Goat Color Calculator

Choose a breed and the closest look for each parent, or use your recorded goats. See which kid colors are possible, what each parent may hide, and the questions that could narrow the answer. Chances are per kid under the assumptions shown, not a promised litter.

Start with what you know

A coat name is a starting point, not a DNA result.

• Choose the breed or Other breed or cross
• Pick a look for the buck and the doe, or leave Not sure
• Keep unknown copies unknown
• Use family facts only when they support an answer
• Enter horn status separately from the color illustration

Read each answer with its limits

The map keeps its assumptions beside the numbers.

• A range includes the compatible parental copies without averaging them
• Exact chances depend on the selected chocolate reading
• Silver is described without its own odds or illustration
• Partial answers leave unmodeled color mechanisms uncalculated
• Health risks sit beside the color map, never inside its color total

Frequently asked questions

What does the example pairing show?

The Nigerian Dwarf example is a chamoisee buck and a Swiss doe, each with a black parent. Under the stated dominant-chocolate assumption, chamoisee, Swiss, chamoisee Swiss and black each have a 25% chance per kid. The black-parent facts are labeled examples and clear when you choose real goats.

Can two gold goats have a black kid?

Yes. Gold can cover another Agouti pattern or black, so a gold coat does not tell you the hidden copy. Enter both gold parents and answer the family questions if you know the supporting facts. Unknown copies stay unknown rather than being filled in as black.

Why does the calculator show a range instead of one percentage?

More than one copy pair can fit the same look. The calculator works out each compatible pairing and shows the smallest and largest chance for each kid color. It does not average those possibilities or use breed frequencies to guess the missing copies. Separate upper limits need not add to 100%.

Is chocolate dominant or recessive in goats?

Both readings have been reported in goats. The starting assumption is that this line's chocolate is dominant; the switch shows the recessive reading. A gold can carry chocolate without showing it, and where a line's chocolate is recessive it can hide in black goats. A look alone does not establish which Brown allele a goat has.

Does the calculator predict silver kids?

Some Nigerian Dwarf breeders call a silvery-gray coat "silver". We haven't found a study showing what causes it, and the word may cover more than one thing. Heavy roan and the gray Agouti pattern are two known causes of gray coats in goats, and some breeders think silver is a gene of its own. These would give different kids. If silver works like roan or a separate gene, the pattern odds shown still apply. If it is the gray Agouti pattern, a silver parent passes on either silver or its other pattern, not both, and a gold goat could hide it. Until a study or clear breeding records tell these apart, we don't calculate silver, and a result with a silver parent isn't marked exact.

Can I use this for a cross or a goat whose breed I do not know?

Yes. A known cross uses the supported pools of both parents. Other breed or cross gives a partial answer in species words, with its limits shown. Dominant black, Angora-type or breed-specific white, white body and other unmodeled patterns are not calculated for unknown ancestry; kids can show colors not listed.

What should I know before breeding two polled goats?

If the buck has one copy of polled, about 1 in 8 kids is expected to be an intersex goat: genetically female and infertile, and it can look like a doeling, a buckling or something in between. If he has two copies, about 1 in 4. If you don't know which he has, plan for 1 in 4. This assumes the polled doe is fertile (she has kidded, or a test shows one copy). Breeders usually pair a polled goat with a horned one: half the kids are polled (all of them if the polled buck has two copies), and none have polled intersex syndrome. A polled DNA test is offered in Europe (Giessen, Bern).

Does using a recorded goat prove its genotype?

No. The calculator keeps the recorded words beside its reading and labels supporting facts. A vague color phrase does not establish copies, and missing family information never means No. DNA results and informative records can narrow an answer within their scope. You can correct a proposed color through the normal profile edit page and choose whether to save it.

What happens when I save or share a pairing?

Save keeps the pairing in your private calculation history; it does not write predicted genetics to a goat. A shared link carries the entered looks, answers and deidentified modeled constraints needed to reopen the result, without animal names, identifiers or private family explanations. A result remains conditional on the assumptions shown.

Sources

• Methods, assumptions and full references
• Henkel et al. 2019: studied Agouti and white-pattern variants
• Sponenberg and LaMarsh 1996: dominant and recessive brown
• Simon et al. 2022: polledness and polled intersex syndrome
• American Goat Society: Nigerian Dwarf color descriptions