Nigerian Dwarf goats are an amazing breed, known for their small size, high milk production, and delightful personalities. One of the most appealing aspects of Nigerian Dwarf goats is the wide variety of colors and patterns they can display. The Nigerian Dwarf goat breed standard states that they can come in "any" coat color.
This article explores the common colors and markings found in Nigerian Dwarf goats, offering a guide for breeders and enthusiasts alike. It is necessary to consider all attributes of any breed, as every bit of characteristic is an important staple that breeders have worked tirelessly to develop!
Nigerian Dwarf goats have two ways to describe their appearance: colored or patterned. Both colors and patterns can be affected by modifier genes like silver and chocolate, and both can have overlays like white, roaning, and even moon spots. Patterns are patterned and colors are colored.
One of the reasons for the beautiful array of colors and patterns found in Nigerians - many of which are unheard of in several other standard breeds of dairy goats - is due to the early influence of several different breeds during the early developmental years of Nigerians in North America. As the breed was developed into the miniature dairy goat it is today, genes from other goat breeds - especially dairy breeds - were introduced.
However, I recommend not going overboard and over-complicating registrations. Things such as a white poll or frosted ears don’t necessarily need to be described unless you just want to; I usually leave them out unless they’re unusually prominent (such as prominent frosting on an otherwise solid goat). I much prefer keeping registration paperwork simple and straightforward.
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Basic Colors
Nigerians come in several basic colors, all of which can also vary in shade within the color. These colors are created by eumelanin.
- Black: This kid is an example of a solid black goat with a white poll and frosting on the ears. Black is a recessive gene, meaning that both parents must carry and pass on the gene in order for the kid to be black. A goat must have two copies of the gene - one from each parent - in order it to be black. A goat of another color can carry a black gene and pass it on to offspring. A great way to know if one of your goats is hiding a certain pattern is to breed it to a solid black goat. If you get a solid black kid, you know that the parent has a recessive black gene and not a hidden pattern.
- Chocolate: This is an example of solid chocolate. Chocolate is a modification on black caused by the B (brown) locus. This modifier causes all of the areas of a goat that would normally be black to instead be brown. Chocolate brown is not to be confused with shades of tan or reddish brown, which are a different gene. Chocolate goats genetically carry two copies of the recessive black gene along with the chocolate modifier.
- Tan/Brown: This is an example of a reddish-brown color, being modified by the chamoise pattern. Tan or brown colors are caused by phaeomelanin. These can range in shade from light tan to dark reddish brown. These shades of brown are often found in other patterns such as buckskin and chamoise. These colors should not be confused with gold, chocolate, or red.
- Gold: This is an example of light gold. Gold can come in several shades from very light cream to a dark red gold. The gold color, which is also produced by phaeomelanin, is a dominant gene, meaning that only one copy of the gene is needed for the goat to appear gold. If the gold gene is present in the goat’s genotype (genetic makeup) it will also be present in the phenotype (appearance); the exception would be in a goat with extreme spotting which causes the color to be hidden (see below). A single gold parent can produce gold offspring, whereas two parents who are not gold cannot have gold offspring. An interesting note on gold is that it is dominant over all other colors and patterns. If a goat possesses the gold gene, it will appear gold even if another dominant pattern gene (buckskin, chamoise, etc) is present genetically. The gold “overwrites” the other colors. A gold goat can be a carrier for any other color or pattern, and the best way to discover that hidden gene is to either look at the parentage of the goat (a gold goat with one black parent must carry recessive black as its second color gene) or to breed the goat to a black goat and look at the offspring.
- Red: This is an example of solid red, sometimes refereed to as “red gold.” Red is most often genetically a shade of gold, as is the case in this goat. Genetically she is gold although she appears red. However, there is a rare recessive form of red that can suddenly pop up from the black gene, and it has been connected to the historical buck Gay-Mor’s RA Kingwood ++*S. It’s not fully understood and very uncommon, but it is thought that recessive red is caused by a modifier that makes black areas red (similarly to the B gene in chocolate brown goats). True recessive red is usually much darker than red gold, similar to a sorrel horse. If your red goat has a gold parent, it is most likely red gold. If it does not have gold parents, it is either the recessive red or the sire is different than you thought.
- White: There are two ways in which a goat can be solid white. One is when a goat is genetically white, which is actually an extremely light cream color. The second is when a goat has such extensive white spotting (see below) that the actual color of the coat is masked by the white markings.
Common Patterns
Patterns and modifiers are dominant gene traits, meaning that a goat only needs one copy of the gene to express it physically. This means that if a goat is not displaying one of these patterns, it also cannot pass it on to offspring. This also means that one parent with the trait can pass it on to offspring and it be visibly expressed regardless of the genetics traits of the other parent. For example, two solid black (recessive) goats bred together will only produce solid black or chocolate (with the exception of a rare recessive red). However, a solid black goat bred to a buckskin (dominant) and white goat may have buckskin and white kids. These patterns can all come in different shades and variations.
- Buckskin: Buckskins can come in 3 main colors: light, medium, and dark. Buckskins are recognizable by facial stripes, cannon bone stripes, hip and leg markings, light bellies, and their dark cape. A cape is the dark color that extends across the shoulder area. Red buckskins are possible, having a red color modifying the shoulder and dark areas, but are only achievable when breeding a buckskin pattern to a chamoisee pattern. This pattern is not a guarantee when crossing patterns. The buckskin pattern is characterized by a black, chocolate, or red cape over the head, neck, and shoulders as well as the same color on the top of the tail and on stripes down the cannon bones on the legs. This pattern also has lighter facial stripes imposed on the darker cape color (which sometimes disappear if the cape extends and “takes over”). Unlike chamoise legs, which are solid black or chocolate, the legs of buckskin have lighter stripes over the darker color. The body color of the goat varies from light buckskin (cream or almost white) to standard buckskin (tan - most often just referred to as buckskin) to dark/mahogany (a dark bay or mahogany color). In some adult animals, especially bucks, the cape may extend from the shoulders all the way down the body. Genetically the goat is a buckskin, but it may look like a black and tan goat due to the extension of the cape. These kids are born obviously buckskin and the cape extends with age - sometimes extending fully before the goat is even six months of age, sometimes extending later in life. Buckskin is one of the most variable patterns and also one of the most common.
- Chamoise/Chamoisee: The chamoisee pattern is signified by dark facial lines, dorsal stripe, solid dark belly, and solid legs, with a brown body. Chamoise/Chamoisee (pronounced “shammy” or “sham-wha-zay” depending on who you ask) goats have a tan or brown body with a black or chocolate dorsal stripe, underbelly, facial stripe, and legs. The legs are solid black or chocolate with no lighter striping. The body color can range from a very light tan or brown to a dark reddish shade like the last goat pictured. Chamoise is used for male goats, chamoisee is used for female goats.
- Cou Clair/Cou Blanc: Cou clair and cou blanc are the same pattern with different base colors - clair refers to a base color of tan or brown (pictured), whereas blanc refers to a base color of white or very light cream. The literal meaning of the term cou clair is “clear neck” and cou blanc is “white neck.” The cou patterns consist of black or chocolate hindquarters with white/cream or tan forequarters and black or chocolate facial stripes. It is almost a reversal of the buckskin pattern.
- Cou Noir: Cou Noir is less common and means “black neck.” A cou noir goat has black or chocolate forequarters with white hindquarters. I have not been able to find an example of a true cou noir in Nigerians, though there are Nigerians with a black and white spotted pattern that closely resembles cou noir. It’s unknown if cou noir actually exists at all in Nigerians as a true pattern as it does in other breeds (mainly Alpine).
- Swiss Marked: Swiss marked patterns can be black with tan or black with cream/white. Swiss marked goats have a black, or sometimes chocolate, body color with white, cream, or tan legs and facial stripes that extend from white, cream, or tan ears down to include a white, cream, or tan muzzle. On the back legs, the white, cream, or tan will extend up the back of the body to the tail where it will form two triangular patches on the goat’s rump, pointing in from either side of the tail. This doe is a combination Swiss Marked Sundgau.
- Sundgau: Many people erroneously think any animal with colored points is Sundgau, this is incorrect. Sundgaus are ONLY BLACK with WHITE markings. Sundgau appears similar to swiss markings, with a few key differences. A sundgau goat has a black or chocolate body with a lighter tan or cream underbelly and legs. The underbelly color may extend up to the neck as well. The sundgau pattern does not have lighter triangular patches, ears, or muzzle like the swiss.
Combination Patterns
Goats can also display combination patterns, where the goat has two separate patterns (such as buckskin and chamoisee) at the same time. These are less common but not impossible. The doe in the picture above is an example of the chamoisee and buckskin patterns mixing. The areas that would normally be black due to the buckskin pattern are instead overwritten by the chamoisee pattern and vice versa. Where the cape from buckskin would normally be, the chamoisee has replaced it with brown. On the underbelly, facial stripes, and legs where chamoisee would normally cause solid black coloring, the buckskin has modified the pattern and cause a light underbelly, light facial stripes, and light strips on the legs. The light stripes on the legs and the light underbelly on a goat that otherwise appears to be a chamoisee are dead giveaways that buckskin is lurking there as well.
What color is my goat? - Let’s talk about color genetics
Spotting and Markings
Spotting is a gene that causes white markings superimposed on the body of the goat. This can range from a single small white spot to such a vast expanse of white that the actual color and pattern of the goat is obscured. White spotting is not an actual color but rather an absence of color - this gene causes areas of the goat that would otherwise be colored by phaeomelanin or eumelanin to not deposit color. This causes those areas to be white. Spotting acts as a modifier to the existing color genes, not a replacement - it is similar to throwing white paint on the goat. A goat may appear completely white, but a goat who is genetically a color or pattern is still that color or pattern even if it has been “painted over.” The white simply masks the color that is there but does not remove it. On registration papers there are many terms with which you may refer to spotting such as “minimal white,” “random white,” “broken [pattern/color],” “[color/patter] pinto,” “[color] and white,” or “abundant/extensive white” depending on how much white is present. It can also be described using the terms below if it follows a particular pattern such as a “white belt/belted” or “schwartzal.” You can as specific as you want to be or you can keep it simple. I personally tend to keep it simple and not include details such as a white poll or frosting in most cases.
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Broken [Color/Pattern] and Random White can be used interchangeably to refer to random patches of white not covering more than about 30% of the goat. [Color/Pattern] and White or [Color/Pattern] Pinto can be used interchangeably to refer to white that covers up to about 50% of the goat. Spotting is quite random, but can follow a few common patterns. Certain types of white spotting are thought to be recessive genes, but most are thought to be dominant.
Here are some specific types of spotting:
- Belted: Refers to a goat that has a white belt around the midsection of the body. This may be a full belt extending all the way around or a partial belt. Thought to be dominant.
- Schwartzal: Is a pattern of spotting that causes a colored head and extremities with a mostly white body.
- Flowery White: Causes small white spots throughout colored areas (not to be confused with roan, see below).
- Ticking: Is the opposite of flowery and causes small spots of color to be freckled throughout white areas. Thought to be dominant. The goat above would be registered as gold and white with moonspots, but the white patch also has ticking.
- Dalmatian: Causes the goat to have a mostly colored head, extremities, and dorsal stripe with a white body with ticking spots of color.
Roaning
Roaning refers to white hairs being intermingled with colored hairs. Roaning, unlike flowery spotting, consists of individual whites hairs mixing with individual colored hairs, not clumps of white hairs causing spots. Roan can result in the appearance of black areas being various shades of gray, or brown or red areas appearing to be strawberry blond. It may cover just a portion of the coat or the whole goat. Roaning is thought to be dominant.
Moonspots
Moonspots are colored spots - usually, but not always, rounded - that are interposed on top of another color. A moonspot is not a spot of color interposed on top of white nor is it a white spot interposed on a color. A moonspot is always a colored spot occurring on top of another color on the body. Moonspots can range from a tiny speck not even visible to a huge spot or plethora of spots. Moonspots are caused by a dominant gene, therefore at least one parent must be moonspotted in order for the offspring to be moonspotted. The only instance in which a moonspot will appear in white is if the spot is appearing on top of the base color that is poking through the white. Moonspots are also not black, though they may be very dark brown. For some reason, some confusion seems to still exist around moonspots. If the moonspot is a color that is not present in the goat’s base color or pattern and is imposed on top of another color, it’s a moonspot.
Frosting
Frosting refers to white ticking around the ears, tail, muzzle, or eyes.
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