Black and Pattern Pool - Agouti Locus - in Colored Angora Goats

The Black/Pattern pool of colored angora goats expresses color from genes located on the Agouti locus. The goat needs to get color genes for the Agouti locus from both parents to have color black or pattern pool expression, if they have it from only one parent, they will probably be a white color carrier and may produce color in kids if bred to the right animal. For Agouti colors to be expressed, there also needs to be no expression of both the white angora genes and of the genes on the Extension locus, those genes are more dominant and can mask Agouti genes. A goat that is red, black or brown from the R/B/B pool can be hiding the color genes on the Agouti allele (a goat like this may be able to produce color in both pools.)

Within the black/pattern pool, there is some dominance of some patterns over other patterns. Articles on goat genetics written by Phil Sponenberg delve deeper into genetics and list more patterns and their order of dominance.

Rarely, additional genes can change the base colors of the patterns and you may see variations in color such as reds or browns in place of the black or gray.

Most of these patterns have facial stripes. Also, any goat can have white spotting in addition to these base colors and patterns (white spotting is controlled by a different set of genes).

I think that these patterns may have been strengthened in angoras by breeding out to dairy goats for color. For each of the most common colored angora patterns, there is a corresponding pattern in alpines.

Tan Solid: There are agouti genes that will produce tan solids, also called "no pattern." Colors range from white to cream to tan to light reds. This is considered a more dominant pattern genetically, and is one reason why cross pool kids tend to be white. It is important to know the pedigree on these animals, because the majority of brown and red angora goats get their color from the Red/Black/Brown pool Extension locus.

 Reverse Badger: Also called Light Belly. Main body color is black or gray. White, cream or tan stripes on face, underbelly and stripes on lower legs. This pattern is fairly common in angora goats. In Alpines, it is called Sundgau.

Badger: Also called Dark Belly. Main body color is cream, tan or brown. Gray or black stripes on face, dorsal stripe, underbelly and stripes on lower legs. This pattern is also fairly common. Called Chamiosee in alpines and a close pattern in pygmies is called caramel.

Peacock: These goats are similar in color to badgers, but have a light front and a darker rear. Tan, white or cream neck and fore-body. Black or gray stripes on face, black or gray loin and rump area, belly and lower legs. Often have a tan area on upper thigh. This pattern is a little less common in angoras. Called Cou Clair (cream or tan) and Cou Blanc (white) in alpines.

Mantled: Black or gray head, neck, fore-body and often front legs. Tan or cream or white stripes on face; tan, cream or white rear body and on lower legs. This pattern is less common in angoras. Called Cou Noir in alpines.

Black Solid: Entire goat is black and/or gray. Also referred to as no pattern. Because solid black goats appear in both pools, it is important to know the pedigree on black/gray goats to see if they have black/pattern pool in their genetics before making breeding decisions. This is a common color in angora goats.

There many other possible patterns. A few of the less dominant patterns have started to show up in some herds in the last few years, but are still relatively rare.

Mahogany: Main body color is a blend/mix of black/gray and tan hair. Black on face and legs. Tan on thighs and minor striping on face.

Tan and Black: Main body color is black or gray. Tan on belly, stripes on face. Legs have split stockings of black and tan.

Producing Color in Angora Goats

Adding color to angora goats (and keeping color in future generations) takes some planning and knowledge. For a few thousand years, color has been deliberately culled from most angora goat herds. White was preferred because of the ease of dyeing and predictability of color when using white mohair.  This has resulted in multiple ways to produce solid white in angora goats and made white very dominant genetically. Purposefully producing color in angoras started fairly recently and popularity has grown since the 1980s.

Two techniques are primarily used in this venture. One technique was crossbreeding white angora goats with Navajo angoras and other breeds to introduce color.  This brings in color quickly, but also produces a few generations of "Cashgora" type goats. Cashgora goats tend to have lots of guard hairs or kemp, have loose (or no) lock structure, low luster and these goats do not have full coverage.  Some breeders searched hard and were able to find goats from white angora herds that were born with some color to use in their breeding programs. These goats helped to maintain the quality of mohair in the kids, but tended to fade to near white pretty quickly. Breeding up colored goats to match the coverage, lock structure, luster, and freedom from kemp of white angoras is the ultimate goal and has begun to come to fruition in recent years.

At the genetic level, there are 3 main sites that rule color expression in angora goats. The Extension locus, the Agouti locus and the Brown locus (brown locus goats are very rare at this time.) There is detailed information on genetics and color expression in goats written in articles by Dr Phil Sponenberg.

The Pool method for breeding for color:

A practical guide to keeping color in the next generation was uncovered by the early colored angora goat breeders. They found that there are 2 main pools of colored angora goats. If goats with color genes in the same pool are bred, there is typically color in the kids. If the 2 pools are crossed, the result is often white or light tan kids (especially in the first generation.)  These 2 pools describe the primary color and pattern of the goat.

It is important to note that white spotting (frosted ears, spots, belts, etc…) over the primary color is completely separate from the primary color/pattern of the goat and is controlled by other genes that I will discuss in future posts.

Black/Pattern pool (also referred to as the "recessive pool"). This pool has solid black/gray goats and goats with distinct, predictable patterns. The patterns usually include some striping on the face. These patterns occur in many breeds of goats and have different names in the different breeds. The most common patterns (as named in angoras) are Badger, Reverse Badger, Peacock, and Mantled. The genes for this pool are located on the Agouti Locus. This pool was given the term "recessive" because even if a goat has all the genes needed to express a black/pattern pool color, it's color can be suppressed and hidden by the expression of genes in the Red/Black/Brown pool.

Red/Black/Brown pool (also referred to as the "dominant pool"). This pool has solid goats in all shades of red, brown, black and gray. There can be some variation of the shade of color in the fleece on an individual goat. Genes for this pool are located on the Extension Locus. Goats in this pool can be hiding genes from the black/pattern pool, thus the term "dominant" is associated with this pool (but this is not dominant in the usual use of the term.)

Because the color is determined by genes on different loci, both pools can hide genes from the other pool. Red/black/brown pool color goats may have a partial or full set of Black/Pattern pool genes that are not expressed. Black/Pattern pool goats can have a partial set of genes for the Red/Black/Brown pool that are not expressed.

Most colored angora goats reliably produce color in one pool or the other based on their color as described above. Solid black goats are found in both pools and pedigrees are especially important for them because it is impossible to tell which pool they are in by looking at the goat. By examining the pedigree and colors in previous generations, a educated guess can be made as to which pool that goat should produce color with. While crossing pools often initially produces white goats, after a few generations of crossing the pools, some goats can produce color with both pools and exciting, unexpected colors and patterns can appear in their kids.