Response to flat horns on goat kid

Julie; Your goat has received an incomplete polling gene. What she has inplace of horns are called scurs, they are evidence of partial horn, partial polling. If you dehorn with a hot dehorning iron, she will look normal. Since she is carrying a polling gene, don't breed her with a polled buck. Because her polling gene is incomplete, she would have a 50% chance of producing does with hermaphroditism (both sexes). If both parents are polled, all female offspring will be hermaphrodites, male offspring are unaffected. If you don't dehorn her she will probably have recurring problems with her scur caps breaking off. This seems to be painfull and leaves an opening for infection. The same thing that happens to a goat that hasn't been dehorned properly, you've no doubt seen those little scur looking regrowths before. Hope this helps. Randy Henry (JaRaCo)

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