SFP Alice
No Buyer Fees
Cattle
$9,000
Shortcuts
Learn About
Find Breeders
Goat Color Calculator
Choose two goats. See the colors, markings and health notes their kids could have.
Updated · How it works and sources
Map ready: 23 colors
Colors to expect
Chances per kid, assuming this line's chocolate is dominant · change
-
Other possible colors Colors a parent may hide 100% (1 in 1) Depends on hidden genes
- Black and tan: up to 100% (1 in 1)
- Brown black and tan: up to 100% (1 in 1)
- Red, tan or gold: up to 100% (1 in 1)
- Black: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Brown black and tan buckskin: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown black and tan chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Show all 23 colors
- Brown black and tan swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Buckskin: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Buckskin chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Buckskin swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Chamoisee swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Brown buckskin: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown buckskin chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown buckskin swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Brown chamoisee swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Black and tan buckskin: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Black and tan chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Black and tan swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
Color illustration shown with natural horns. Horn status is entered separately.
Another reading
Under the alternative tan-sides reading of breeders' buckskin, a chamoisee can hide buckskin. Neither reading has been DNA established for Nigerian Dwarfs.
-
Other possible colors Colors a parent may hide 100% (1 in 1) Depends on hidden genes
- Black and tan: up to 100% (1 in 1)
- Brown black and tan: up to 100% (1 in 1)
- Red, tan or gold: up to 100% (1 in 1)
- Black: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Brown black and tan buckskin: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown black and tan chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Show all 21 colors
- Brown black and tan swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Buckskin: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Buckskin swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Chamoisee swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Brown buckskin: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown buckskin swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Brown chamoisee swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Brown swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Black and tan buckskin: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Black and tan chamoisee: up to 50% (1 in 2)
- Black and tan swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
- Swiss: up to 50% (1 in 2)
Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
Color illustration shown with natural horns. Horn status is entered separately.
Scrapie susceptibility: one or both parents not tested; offspring odds are not calculated.
Alpha-S1 casein: one or both parents not tested; offspring odds are not calculated.
Congenital myotonia: one or both parents not tested; offspring odds are not calculated.
G6S: neither parent has a result. About 1 in 4 Nubians tested at TVMDL carried it; two carriers give about 1 in 4 affected kids. Test before breeding.
Assumptions and sources
- Buckskin and Swiss are rare in Nubians (2 of 101 records); both remain in the hidden-color pool.
Make a Colors to expect card for your kidding schedule
Create a free account, log your goat breeding and keep its color card with your kidding schedule.
Guess first
Chamoisee × Swiss, each with a black parent: can they have a black kid?
Under the stated dominant-chocolate assumption, each of four colors has a 25% chance: chamoisee, Swiss, chamoisee Swiss and black.
Does a gold coat rule out chocolate?
No. Gold can hide chocolate. A recessive chocolate line can also hide chocolate in black goats.
Does disbudding make a goat genetically polled?
No. Horn removal does not change the inherited polled status.
Why these numbers?
Each parent can hide another copy. The calculator crosses every genotype that fits your choices and shows the lowest and highest chance for each color. It does not guess which hidden genotype is more common.
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
What this tool covers
- Breed-aware Agouti patterns and brown pigment
- Ranges from unknown copies and deciding questions
- Polled intersex syndrome, tested traits and stated assumptions
Limits
- A color name is not a DNA result.
- A partial answer leaves unmodeled mechanisms uncalculated.
- Illustrations describe looks; they are not evidence of inheritance.
