What Are Polled Goats?

Filed Under: Herd Basics & Behavior

A “polled” goat (of any breed) is one that

is naturally born without horns. Almond
Joy in the first large picture is polled while
her sister Toffee in the large picture
below that is not (you can see a small
blackened area on Toffeeʼs head where

her horn buds have been burned off –

disbudded).

Most goats in the US today are naturally

born with horns, and many dairy goat
owners choose to de-horn (typically by
disbudding) them when theyʼre babies for
various reasons (see Disbudding Goats).
Since disbudding baby goats is not a
process that anyone enjoys, I decided to
pursue breeding polled goats, and
wondered why more breeders werenʼt
also.

I learned that there were once many

polled goats in the US (some show
scorecards even awarded more points for
being polled), but that in the mid-1940ʼs
an article was published by the USDA that
linked polled goats with increased
chances for producing hermaphrodism
(an animal with both male and female
reproductive organs thatʼs sterile).

This was only one report and the

statistical significance is still being
questioned; however, breeders quickly
began culling or hiding any polled
genetics. According to the report, when
breeding a polled goat to another polled
goat, there could be a 1 in 8 chance of
producing a sterile animal. So, some
animals that were naturally polled were
not registered as being polled, and polled
animals were disbudded to disguise the
fact that they were naturally hornless.

Despite the negative stigma that was

attached to polled goats, there have been
a few breeders over the years that have
been breeding polled goats successfully
without producing any increased
incidence in hermaphrodism. They
maintain that itʼs just as likely to produce
hermaphrodism when breeding two
horned goats as when breeding two
polled goats. There is still great debate on
the subject, so itʼs important to at least
understand how itʼs determined whether
a goat is born polled or horned.

In goat DNA, there are two “slots” for

horn genes and each goat gets one slot
filled by its dam and one slot filled by its
sire. The horned gene is recessive and
the polled gene is dominant, so if a goat
receives two horned genes it is
homozygous horned (and appears
horned), if it receives one of each it is
heterozygous polled (the dominant polled
gene “hides” the horned gene and it
appears polled), and if it receives two
polled genes it is homozygous polled
(and appears polled).

Thinking about it another way (P=polled

gene, h=horned gene):

hh = Homozygous horned – cannot

produce polled offspring unless bred to
polled mate.

Ph = Heterozygous polled – can produce

polled and horned offspring, unless bred
to homozygous polled mate.

PP = Homozygous polled – cannot

produce horned offspring, regardless of
mate.

Some breeders believe they minimize the

possibility of producing a sterile animal by
never breeding a polled goat to a polled
goat, whereas others donʼt worry about
the possibility and believe the rate of
incidence is the same whether breeding
polled to polled, polled to horned, or
horned to horned.

We prefer not having to disbud the kids,

and so have quite a few polled goats.
Finding a homozygous polled sire would
be great for us, we could breed him to
horned dams and never have to disbud
another kid!

Related Content Handpicked for

You

love homestead chickens, gardens,

goats, honey bees and DIY?

Subscribe below to get "how-to" and

rural living tips delivered to your inbox for
free!