Posted by Marion on March 31, 2001 at 15:41:31:
In Reply to: Re: polled goats posted by Vicki McGaugh on March 30, 2001 at 07:39:52:
Years ago, I had a polled purebred Alpine. I used him a lot on polled does, and even bred back to his daughters. This was seldom a problem in the upgraded ones, but in one purebred family, there were a lot. Goat Husbandry by David McKenzie had a chart showing how many would come up hermaphrodite in polled matings depending on the mated animals' parents horns or lack thereof, but it is just not that predictable. The hermaphrodites that I saw, had everything from almost female looking, but with vulva a bit larger, or with a tiny penis sticking out - some, the same parts but more forward towards where the penis would be in a male. Polled bred to a horned or disbudded animal should produce normal offspring, so better that your buck be horned or disbudded and then he can be bred to any doe.