Willow is a solid cream color with random spotting and roaning.

Ronald is solid gold with random spotting, a white poll, and frosting.

Willow had a troubling birthing experience, but had one fighter of a buck.

EUMELANIN COLOR

Color	Ronald	Willow	GW1
Dark Brown	–	–	–
Black	–		–
Unknown		–

PHEOMENANIN COLOR

Color	Ronald	Willow	GW1
White	–	–	–
Cream	–		–
Tan	–	–
Gold		–	–
Red Brown	–	–	–

AGOUTI LOCUS PATTERN

Color	Ronald	Willow	GW1
Solid
Chamoisee	–	–	–
Buckskin	–	–	–
Cou Clair/Blanc	–	–	–
Swiss Marked	–	–	–
Sundgau	–	–	–
Hidden	–	–	–

WHITE SPOTTING & MODIFIERS

Color	Ronald	Willow	GW1
Random
Belted	–	–	–
Schwartzal	–	–	–
Roaning	–
Frosting
White Poll
Moon Spots	–	–	–

POLLED, OR NOT

Color	Ronald	Willow	GW1
Polled	–		–
Horns		–

Science is Fun & Genetics are Fascinating!

Please keep in mind this information is primarily for me. I’m posting it publicly in case others are interested. However, I don’t claim to know all the things. This is my method for keeping records of the genetics because I find it fascinating and I’m trying to educate myself.

#2kpioneer

The post 2023 Willow & Ronald Breeding appeared first on .

Willow is amazing! She had quads again.

Tam’s sire is light buckskin, while his dam is a medium buckskin. Tam also is buckskin.

Willow is a solid cream color with random spotting and roaning. She must be a carrier of the recessive black gene because she has birthed a number of black kids. Willow’s dam is dark gold with a belt and roaning. Her sire appears to be dark brown with random spotting.

Willow has no issues, health wise. And, she has never had issues with birthing. But, it feels right for this to be her last kidding. She births so many kids at a time, and they’re good sized. It seems like it could be a problem as she is aging. So, we’re going to quit before they’re are problems.

Two bucks and two does for Willow. I love that all 4 look different. She often has solid color babies like the white and tan ones. But, the other two are her first buckskin kids born on our farm.

EUMELANIN COLOR

Color	Tam	Willow	DW1	DW2	DW3	DW4
Dark Brown	–	–	–	–	–	–
Black
Unknown	–	–	–	–	–	–

PHEOMENANIN COLOR

Color	Tam	Willow	DW1	DW2	DW3	DW4
White	–	–	–	–	–	–
Cream			–			–
Tan		–	–	–
Gold	–	–	–	–	–	–
Red Brown	–	–		–	–	–

AGOUTI LOCUS PATTERN

Color	Tam	Willow	DW1	DW2	DW3	DW4
Solid	–		–		–
Chamoisee	–	–	–	–	–	–
Buckskin		–		–		–
Cou Clair/Blanc	–	–	–	–	–	–
Swiss Marked	–	–	–	–	–	–
Sundgau	–	–	–	–	–	–
Hidden	–	–	–	–	–	–

WHITE SPOTTING & MODIFIERS

Color	Tam	Willow	DW1	DW2	DW3	DW4
Random	–			–	–	–
Belted	–	–	–	–	–	–
Schwartzal	–	–	–	–	–	–
Roaning	–		–	–	–
Frosting				–	–
White Poll	–		–	–	–	–
Moon Spots	–	–	–	–	–	–

POLLED, OR NOT

Color	Tam	Willow	DW1	DW2	DW3	DW4
Polled	–			–	–
Horned		–	–			–

Science is Fun & Genetics are Fascinating!

Please keep in mind this information is primarily for me. I’m posting it publicly in case others are interested. However, I don’t claim to know all the things. This is my method for keeping records of the genetics because I find it fascinating and I’m trying to educate myself.

#2kpioneer

The post 2020 Willow & Tam Breeding appeared first on .

Thankfully another uneventful kidding season. All the mamas did great.

Our farm gained 7 bucks and 5 does.

I pushed out their kidding dates this year because I don’t like having babies in the colder, rainier weather. This year they were born the last week in April and first couple weeks in May – except for Moon, who kidded in July because her first breeding didn’t take.

Georgia

2 bucks

Willow

1 doe & 2 bucks

Wyldestyle

1 doe & 1 buck

Bunny

1 buck & 2 does

Moon

1 buck & 1 doe

#2kpioneer

The post 2019 Kidding Season appeared first on .

Although it is true outward appearance is really of little importance, a fun bonus with raising Nigerian Dwarf Goats is the variety of coats and patterns. One goat can look similar or look completely different from their herd mates. I could have a herd of 15 goats and all 15 goats potentially could look different. This fascinates me.

The genetic process for goat color is complicated, but I have it narrowed down to a few basic components. This is helping me wrap my brain around the science.

For a refresher on basic genetic terms, click here.

PIGMENT

Pigment that makes up the coat color is made of the protein melanin. There are two types of melanin – eumelanin and pheomelanin. A number of different genes determine where the eumelanin and pheomelanin pigments are throughout the coat. Coat color and pattern is a result of the combination of eumelanin, pheomelanin, and white spotting.

EUMELANIN = Produces black or brown. Only one color is present, though – black or brown, not both.
PHEOMELANIN = Produces creams, tans, and reds. More than one color can be present, as can varying shades.

AGOUTI LOCUS (A)

Most of the genetics behind coat color and pattern come from the Agouti locus. This locus determines where and how much pheomelanin and eumelanin is produced. There can be a lot of pheomelanin expressed and very little eumelanin, or vice versa – and everything in between. If a goat displays only pheomelanin and no eumelanin, the goat will be a solid cream, tan or red.   If a goat does not produce any pheomelanin and only produces eumelanin the goat will be solid black or dark brown.

There are at least 21 different possible alleles for this locus – no wonder goats can come in such a wide variety of colors and patterns!

In most cases, tan is dominant in the pheomelanin areas. This can create a variety of combinations when the dam and sire have different colors and patterns because the tan areas of both patterns will generally be expressed.

BROWN LOCUS (B)

This locus is also important in determining coat color. It determines whether the eumelanic areas are black or dark brown. Dark brown is dominant over black, however dark brown is not as common.

The brown locus has four alleles, or four different possible color options. However, any one goat only has two alleles in its genetic makeup – it receives one allele from mom and one allele from dad. The two alleles could be the same (homozygous) of they could be different (heterozygous).

The four alleles in order of dominance are:
Bd: dark brown, sometimes referred to as chocolate brown
Bl: light brown
B+: black, sometimes referred to as the wild type
b: medium brown, very rare

SPOTTING (S)

To make things even more complicated, goats can also have white spotting. These white spots are a lack of pigment and can occur on any color or pattern, masking the base color. The spotting can be very little or cover an entire coat.

The majority of Nigerian Dwarf Goats have at least a little spotting.

EUMELANIN COLORS

DARK BROWN

Dark brown is dominant on the B locus. It is a modifier of black. All areas that would be black are instead dark brown.

BLACK

Black is recessive on the B locus, therefore both parents must pass on the gene for a kid to be black.

Since it is recessive, it can be hidden by another color and be passed on to the kids.

Georgia is black with roaning.

PHEOMELANIN COLORS

WHITE/CREAM

A seemingly solid white goat could actually be a a very light cream color.

Another way a goat can appear white is if their spotting is so intense that it completely masks the true base color.

Willow is cream with white spotting

TAN/BROWN

The tans and browns can range from light tan to a dark reddish brown (different from the dark brown produced by eumelanin)

Vern is buckskin in black and dark reddish brown

GOLD/RED

The golds and reds also have quite a range from a light gold to a dark reddish gold.

Wingman is a light gold color.

I consider Moon’s base color to be a medium red gold.

To determine coat color requires figuring out the base color or pattern, whether the B locus is black or has been modified to dark brown, and identifying white spotting.

Science is Fun & Genetics are Fascinating!

The post Goat Coat Color appeared first on .

Polled animals are animals born naturally without horns. Some breeds of cattle are entirely polled. There are not any goat breeds entirely polled.

In goats, the polled gene is dominant. This means that a kid can only be polled if one, or both, parents are polled.

Every goat receives two genes of each characteristic (in this case being polled), one from mom and one from dad. Although, only one of the genes will be expressed. If mom or dad have the dominant trait, that will be the one expressed. If neither mom or dad have the dominant trait, neither will their kids.

Since disbudding is not enjoyable for the kid or the person doing the disbudding, being polled is a desirable characteristic for some breeders.

Others believe being polled is a genetic flaw and therefore choose not to breed the trait.

Either way, polled goats are not the norm. Research done long ago showed breeding a polled doe to a polled buck resulted in a higher frequency of the kid being intersex. The research is debatable, but most breeders today still choose not to breed polled to polled.

POLLED PROBABILITY

To help visualize the probability of polled vs. horns in a breeding pair, examine the Punnet squares below.

• The dam has two genes for the polled/horned characteristic – one from each of her parents. The two genes are known and represented in the rectangles.
• The sire has two genes for the polled/horned characteristic – one from each of his parents. The two genes are known and represented in the rectangles.
• The kid will also have two genes for the polled/horned characteristic – one from each of his parents. The possible options are displayed in the squares.

P = polled
p = horned

Since being polled is a dominant trait, if a P is shown in a square the goat will be polled. If a P is not present, the goat will have horns.

The sire and dam each have two polled/not polled genes, but each pass only one to the kid.  The two letters represent the one gene from the dam and the one gene from the sire that were passed to the kid.

The possible results are:
PP = HOMOZYGOUS POLLED. This would result in a polled goat that does not carry the horn gene. This is rare in goat herds.
Pp = HETEROZYGOUS POLLED. This would result in a polled goat that carries the recessive horn gene. Most polled goats are heterozygous.
pp = HOMOZYGOUS HORNED. This would result in a horned goat, with no possibility of being polled. Even though horns are recessive, this is the most common outcome in goats.

PUNNET SQUARE 1

Here we have a heterozygous polled goat (Pp) bred to a homozygous horned goat(pp).

The probability of a kid being polled is 50/50.

PUNNET SQUARE 2

This Punnet square shows a homozygous horned goat(pp) bred to another homozygous horned goat(pp).

The probability of a kid being polled is 0.

PUNNET SQUARES 3-6

These four options are possible, but not likely since most goats are not homozygous polled or bred to another polled goat.

HOW TO KNOW IF A NEWBORN KID IS POLLED

It can be tricky to tell if a newborn kid is polled. It is important to know for sure, though, because you wouldn’t want to disbud an animal that doesn’t need it.

As newborns, most horned kids will have hair swirls where their horns will be.

Polled kids will generally have bumps where horns would be. But, the bumps feel more round and less pointy than horns poking through. Also, if the skin moves a bit at the bump, the goat is probably polled. Skin around incoming horns does not move.

This is our goat, Wingman. He is polled. It is a bit deceiving because the hair where horns would be is noticeably different. However, the hair is more like a cow lick than a swirl.

OUR POLLED GOATS

Willow
She actually had the disbudding process done to her, but is polled. She has produced many polled babies with horned sires.

Willow’s buck from 2017, Wingman

Willow’s buck from 2018

SCURS

Scurs, in goats, are the result of the animal not being disbudded properly. Disbudding needs to kill all the horn tissue. When not all the tissue has been killed, scurs can occur. Scurs generally show up as wonky bits of a horn.

Science is Fun & Genetics are Fascinating!

The post Polled, or Not? appeared first on .

Last year Willow was bred with Crash. Having been bred with Tam this year,  I am curious to see the similarities and changes in her kids outward appearance.

Tam’s sire is light buckskin, while his dam is a medium buckskin. Tam also is buckskin.

Willow is a solid cream color with random spotting and roaning. She must be a carrier of the recessive black gene because she has birthed a number of black kids. Willow’s dam is dark gold with a belt and roaning. Her sire appears to be dark brown with random spotting.

Willow had triplets this year, 2 bucks and a doe. The little girl and one of the bucks look quite similar to Willow and similar to two of her bucks in 2017. She also birthed one black buck. This is at least her 3rd year in a row having one black kid. Black is recessive. For this little boy to be black it means he got the black allele from both Tam and Willow. I just love his coloring. He’s black with a white belt and lots of roaning except on his face and lower legs. This little guy is also polled, the other two are horned.

Update: I have updated BW1’s pattern to swiss marked. As he has grown, the lower sections of his legs have really lightened up compared to his body. His tail and buns are also light. We kept BW1 for awhile. He is listed as Wander if you want to check him out. He grew into a darn nice guy.

EUMELANIN COLOR

Color	Tam	Willow	BW1	BW2	BW3
Dark Brown	-	-	-	-	-
Black
Unknown	-	-	-	-	-

PHEOMENANIN COLOR

Color	Tam	Willow	BW1	BW2	BW3
White	-	-	–	-	-
Cream	-
Tan		-	-	-	-
Gold	-	-	-	-	-
Red Brown	-	-	-	-	-

AGOUTI LOCUS PATTERN

Pattern	Tam	Willow	BW1	BW2	BW3
Solid	-		-
Chamoisee	-	-	-	-	-
Buckskin		-	-	-	-
Cou Clair/Blanc	-	-	–	-	–
Swiss Marked	-	-		-	-
Sundgau	-	-	-	-	-
Hidden	-	-	–	-	-

WHITE SPOTTING & MODIFIERS

Characteristic	Tam	Willow	BW1	BW2	BW3
Random	-
Belted	-	-		-	-
Schwartzal	-	-	-	-	-
Roaning	-
Frosting
White Poll	-
Moon Spots	-	-	-	-	-

POLLED, OR NOT

Characteristic	Tam	Willow	BW1	BW2	BW3
Polled	-			-	-
Horned		-	-

Science is Fun & Genetics are Fascinating!

Please keep in mind this information is primarily for me. I’m posting it publicly in case others are interested. However, I don’t claim to know all the things. This is my method for keeping records of the genetics because I find it fascinating and I’m trying to educate myself.

#2kpioneer

The post 2018 Willow & Tam Breeding appeared first on .

We had three does due to kid the end of February to the beginning of March. Thankfully, all three mamas did great and we had a problem free kidding season.

We had such a mild winter with barely any snow, so I was hopeful the births would happen snow free. Nope. We received the most snow of the entire season during those couple weeks during kidding. The only snafu this caused was that we couldn’t use one of the kidding pens I planned to use.

BUNNY

Bunny surprised me just a little by having her baby a couple days sooner than I was expecting. She was in her kidding pen, though, so all was good. I was also a bit surprised that she had only one baby.

Farm Girl heard a goat making a horrible sound, when she investigated she noticed Bunny was in labor. We got to the barn just as Bunny birthed her little boy. We watched and watched expecting her to have another. After half an hour, both Farmer John & I checked her using the bouncing method and decided there were no more babies.

Because the temperature was below freezing I made the buckling a goat coat using fleece I had in my stash.

He was born on our friend’s birthday, so we started calling him Frankie. This worked out perfectly since one of my new favorite show’s is Grace & Frankie.

GEORGIA

Georgia, Georgia, Georgia.

She would have had her babies out in the snow. And, it’s all my fault.

I wasn’t expecting her to kid for another few days so I opened the stall door in case she wanted to go outside. She did. As I was about to go back inside the house I decided to check her backside for any indication that labor might be close. I noticed her vulva was a different shape. It had been puffy. Now it wasn’t puffy, but it was elongated. I right away brought her back into the barn and shut the door. I wasn’t expecting things to progress as quickly as they did, but I was hoping the change meant she was close.

Since Georgia had a change, I walked over and checked Willow. She did not have any noticeable changes, so I went back to peek at Georgia. Holy Guacamole, she was in active labor! She was laying down in obvious distress making a horrid sound.

I literally turned around, walked a couple feet, and grabbed the goat cam. Within those few seconds she pushed out her first baby – a boy. I stood there in awe and within another minute or two she delivered her second kid. This time a girl. It happened so quickly, I’m not even sure she knew she had another baby.

Doe on the left. Buck on the right. Their markings are incredibly similar, but the little girl’s tan areas are darker and redder than the little boy’s.

Georgia was a first freshener, so I was slightly concerned about how she would do during labor. She did fabulously. Below is her labor video.

WILLOW

I was getting a bit nervous about Willow. I was expecting her to kid over a week sooner than she did. For the most part, she didn’t seem in distress. But, there was a time two days before she delivered that I thought for sure she was in labor. When I checked her, her vulva was actually open a bit. Then later she was laying with one leg out obviously uncomfortable. A couple hours later – nothing. She went back to her typical self.

The next day – nothing. No indication that something was wonky the day before or that labor would happen soon.

The next morning, before taking the kids to school, I checked on her. I noticed nothing.

By the time I got back from school, she had 3 babies. I was so relieved!

She had 2 bucks and a doe.

I did get video of Willow’s birth. But, since the little rascal opted to have her babies in the short amount of time I was not home, the video is all from the goat cam.

This was our second kidding season. Last year we missed Willow’s birth by just minutes also. So this year I was determined to learn how to know when a goat is nearing labor.

I researched the topic and put up camera’s so I could watch their every move. I watched a ridiculous amount of Goat TV searching for signs that labor was near.

What I learned is that no amount of Goat TV will really give an indication of when labor is near. None of my goats gave early signs. I even went back and watched video prior to their labor’s searching for signs. Virtually nothing. One time Bunny pawed at the ground – big deal, Moon paws at the ground or backs of people and other goats all the time and she’s not even pregnant. Willow had a bit of excitement, but that was two days before she gave birth. I already knew she was close, so that didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know – expect cause me to worry something might be wrong.

None of the typical signs happened until they were in active labor. I was hoping for signs a little sooner.

I need more practice before the tail ligaments give me a clue to labor being near. I started feeling what I thought were their ligaments about a month before they were due. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice much of a change. Willow and Bunny’s may have been getting softer, but not so much that it was a clear indication of labor. And, Georgia’s always seemed loosey goosey to me.

I will continue my labor sleuthing skills next year.

I am incredibly thankful for the seemingly easy, trouble free births. We have 3 mama’s who did great and a total of 6 healthy babies.

The post 2018 Kidding Season appeared first on .

As I’m learning about color and pattern genetics, I want to put it into my real world.

I want to learn more about which traits are dominant in my herd, which traits are seemingly missing, and the mysterious traits that are sure to be uncovered.

First up is examining the color patterns of the breeding pair Crash & Willow.

Crash’s sire is Swiss-marked. His dam is a dark red buckskin. Crash, himself, is a combination pattern of Swiss marked and medium to light buckskin.

Willow is a solid cream color with random spotting and roaning. She must be a carrier of the recessive black gene because she has birthed a number of black kids. Willow’s dam is dark gold with a belt and roaning. Her sire appears to be dark brown with random spotting.

Willow and Crash produced 4 kids, 1 doe and 3 bucks. The doe is Swiss marked like Crash. Two of the bucks look similar to Willow with solid cream coloring. The third buck is also a solid color, but is a bit more gold with quite a lot of roaning.

Willow is polled; Crash has horns. Two of the kids were born polled; two are horned.

EUMELANIN COLOR

Color	Crash	Willow	AW1	AW2	AW3	AW4
Dark Brown	-	-	-	-	-	-
Black		hidden		hidden	hidden	hidden
Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-

PHEOMENANIN COLOR

Color	Crash	Willow	AW1	AW2	AW3	AW4
White	-	-		-	-	-
Cream	-		-	-
Tan	-	-	-	-	-	-
Gold		-	-		-	-
Red Brown	-	-	-	-	-	-

AGOUTI LOCUS PATTERN

Pattern	Crash	Willow	AW1	AW2	AW3	AW4
Solid	-		-
Chamoisee	-	-	-	-	-	-
Buckskin		-	-	-	-	-
Cou Clair/Blanc	-	-	-	-	-	-
Swiss Marked		-		-	-	-
Sundgau	-	-	-	-	-	-
No Pattern	-	-	-	-	-	-

WHITE SPOTTING & MODIFIERS

Characteristic	Crash	Willow	AW1	AW2	AW3	AW4
Random	-		-
Belted	-	-	partial	-	partial	-
Schwartzal	-	-	-	-	-	-
Roaning	-
Frosting	-		-
White Poll
Moon Spots	-	-	-	-	-	-

POLLED, OR NOT

Characteristic	Crash	Willow	AW1	AW2	AW3	AW4
Polled	-		-		-
Horned		-		-		-

Science is Fun & Genetics are Fascinating!

The post 2017 Willow & Crash Breeding appeared first on .

This year we had our first kidding! Thankfully everything went perfectly and Willow gave birth to quadruplets – 3 boys and a girl.

Maybe it’s because they’re my first goat babies, but I love them all. They have such fun personalities and the little girl is spunky and stubborn just like her mama. We hang out with them quite a bit, so they’re all friendly. I knew when I bred Willow I couldn’t keep all her kids. Even though it will be tough to part with them, I have decided to keep two of the kids, and sell two of them. Whoever goes home with these boys will be getting a great farm friend.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

AW3
Buckling

KW Farms PB Wedding Crasher  X  KK Snowd’N Edith

DOB: 6/20/2017
Horn Status: Disbudded
Availability: SOLD

He is dam raised, but feeds off a bottle every day, too.
He can be weaned from mama, and available for purchase, after August 15th.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

AW4
Buckling

KW Farms PB Wedding Crasher  X  KK Snowd’N Edith

DOB: 6/20/2017
Horn Status: Polled
Availability: SOLD

He is dam raised, but feeds off a bottle every day, too.
He can be weaned from mama, and available for purchase, after August 15th.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Click here to see our SALES POLICY

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The post 2017 Goats for Sale appeared first on .

Last week we had our first kidding on our little farm! Thankfully Willow is an experienced mother and everything went perfectly.

Since this was my first kidding experience, I did a lot of research on the subject. The #1 thing I continued to read was be there for the birth just in case the mother needs assistance.

I purposely didn’t plan extra things for about a week before her due date and a week after, just to be sure we would be home. However… with three of my own children it’s nearly impossible to stay home 24/7. Farmer John was not home, so in the afternoon I ran the kids to an orthodontist appointment then to taekwondo. I peeked at Willow before we left and she didn’t appear to be behaving any differently. The only odd-for-her behavior I noticed was the night before when I came to see her at the fence she didn’t get up to greet me. I tried numerous times to feel if the ligaments at her tail had loosened, as that can be a clue that birthing is near. But she didn’t like me messing around back there, so I never did get a very good feel.

Long story, short, we totally missed Willow birthing the babies. We literally got home as she was pushing out her 4th and final kid.

The good news is all 4 babies looked great and we were there in time to dry them off.

Willow did such a great job tending to her four little ones.

Not long after they were born, I dipped their umbilical cords in triodine-7. I’m still not sure if I should have tied the cords with dental floss and cut them shorter before dipping them. They didn’t seem obnoxiously long and a week later it doesn’t seem like there is a problem. But, it is something I should learn more about for next time.

Almost 2 hours later, Willow got real serious and in a zone. She was pushing out the placenta. When it was all out, she devoured it. She seemed to really enjoy it.

One mistake I made was misjudging the weather. Farmer John built Willow a covered kidding stall outside. It’s kind of enclosed, but not well. I wasn’t too concerned because I knew she was kidding during the summer. When we got home, though, to her giving birth it was a tad windy and I was cold. I thought if I was cold, it couldn’t be great for the damp babies. So I quickly cleaned out Georgia and Willow’s house, moved Georgia out and Willow and the babies inside. Farmer John moved the ceiling mount heater we have for the chicks into the goat house. This was a life saver for the first few chilly nights. You can just barely see the heater in the top of this photo above Willow’s head.

The next morning, everyone looked pretty well dried off, but not quite ready to bounce around much.

I know it won’t always be this easy, but I’m so happy things went so well for our first time. Willow is a pro.

The post Our First Kidding appeared first on .