helmstead
Goat Mistress
Polled goats are great, mainly because they save us the fun of disbudding. There are many breeders who have a good deal of polled stock, and try to breed for this trait. We aren't one of those breeders, but we do have a couple polled does and a junior buck who's polled. They were purchased for other traits, and the polled gene was just a bonus.
The trouble with the polled gene is a little genetic fault that can pop up - hermaphrodites. You hear of it mostly due to breeding polled to polled. The research I've done shows a 1 in 4 chance of hermaphrodite offspring when you breed polled to polled.
So...to the story.
This spring I purchased a polled yearling doe I'd seen in last year's shows. She's a really nice girl, daughter of a PGCH buck with excellent dairy backgrounds on both sides. I got her home, did all the bolusing and deworming and fleshing up, and after a good month and a half, I put her in the pen with my boy, Chip. No fireworks. I thought, well, she'll start good strong cycles this fall...and moved on.
This is Susie Q:
About 3 weeks ago, I noticed she had some tissue in her mammary area. At first, I chalked it up to the weight she was gaining. However, it kept growing. :/ I shot an email off to her breeder..."Out of curiosity, is there a chance this doe is bred?"
The answer, to my dismay, was, "Well Hocus was an escape artist here and broke into that pen (which also housed Hocus' dam, Rhiannon, whom I also purchased) several times."
Hocus, whom I also bought just to see what he'd do in the ring, is Susie's paternal half brother...and is ALSO polled.
LUCKILY I know he did NOT manage to breed his dam, she is now bred to my buck, Rider. Little Hocus is also expecting a litter from another yearling doe he covered back at the breeder's farm - luckily for her, that doe wasn't polled!
So, sometime later this month or in August, I'm expecting kid(s) from a polled x polled breeding AND a direct linebreeding on their sire. The linebreeding doesn't really bother me (at least it's a nice buck)...but I'll admit I'm worried about what comes out! I'll be doing vet exams for sexual orientation on doe kids to make sure there aren't any hidden testes...and just wethering any boys.
The trouble with the polled gene is a little genetic fault that can pop up - hermaphrodites. You hear of it mostly due to breeding polled to polled. The research I've done shows a 1 in 4 chance of hermaphrodite offspring when you breed polled to polled.
So...to the story.
This spring I purchased a polled yearling doe I'd seen in last year's shows. She's a really nice girl, daughter of a PGCH buck with excellent dairy backgrounds on both sides. I got her home, did all the bolusing and deworming and fleshing up, and after a good month and a half, I put her in the pen with my boy, Chip. No fireworks. I thought, well, she'll start good strong cycles this fall...and moved on.
This is Susie Q:
About 3 weeks ago, I noticed she had some tissue in her mammary area. At first, I chalked it up to the weight she was gaining. However, it kept growing. :/ I shot an email off to her breeder..."Out of curiosity, is there a chance this doe is bred?"
The answer, to my dismay, was, "Well Hocus was an escape artist here and broke into that pen (which also housed Hocus' dam, Rhiannon, whom I also purchased) several times."
Hocus, whom I also bought just to see what he'd do in the ring, is Susie's paternal half brother...and is ALSO polled.
LUCKILY I know he did NOT manage to breed his dam, she is now bred to my buck, Rider. Little Hocus is also expecting a litter from another yearling doe he covered back at the breeder's farm - luckily for her, that doe wasn't polled!
So, sometime later this month or in August, I'm expecting kid(s) from a polled x polled breeding AND a direct linebreeding on their sire. The linebreeding doesn't really bother me (at least it's a nice buck)...but I'll admit I'm worried about what comes out! I'll be doing vet exams for sexual orientation on doe kids to make sure there aren't any hidden testes...and just wethering any boys.
) but I'm still really anticipating what happens here.
