Badger Pattern

Badger:

Also called Badger face and Dark belly

This is my favorite of the patterns. I love the combination of light tan and gray. I got my first badger last fall. She had a badger doe kid this year, so now I have two! I like to use the fleece in it's natural color to make a cream and white lock spun yarn.

The main body is a tan or cream color. There is a gray or black dorsal stripe on the top line. The belly is gray or black and this may extend up on part of the chest and up toward the tail. Sometimes there is a gray or black martingale around the lower neck. The lower legs are tan/cream with black stripes. The ears are usually tan with gray edges. Their faces are tan with dark nose and mouth and dark stripes extending from the nose to the poll, usually passing above the eye.

Badgers seem to be most likely to have the solid tan or light red color pattern in their kids. I bred my badger doe to a grey and white pinto buck last fall. This spring she had twins, her badger doeling and a tan and white pinto buckling.

In dairy goats, especially French Alpines, this pattern is called chamoisee. The caramel pattern in pygmies is similar, though in pygmies the dark belly is variable.