Polled or not? Helpful tip.

[Julia @Woody Glen Farm]

My polled doe Leela gave birth to triplets 11 days ago. It was clear in the first few days that the one buckling is polled. One doeling seemed different from the other two and I was pretty sure she was horned. At one week I was sure she was horned and disbudded her. The other doeling has the same shaped head as the buckling so I thought she was polled. Then yesterday this doeling seemed like her "bumps" had grown and I convinced myself she was horned. I proceeded to prepare to disbud her (now 10 days old). When I shaved her head to get a good look, it was obvious she had hair on the bumps and no "points" visible. Now I'm pretty sure again that she's polled! Whew! Almost disbudded a polled baby! Being new at this, I think from now on when I have the potential for polled kids, I'll shave their polls at a week old so I can keep an eye on them for changes. Still not positive on her but I should see the horns break the skin if she's horned. 

[Julia @Woody Glen Farm]

Update: 3 weeks old and horn buds popped through! Yep. Disbudding today. 

[Julia @Woody Glen Farm]

After two weeks, no signs of horn buds, so Sable is definitely polled! Whew! Glad I didn't disbud her!

[Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres]

Cool! Thank you for the pics. 

[Julia @Woody Glen Farm]

Her dam is polled and has nice round bumps on her poll. Here are pics of the 3 kids close up. This first one is Wasabi-- polled buckling. Notice his hair makes "hair points" almost like horns:

This next one is Biscotti. She is horned and you can see the swirls around where her horn buds started to erupt:

And lastly, here is Sable, the one in question. This pic is a little blurry but you can see the hair has that same "horn shape" as Wasabi has and not swirls (although this I was very unsure about as a sign).

The main thing honestly I noticed is that the polled kids heads are shaped different. Like their mother, their eyes seem farther apart with a wider forehead than the horned goats. 

[Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres]

Interesting... I don't have any polled goats in my herd, and that is what all of my kid's bud spots have looked like. Do you have any photos of the hair pattern before you trimmed? Polled genes intrigue me.  Which of her parents is polled? I've never noticed that their buds were hairless when I trimmed my kid's hair, but I've also never waited until horns broke through the skin to disbud.  Not sure if that would make a difference or not. 

[Julia @Woody Glen Farm]

Once I shaved her and saw these round bumps, I was sure she IS polled. But when I was only feeling them, I couldn't tell. Also, it almost looks in this picture like there are little points but there are no points and there is hair on the bumps. If she will get horns, they will poke through and be points without hair on them. She's almost 2 weeks old so it's unlikely but I still look at them every day. 

[Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres]

Can you tell me what about that picture makes you think that she's not polled? I'm just curious, because to me, it looks like my horned kids do... wanting to learn. :)