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Nigerian Dwarf Goat Coat Color Calculator

Pick what your buck and doe look like. We'll calculate honest ranges for the Agouti patterns we can model, and keep eyes, markings, and other traits separate when the evidence can't support a number.

Sire observations

Pick the closest look. You can leave the optional sections closed.

Additional coat traits (optional)
If it has white, pick the pattern(s) that fit.
White spotting, ticking, roan, frosted points, and moonspots are all tracked separately.
Eyes and observation limits
Dam observations

Pick the closest look. You can leave the optional sections closed.

Additional coat traits (optional)
If it has white, pick the pattern(s) that fit.
White spotting, ticking, roan, frosted points, and moonspots are all tracked separately.
Eyes and observation limits

Their kids' colours

What their kids could be

Here's an example cross to show you what this looks like — a gold buck over a gold doe. Swap in your own goats above.

Each colour trait is worked out on its own. We never multiply them together into one made-up 'whole coat' chance.

The Agouti pattern

Each percentage is worked out across the compatible scenarios in this Agouti model, not the odds for one kid, and it covers the Agouti pattern only — not the shade, eyes, markings, or whole coat.

What this cross says

The scenario span for Gold, red, or cream is 75% to 100%. This verdict covers the Agouti pattern only, not the whole coat or the odds for one kid. Solid black specifically requires both parents to carry nonagouti.

Two golds really can throw a black kid — that's a hidden Agouti allele showing up.

Shows up in every compatible scenario in this Agouti model

75% to 100%

Gold, red, or cream

Possible in some scenarios in this model (we can't rank these)

up to 25%

Solid black

up to 25%

Chamoisee

up to 25%

Bezoar Agouti pattern

up to 25%

Cou blanc or cou clair

up to 25%

San Clemente Agouti pattern

up to 25%

Swiss markings

up to 25%

Black-and-tan Agouti pattern

up to 25%

Combination pattern

Each range is the ceiling across the compatible scenarios in this model, not a coin-flip for one kid.

About these ranges

They cover the compatible scenarios in this model without calling any one more likely. The pattern names come from goat-colour research in other breeds, not a Nigerian Dwarf gene test.

The numbers are the highest and lowest each pattern reaches across the compatible scenarios in this model, never one likelihood.

It works out the Agouti pattern, not the shade of gold/red/cream, and it isn't a Nigerian Dwarf gene test.

These ranges are the Agouti pattern only. A coat can fit more than one modeled scenario, so ranges can overlap and must never be added together; eyes, white markings, moonspots, and frosted points stay separate.

Why it's a range, not one number (9 scenario groups in this model)

These are the modeled sire/dam genotype assignments that produce this result. We don't call any one more likely — open a group to see them.

Scenario 1

  • 25% Chamoisee
  • 75% Gold, red, or cream
Show 3 modeled sire/dam genotype assignments
  • Sire A^wt / A^b × dam A^wt / A^b
  • Sire A^wt / A^b × dam A^wt / a
  • Sire A^wt / a × dam A^wt / A^b

Scenario 2

  • 25% Cou blanc or cou clair
  • 75% Gold, red, or cream
Show 3 modeled sire/dam genotype assignments
  • Sire A^wt / A^pc × dam A^wt / A^pc
  • Sire A^wt / A^pc × dam A^wt / a
  • Sire A^wt / a × dam A^wt / A^pc

Scenario 3

  • 25% Bezoar Agouti pattern
  • 75% Gold, red, or cream
Show 5 modeled sire/dam genotype assignments
  • Sire A^wt / A^bz × dam A^wt / A^bz
  • Sire A^wt / A^bz × dam A^wt / A^t
  • Sire A^wt / A^bz × dam A^wt / a
  • Sire A^wt / A^t × dam A^wt / A^bz
  • Sire A^wt / a × dam A^wt / A^bz

Scenario 4

  • 25% Solid black
  • 75% Gold, red, or cream
Show 1 modeled sire/dam genotype assignment
  • Sire A^wt / a × dam A^wt / a

Scenario 5

  • 25% Swiss markings
  • 75% Gold, red, or cream
Show 3 modeled sire/dam genotype assignments
  • Sire A^wt / A^sm × dam A^wt / A^sm
  • Sire A^wt / A^sm × dam A^wt / a
  • Sire A^wt / a × dam A^wt / A^sm

Scenario 6

  • 100% Gold, red, or cream
Show 15 modeled sire/dam genotype assignments
  • Sire A^wt / A^wt × dam A^wt / A^wt
  • Sire A^wt / A^wt × dam A^wt / A^bz
  • Sire A^wt / A^wt × dam A^wt / A^b
  • Sire A^wt / A^wt × dam A^wt / A^sm
  • Sire A^wt / A^wt × dam A^wt / A^pc
  • Sire A^wt / A^wt × dam A^wt / A^sc
  • Sire A^wt / A^wt × dam A^wt / A^t
  • Sire A^wt / A^wt × dam A^wt / a
  • Sire A^wt / A^bz × dam A^wt / A^wt
  • Sire A^wt / A^b × dam A^wt / A^wt
  • Sire A^wt / A^sm × dam A^wt / A^wt
  • Sire A^wt / A^pc × dam A^wt / A^wt
  • Sire A^wt / A^sc × dam A^wt / A^wt
  • Sire A^wt / A^t × dam A^wt / A^wt
  • Sire A^wt / a × dam A^wt / A^wt

Scenario 7

  • 25% San Clemente Agouti pattern
  • 75% Gold, red, or cream
Show 3 modeled sire/dam genotype assignments
  • Sire A^wt / A^sc × dam A^wt / A^sc
  • Sire A^wt / A^sc × dam A^wt / a
  • Sire A^wt / a × dam A^wt / A^sc

Scenario 8

  • 25% Black-and-tan Agouti pattern
  • 75% Gold, red, or cream
Show 3 modeled sire/dam genotype assignments
  • Sire A^wt / A^t × dam A^wt / A^t
  • Sire A^wt / A^t × dam A^wt / a
  • Sire A^wt / a × dam A^wt / A^t

Scenario 9

  • 75% Gold, red, or cream
  • 25% Combination pattern
Show 28 modeled sire/dam genotype assignments
  • Sire A^wt / A^bz × dam A^wt / A^b
  • Sire A^wt / A^bz × dam A^wt / A^sm
  • Sire A^wt / A^bz × dam A^wt / A^pc
  • Sire A^wt / A^bz × dam A^wt / A^sc
  • Sire A^wt / A^b × dam A^wt / A^bz
  • Sire A^wt / A^b × dam A^wt / A^sm
  • Sire A^wt / A^b × dam A^wt / A^pc
  • Sire A^wt / A^b × dam A^wt / A^sc
  • Sire A^wt / A^b × dam A^wt / A^t
  • Sire A^wt / A^sm × dam A^wt / A^bz
  • Sire A^wt / A^sm × dam A^wt / A^b
  • Sire A^wt / A^sm × dam A^wt / A^pc
  • Sire A^wt / A^sm × dam A^wt / A^sc
  • Sire A^wt / A^sm × dam A^wt / A^t
  • Sire A^wt / A^pc × dam A^wt / A^bz
  • Sire A^wt / A^pc × dam A^wt / A^b
  • Sire A^wt / A^pc × dam A^wt / A^sm
  • Sire A^wt / A^pc × dam A^wt / A^sc
  • Sire A^wt / A^pc × dam A^wt / A^t
  • Sire A^wt / A^sc × dam A^wt / A^bz
  • Sire A^wt / A^sc × dam A^wt / A^b
  • Sire A^wt / A^sc × dam A^wt / A^sm
  • Sire A^wt / A^sc × dam A^wt / A^pc
  • Sire A^wt / A^sc × dam A^wt / A^t
  • Sire A^wt / A^t × dam A^wt / A^b
  • Sire A^wt / A^t × dam A^wt / A^sm
  • Sire A^wt / A^t × dam A^wt / A^pc
  • Sire A^wt / A^t × dam A^wt / A^sc

Still reading the study

Frosted points

We record frosted points on its own, apart from Agouti, roan, ticking, and spotting. We won't put a number on it until the full paper is reviewed.

What the readable study abstract reports, cross by cross: frosted × frosted 16 frosted / 5 nonfrosted; frosted × nonfrosted 5 frosted / 4 nonfrosted; nonfrosted × nonfrosted 0 frosted / 4 nonfrosted.

Your goats: Not recorded

The readable publisher abstract reports 16/5, 5/4, and 0/4 offspring, says the results are consistent with a dominant gene, and suggests Fr^d for dominant frosting. Full phenotype boundaries, methods, penetrance, expressivity, homozygote discussion, linkage limitations, and model admission remain gated.

What we can and can't predict (and why)

When both parents are one of the five modeled choices, the calculator puts real numbers on the Agouti base pattern. Everything else — brown/chocolate tone, how deep the gold/red/cream is, blue or marbled eyes, white markings, roan, belt, moonspots, frosted points, and age — stays as its own note, because the goat evidence isn't there yet for an honest number.

Nigerian Dwarf colour names mix Agouti patterns, pigment depth, white markings, and breeder vocabulary. The calculator accepts all eight base-pattern choices as observations. Five choices enter the Agouti model and can return ranges. Buckskin, Cou Noir, and Sundgau stay descriptive and do not produce a number. Every additional trait stays separate when the goat evidence cannot support an honest result.

Nigerian Dwarf colours and patterns

These are the base-colour observations accepted by the calculator, plus two useful boundaries for reading the result.

Gold: an all-tan Agouti pattern. The exact shade, cream to deep red, is not predicted.
Chamoisee: a tan body with dark belly, lower legs, dorsal stripe, and face stripes.
Swiss markings: a dark body with pale legs, facial stripes, muzzle, ears, and tail trim.
Buckskin: accepted as an observation, but it does not enter the numerical Agouti model.
Cou blanc or cou clair: a pale front and dark rear, mapped cautiously to the Agouti model.
Cou Noir: accepted as an observation, but it does not enter the numerical Agouti model.
Sundgau: accepted as an observation, but it does not enter the numerical Agouti model.
Solid black: a base-colour observation that enters the Agouti model, with another possible mechanism disclosed separately.
Combination pattern: a modeled result with tan regions that do not fit one breeder pattern name.
Pattern and shade: the numerical result covers the Agouti pattern, not how pale or deep the tan pigment looks.

Traits we can't put a number on yet

These observations can change how a goat looks, but each stays separate from the Agouti ranges.

White spotting: recorded as a family of visible patterns, without a cross percentage.
Roan: white hairs mixed through coloured areas, recorded without an inheritance result.
Frosted points: recorded apart from Agouti, roan, ticking, and spotting while the full paper is reviewed.
Belt: a white band around the middle, recorded without a cross percentage.
Moonspots: coloured spots over any base colour; their inheritance isn't mapped well enough to predict.
Tan depth: cream, gold, red, and near-white appearances are not shade predictions from the Agouti result.
Piebald: recorded within the broader white-spotting family, without a cross percentage.
Ticking: coloured spots entering white areas, kept separate from frosted points.
Flowery: accepted as a named white pattern, without a Nigerian Dwarf cross result.
Goulet: accepted as a named spotting pattern, without an inheritance result.

Ways a colour can happen without a percentage

These are useful observations and cautions, not extra branches to combine with the Agouti result.

Chocolate or brown: a real colour; the goat evidence doesn't support a clean recessive or dominant rule.
Recessive red at Extension: not admitted to this Nigerian Dwarf calculation.
Dominant black: disclosed as another way a black coat can happen, without a branch percentage.
Angora White: a separate goat colour mechanism, not admitted to this Nigerian Dwarf calculation.
Blue eyes: a recognised Nigerian Dwarf trait; its inheritance isn't established well enough here to give eye-colour odds.
Observed parent colour: a description of the coat, not a laboratory identification.
Polled or horned status: outside the coat-colour result and never combined with it.
Roan: kept as its own observation instead of being converted into a percentage.
Moonspots: kept as their own observation instead of being converted into a percentage.
White-marking extent: recorded as visible detail, not reduced to one numerical switch.

Colour words that trip everyone up

Breeder names help describe a goat, but one visible name does not by itself establish a genotype.

Buckskin: a useful breeder description that does not select a numerical scenario here.
Cou Noir: a breeder term whose visible meaning can vary by context.
Sundgau, black and tan, and Swiss markings: names that can overlap in everyday descriptions.
Gold, cream, red, and white gold: words that may mix pattern, pigment depth, and white spotting.
Chocolate: a visible colour that does not prove one simple goat genotype.
Chamoisee: the Nigerian Dwarf name used here for the modeled badgerface regional pattern.
Swiss marked: a breeder description that may include details beyond the Agouti pattern.
Cou blanc and cou clair: shade words used for one pale-front pattern in this calculator.
Frosting and ticking: terms that sources and breeders may use for different visible details.
Bezoar and Repartida: formal goat-wide Agouti classes; not documented here as Nigerian Dwarf occurrences.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is this Nigerian Dwarf goat color calculator?

When both parents use one of the five modeled choices, the calculator works out each compatible Agouti scenario and reports the lowest and highest result for each pattern. Buckskin, Cou Noir, and Sundgau stay descriptive and produce no number. The pattern mapping comes from goat research in other breeds, not a Nigerian Dwarf gene test.

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

More than one modeled sire and dam assignment can fit the same visible parent colours. The calculator does not rank those compatible scenarios. It reports their lowest and highest results instead of averaging them or presenting one scenario as more likely.

Can two gold Nigerian Dwarf goats produce a black kid?

Yes, under this Agouti model. Some compatible modeled sire and dam assignments for two gold parents produce a solid-black result. The calculator keeps all compatible scenarios and reports their range without claiming that one scenario is more likely.

Can I enter goat coat-color DNA test results?

No commercial goat coat-color test covers these calculator inputs. The current surface uses visible parent patterns only. It does not turn a coat description into an allele or laboratory result.

Does the calculator predict whether a kid will be gold, cream, or red?

No. A numerical result covers the Agouti pattern only, not the depth of tan pigment. Cream, gold, red, and near-white appearances are shown only as examples of variation, never as the predicted shade of a kid.

Why are blue eyes, moonspots, brown, and white spotting recorded without percentages?

The goat evidence does not support an honest cross result for those traits here. Blue-eye inheritance is not established well enough, moonspot inheritance is not mapped well enough, brown does not have a clean rule for this calculator, and white spotting covers varied patterns. Each remains a separate observation.

Does choosing Buckskin, Cou Noir, or Sundgau prove a goat carries one named allele?

No. The calculator accepts those breeder terms as visible descriptions only. They do not select an allele, genotype, or scenario, and they do not produce a range or percentage.