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Goat Horns

20 years ago

I was wondering do all kinds of goats grow horns?

Comments (6)

  • 20 years ago

    no, not all goats have horns. most do, but many do not.
    Oberhasli, and Lamancha I know do not have horns, I have Boer and Nubian goats and they have horns, I have a 4 month billy whose mom was Oberhasli and dad was Boer and he doesn't have horns.,
    are you looking for a certain type of goat??

  • 20 years ago

    Hey thanks! I don't rerally want a certain kind I don't guess. I was just wondering... I might would rather have a pygmy goat though If I could find one.... Have you ever had any of those?

  • 20 years ago

    Pygmy goats will often try to butt you, unless you spend a lot of time with them to keep them tame. Pygmy goats are often used in petting zoos. Other goats are more mild mannered. Some are less mild mannered. We have Nigerian Dwarfs. They are very mild mannered.

    Most goats can be disbudded when very young. That is, the horn buds can be removed and therefore the goats are hornless and less dangerous to have around. Most dairy goats are disbudded. It is more difficult to remove the horns of an adult goat. There is a blood supply to the horn. If you simply saw the horn, you can put the goat in shock and possibly kill the goat. Then you have to stop the bleeding.

  • 20 years ago

    LaMancha do have horns unless they are dehorned or naturally polled. Polled is the term for born without horns. Some are, some aren't. I have the vet dehorn mine, it's a nasty job, but beats getting me bruised up.

  • 20 years ago

    Most all goats, regardless of breed, are 'horned'. There are polled individuals in many breeds - but breeding polled goats presents some problems, as the gene for polling is also associated with one for intersex(hermaphrodite) trait and infertility.

    Here's some info I turned up with a Google search:

    " Some people consider polled (genetically hornless) goats to be defective. This is usually because of the risk of intersex or hermaphrodite kids from these goats. This risk has to be put into a proper context for breeders to appreciate what is going on.

    Polledness in goats is dominant, and goats with two doses of the gene are masculinized. The end result, if you work out the results of the cross, is that a polled goat mated to a polled goat (nearly all of these only have one dose of the gene) will produce the following:

    1/8 of the kids will be normal, horned males.
    1/8 of the kids will be normal, horned females.
    2/8 (1/4) of the kids will be normal, polled males.
    2/8 (1/4) of the kids will be normal, polled females.
    1/8 of the kids will be males with shortened reproductive life
    1/8 of the kids will be females that are masculinized to hermaphrodites.

    In many populations of goats the 1/8 that are hermaphrodites are so completely masculinized that they appear to be males, and so are counted in amongst those. When that happens, the result is a kid crop that is 5/8 male, 3/8 female.

    Mating polled to polled is the worst-case strategy, and still provides 3/4 normal kids. Mating polled goats to horned goats completely eliminates the production of the hermaphrodites, and so is a safe way to use and enjoy polled goats. That is, with appropriate management there is basically no risk to breeding polled goats. Some breeders like them, some do not, and this variation is really trivial rather than a serious defect. Most importantly breeding management makes these goats perfectly useful with no risk.

    The polled goats with two doses of the genes are usually very round-headed with no protuberance where horns would have been. While head shape can be misleading in some instances, in most cases it does help to pick out the goats with two doses of the gene."

  • 20 years ago

    THANKYOU1