# Breeding polled to polled?



## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

I just acquired a polled Nigerian buck and doe. I keep hearing that breeding polled to polled can result in intersexed offspring, but the gal I got them from says she has never gotten an intersex doing this.

I decided to get the buck because I like the idea of not having to disbud kids, and I also like the fact that the polled bucks are less stinky. I was simply planning on making mini-Saanens and had no intention of getting another doe, but since she has only been a brood doe and is not very tame, the owner offered her to me for free. I couldn't pass that up.

Has anyone here bred polled to polled, and what was your experience?

I am new to all this so I don't know bloodlines well, but here is a link to their pedigrees (Magic Espresso and Hibiscus): http://www.bryngyld.com/NigerianDwarf.html


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## shiandpete.1 (Aug 13, 2008)

I went and read one of my goat books about this, and from what I understand there is a huge risk of intersex but it also depends on if the doe and buck are heterozygous or homozygous polled. It is a bit confusing. We had a polled buck last year and only bred to horned does and about 50% came out polled.


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

Don't breed polled to polled (in goats).

[ame]http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4ACGW_enUS347US347&q=goats+breed+polled+to+polled&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&oq=[/ame]

I don't have time to go through all these articles, but there is enough evidence to suggest that you don't want to do this


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## betsy h. (Sep 28, 2008)

It can be done- in fact there is a group on yahoogroups called (I think) polled genetics- Bill Burghart and Darrel St. James have done some research in to which dairy lines produce what in the polled x polled breedings. Bill can be found on Saanentalkon yahoogroups, so I would ask him.

In UK, many purebred golden guernsey fanciers breed polled to polled and it works. In my personal experience, I have a polled doe who had trips when I got her- one was a normal male, one was an ambiguous sexed and the doe was born very small, with no left eye and no tail. Sire was a purebred GG and dam was an Alpine/Guernsey X.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I don't believe just becuase you breed a polled Buck to a polled doe that your kids will all be polled like the parents but I don't know for sure. Then are you taking the risks of having intersexed or deformed kids that still need to be disbudded?
Just wondering?
I have a polled doe & have never gotten a polled kid from her yet but we've only had her 4 years so far. We'll see what this spring brings.


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

Hmmm so I may be screwed then? I just bought a naturally polled buck and dehorned doe the doe has already been bred to a non related polled/blue eyed buck from another herd. So if one of her kids is a doe and polled I cant breed her to my polled buck...:grumble:


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## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

The concern that is usually mentioned is the homozygously polled "female" who generally ends up a Hermaphrodite. There is a sex gene linked to the polled gene, which is why this occurs in goats and doesn't in other species. So to get an intersexed kid from a polled to polled breeding you would need a homozygously polled female. Which means a doe with both copies of the gene being Polled.
Polled is dominant, so all you need is one Polled gene for the kid to be Polled. My guess is your goats are both heterozygous polled, so it is quite possible when bred together they wouldn't produce a homozygously polled "female." The homozygous polled males are fine and fertile (though some question just how fertile).
There are breeders who breed polled to polled on a regular basis and only end up with as many, or fewer, hermaphrodites than what they see in their horned to horned matings.

Having said that, it is also bantered around that some genetics, and goat breeds, are more prone to the hermies, than others. With Nigies being on the list of those with non-issues.

My herterozygous Polled buck has more than once bred his heterozygous Polled daughters without my permission.
The first kid was a polled "female." She was smothered in a kid pile at a month old, but she was not "right" with regards to her external reproductive parts, so we assume she was a Hermie.
Again this past Fall, Rudy settled a heterozygous polled daughter of his. She produced a horned buck and a polled daughter. The daughter barely lived a week. She had neurological issues.

You are not necesarrilly screwed. The few hermaphrodites you might end up with statistically taste the same as the other kids that arrive.

The Polled Goat Genetics group on Yahoo! has some interesting reads.


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## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

betsy h. said:


> It can be done- in fact there is a group on yahoogroups called (I think) polled genetics- Bill Burghart and Darrel St. James have done some research in to which dairy lines produce what in the polled x polled breedings. Bill can be found on Saanentalkon yahoogroups, so I would ask him.


Thanks very much for that info--I've joined the "Polled Genetics" Yahoo group and it looks like there's some good stuff there!


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