Polled Nubian

[Among The Pines PbNubians]

Hi all! We need your thoughts on a new doeling that We bought about 3 weeks ago. She’s a month old now and is polled, now we had goats for many years, but have never had a polled doeling. My concern is, she just started to develop a small point on one nub. Will this turn into a horn? should I dehorn her now? Our kids will show her at our county fair, so she can’t have horns. I just hate to burn them if I don’t need too. Thank you, Joe

 

[AmberLops]

Hi Joe,
Just wanted to say Welcome to BYH
I'm not a goat person but i'm sure you'll get lots of answers from others!

 

[Among The Pines PbNubians]

Hi Joe,
Just wanted to say Welcome to BYH
I'm not a goat person but i'm sure you'll get lots of answers from others!

Thank you!!

 

[OneFineAcre]

She shouldn't have a "point". Polled goats have knots, or knobs
Sometimes bigger knots than other times
You got a picture? Maybe clip the top of her head so we can see it?
If she is a month old and was horned, you would likely know it by now.

 

[Among The Pines PbNubians]

It’s very small point, I just wasn’t sure what to expect with her being polled. Thank you!

 

[Ridgetop]

How do you know she is polled? Did the breeder tell you she was polled? At least one parent must be polled to produce polled offspring. Check her papers, the horn information is on there. Polled disbudded, dehorned & horned are the 4 choices. If she is naturally polled, one of her parents must be polled too. If you are unsure, look up the parents registration papers at ADGA. At least one of them MST say polled. Genetically, 2 polled goats can produce horned goats but 2 horned goats cannot produce a polled goat.

Physically, the horn bud is centered in the middle of a cowlick on the goats head. A polled goat does not have the twin cowlicks seen around the horn buds. Polled goats have rounded knobs where the horn buds would normally be. The skin over the knobs where the horns would be in a polled goat will move freely across the skull if she is a true polled goat. If the skin does not move back and forth freely, then she is not a polled goat. She should not have any points or horn tips if she is polled. If you bought her from a reputable breeder as a show prospect, she would have been disbudded when she was about 10 days old for a Nubian and 7 days for a Swiss breed. Most reputable breeders do not sell show prospects at 1 week old since you can't tell what conformation the doeling has at that age, thus cannot be sure that she is a good show quality prospect. The polling gene has been related to a higher incidence of hermaphroditism. On the other hand I have only seen 2 cases of hermaphroditism in goats in 30 years. Both of the goats were Nubians. Both the goats were disbudded t an early age.

If she was disbudded the horn point could be a scur. If she looks like she is growing a horn, by all means disbud her. Disbud both sides, since if she is growing one horn she will probably have 2 and you might as well disbud both. Since the horns are barely showing, go ahead and disbud with an iron rather than waiting and dehorning. Dehorning is much harder on the animal since the sinus and major blood vessels are formed by then. Disbudding is done before the major blood vessels develop and the iron cauterizes any little ones blood vessels.

If you have any doubts about whether she is producing a horn, disbud. She cannot be shown if she has horns therefore you must remove any horn buds no matter how tiny.

 

[SaanenMom]

What breed is she? I have friends that have NDs and they can be slow getting horns...sometimes 4-5 weeks before they pop thru. Friends with Nubians say they can take 2-3 weeks before horns pop thru. My Saanens have horns that need to be burned 3-7 days old. My polled generally are giraffe bump type but when they are born I know who is horned and who is polled, so the giraffe bumps don't worry me.

Also, there are polled scurs. They will pop out between 1 to 3 months, grow 1/4 to 1/2 inch and wiggle. They generally pop off but you can use hoof nippers and cut them off.

 

[CaramelKittey]

I have a Nigerian Dwarf doe who is polled. To this day, there are some nubs where her horns would normally be if she were not polled. At one month of age, you should definitely be able to tell if she had horns or not.
I would say that she is polled however, I’m not 100% sure unless there could be pictures. There is a general rule that if a kid’s horns are the size of a quarter, it’s time to disbud. At least that is the rule for Nigerian Dwarfs. I have a buckling who had to be disbudding a little less than a week after birth therefore, if your doe had horns, you would know by now!

Hope this helped!