# People with goats I need help telling when babies are polled!!



## that's*satyrical (Oct 31, 2012)

Ok so I have 8 kids born out of my fall kid crop and the daddy to all of these kids is polled. I have disbudded all the ones that I was fairly certain were beginning to get horns, the nubs were either much larger or I felt a point rather than rounded surface. Now I have 4 left that I am pretty certain are polled but the round nubs feel pretty large. The youngest of these kids were born September 23rd. If I don't feel a point by now can I be certain these kids are polled even if the round nubs seem pretty large? Thanks for any help here.


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## elevan (Oct 31, 2012)

Since I keep horned goats I don't pay much attention to the buds.  You may want to change your subject title to say question about polled goats or something like that.


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## 20kidsonhill (Nov 1, 2012)

I really have no idea, but month does seem like a long enough time for them to start showing a small amount of horn growth. Although does do have much slower growth than the bucklings.


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## Pearce Pastures (Nov 1, 2012)

The few people I know around my aread with polled goats do get little round bumps/nubs where horns would be if they grew out, but are pretty well covered by fur.  If they were going to be horns, I'd expect more obvious growth by now.


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## Georgiamainers (Nov 1, 2012)

Our twins were polled this year.  If a buck doesn't have  knobs by the time they are 3 to 4 days old then they most likely are polled. Does take a little longer to tell.  Also, if there is not much swirl and the hair just kinda goes flat, then it's a sign they're polled.  Does take a little longer to tell.
Our buck (dad) was polled so we looked for it in the kids.


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## that's*satyrical (Nov 1, 2012)

So I guess I can be pretty certain about the boy that has the nubs since he is over a month old he would have horns starting by now right? The does born on the 17th I am pretty certain about them being polled. The other doe from the younger batch I am still a little iffy on but she is staying here so not such a big deal if a horn pops through. As long as the boy that is sold is for sure polled I am ok with that since I sold him as polled. Thanks for the help!!


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## Georgiamainers (Nov 1, 2012)

He is def polled if he's a month old.  Look for sharpness on the does.  If it's just kinda round and not sharp and no sign of growth with a week or two, then you can tell.


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## doxiemoxie (Nov 3, 2012)

I had one polled baby out of 4 NG/pygmy crosses and the others had the beginnings of horns showing within a couple weeks.  I was also told that bucklings will develop their horns sooner than the does.  The man who disbudded the others for me said he could still treat the suspected polled baby with the hot iron if I wanted. (heck no!) at 2 months still no horns!


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## lexibot (Nov 18, 2012)

From my own experience, 

you can pretty much tell by the 2nd - 3rd week, in fact, when I first encountered a polled kid, I was really really worried something was seriously wrong with my babies, (same with waddles, btw, lol!), you can imagine my relief when I researched online to be informed there was no reason to be paranoid.

Anyway, you should start seeing little "nubs" starting to poke out of the head (like Rudolph in the early half of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer - only less noticeable)


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