Polled genetics question

There is not currently a test for the homozygous poll gene in goats and probably never will be because the veterinarian community believes that breeding polled to polled results in an increase in hermaphrodites or intersex offspring.

It would be impossible to have a homozygous polled goat unless both parents are polled.

If you have a goat that was polled and had two polled parents, there would only be a 25% chance that it would be homozygous because the parents would probably be heterozygous, meaning they have one polled gene and one horned gene, so you'd get 25% horned, 50% polled heterozygous, and only 25% polled homozygous.

So, currently the only way to know if you have a goat that is polled homozygous would be after it had 10 or 12 kids that were 100% polled, but it would have to have been bred to a horned goat to know that the other parent had no influence on the polled status. But even if it did have that many polled kids, if #13 pops out horned, then the goat is heterozygous. Most people say 10 is a pretty good number of offspring to see before assuming a goat is homozygous. It seem really unlike that a goat could throw 10 polled kids when bred to a horned goat if it was not homozygous, but it could happen. A couple of years ago I had a new polled buck, and his first NINE kids were horned! I was double checking the top of his head to be sure that he was polled, and then sure enough kid #10 was polled. But the odds of kids #10 being polled or horned was still 50/50, so might not have been until #11 or 12 that he threw a polled kid. He did try to make up for it the next year as his kids were 75% polled that year.

Replies

Lil June 14, 2020 at 3:26pm

I look forward to seeing! He should be breeding my doe for the first time this fall... fingers crossed for polled babies!
Deborah Niemann-Boehle June 14, 2020 at 3:25pm

So, it's possible. You'll just have to wait and see whether his offspring are polled or horned.
Lil June 14, 2020 at 11:56am

Wow, that is really interesting! I was asking because my buckling is polled... his dam and sire are both polled, and his sire's sire and dam are both polled, as well as his dam's dam.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle June 14, 2020 at 11:18am

There is not currently a test for the homozygous poll gene in goats and probably never will be because the veterinarian community believes that breeding polled to polled results in an increase in hermaphrodites or intersex offspring.

It would be impossible to have a homozygous polled goat unless both parents are polled.

If you have a goat that was polled and had two polled parents, there would only be a 25% chance that it would be homozygous because the parents would probably be heterozygous, meaning they have one polled gene and one horned gene, so you'd get 25% horned, 50% polled heterozygous, and only 25% polled homozygous.

So, currently the only way to know if you have a goat that is polled homozygous would be after it had 10 or 12 kids that were 100% polled, but it would have to have been bred to a horned goat to know that the other parent had no influence on the polled status. But even if it did have that many polled kids, if #13 pops out horned, then the goat is heterozygous. Most people say 10 is a pretty good number of offspring to see before assuming a goat is homozygous. It seem really unlike that a goat could throw 10 polled kids when bred to a horned goat if it was not homozygous, but it could happen. A couple of years ago I had a new polled buck, and his first NINE kids were horned! I was double checking the top of his head to be sure that he was polled, and then sure enough kid #10 was polled. But the odds of kids #10 being polled or horned was still 50/50, so might not have been until #11 or 12 that he threw a polled kid. He did try to make up for it the next year as his kids were 75% polled that year.

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