!


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## catdance62 (Mar 2, 2009)

they are LaMancha crossed with Bettie. We dont' know what Bettie is! You see her head there in the pic, but she has long long straight hair.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Thanks for sharing those pics. That was interesting and your goats are sweet!


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## Ravens Haven (Oct 26, 2007)

Shave the head up there but to me it looks like there will be horns.


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## DostThouHaveMilk (Oct 25, 2007)

At seven weeks old there should be points on the bumps if they are horned.
Looks like they are probably polled. I have had a number of giraffe polled buck kids. THey ge very high bumps. Most people would have burned them because the bumps are there soon after birth, if not at. I let them go and recheck later for the horn tips to poke through before burning them.
We have a Purebred Polled Nubian herdsire that we have used for 5 years now. He's given us a good number of polled kids. The first year or so I was still having the vet's assistant burn them and if they weren't smooth he burned them. I'm fairly sure he ended up burning some that would have been naturally polled.


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## cariboujaguar (Feb 9, 2009)

you have giraffes? How neat!


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## catdance62 (Mar 2, 2009)

that is way cool--Giraffes!!! They are like, ssooo my favourite African animal!!! Lambie and Chops bumps are kind of smooth and rounded. Time will tell, I guess....


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## DostThouHaveMilk (Oct 25, 2007)

Giraffe polled simply describes how high the bumps are on a polled goat.


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## SALTCREEK_Nubians_Linda (Nov 13, 2007)

Looks polled to me too. Just keep feeling for a sharp tip. If you never feel that, you're in the clear?

Is it a misconception that you can't breed a polled to a polled goat? I was sure I read it in a book someplace. You folks who have polled goats have the experience with it. How DOES that work? I wouldn't mind figuring out how to have polled Nubians, but I've never seen a polled Nubian. I really hate burning those little babies' heads. But it has to be done. I would not however, give up my dairiness, breed character and general appearance to get a polled Nubian. :nooo


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## pokyone42 (Oct 26, 2007)

If I remember correctly, breeding a polled to a polled produces kids who are sterile, goats with both female and male parts.


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## SALTCREEK_Nubians_Linda (Nov 13, 2007)

That's what I thought. So you either want to have polled does and a horned buck or vis a versa. I vote for the polled does.


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## pokyone42 (Oct 26, 2007)

ME TOO!


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## DostThouHaveMilk (Oct 25, 2007)

There is a sex linked gene with the polled gene in some breeds and some lines of goats. They are currently studying them to determine the occurance of this connection in goats. There are people who breed polled to polled regularly and have for years with no issues. A lot of Nigies breeders fall in thsi category with some Swiss breeders not running into any more Polled Hermaphrodites than they get with horned/horned matings.
The concern comes with homozygously polled females...homozygously polled males are generally fertile (though some have questioned the fertility)/
The chances of a homozygously polled female are 1 in 8 from what I have read.
The only time we had a polled to polled breeding (our Nubian bred his polled daughter) the resulting kid was a polled female whose external reproductive area was not "right." She was smothered at a month old ina kid pile so I never got to see if she would breed or not, but I believe she was a hermaphrodite.

As far as Polled Nubians- they exist but are few and far inbetween.
http://elmhaven.com/NB-Jumpy.html
Elmhaven has had a couple of polled bucks now. He started a Yahoo! group for PolledGoatGenetics

Naomi Counides also breeds Polled Nubians, which is where Elhaven got Jump At The Chance (who is now in another herd).

The original breeders of my buck's sire- Love-R-Goats Prince Checkers no longer appear to have polled Nubians.
The breeder of my buck had his twin (also polled) registered but he has only a horned daughter registered. My buck and his twin brother were the only goats registered by the breeder.
My buck currently only has two kids recorded (one polled, one not). They are grade doelings that were born to another DGI member who borrowed him. I have not recorded/registered his other daughters *yet.* A number (including quite a few polled) will be done this year. He definitely has some faults, but for what I spent and what he has done I'm not complaining.

Elmhaven has some polled genetics using some really nice lines.


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## catdance62 (Mar 2, 2009)

well, tonight I felt them really well, and they are very smooth bumps. The sire must have a polled recessive gene somewhere, and Bettie must have a non-polled recessive gene, because last time she bred to a different buck and the kids both had horns. Guess this wont' happen again because the sire of these kids is gone now.


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## DostThouHaveMilk (Oct 25, 2007)

Polled is dominant. If the sire is horned/disbudded, then Bettie must be naturally polled. She would be heterozygously polled, meaning she carries one polled gene (which is what shows since it is dominant) and one horned gene. Two heterozygously polled goats bred together can produce a horned offspring since both carry a recessive horned gene.
Rudy ends up throwing about half polled over his numerous seasons but it isn't real consistant as in one polled/one horned in sets of twins..


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