Cinnamon ( recessive Chocolate)

In the words of Jeff Wayne.The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, he said.......... But still they come.

Recessive brown is a very rare gene imported into Australia from the USA. As far as I am concerned even out of 20,000 goats in Australia there has never been a brown goat born from two black parents.

The gene in 2016 lucky enough to came for the ride accross the Alantic, in a black pointed Caramel Pygmy buck.The bucks name is Proverbial Pygmys Bad Company Inc., bred by Donna Elkins in 2010.

Bad Co has over 100 registered NPGA progeny recorded in the USA. Unless new evidence is disclosed, there are no Cinammons known to exist in the USA.

Granted that until relatively recent times, early livestock breed data base records would have been in paper journels and simple computer spreed sheets.

In addition the understanding of goat colours and patterns have only recently been documented accurately ( Dr Phil Sponendberg 1995). Even today new breeders mis-represent an animlas pattern and colour to registrars, due to complexity of the subject. For recessive brown not to have been recorded in the USA is probably a function of the size and diversity of their gene pool, the complexity of colour inheritance, only a written discription being required to inform the registrar of the animals variety only, instead of including a photo. Also NPGA back prior to 1975 discribed foundation animals as, unknown parents with no photo.

Bad Co carried a second gene us Ozzies were keen to include in our breeding progams. He gave us the first chance to introduce another pattern that again was unique to the gene pool in the USA. That pattern is Caramel or Badger Face. Unlike the cinammon gene, caramel is dominant. The individual displaying this pattern only has to have one copy for it to be expressed.

To date I personally have not been lucky enough to produce a cinnamon without it also bringing along with it the caramel gene.

As Jackie O Nasis is a daughter of Bad Co, she had a 50% chance of inheriting the Cinammon gene from him. I bred Jackie back to her father to develop a more refined pygmy line. at this point I did'nt know Cinnamon was possible, " But still they come".

It wasnt long after, that two other breeders in Australia dscovered the hidden gene in their line bred pygmy's as well. ( Photos below)

There are four "brown" looking colours in Australia.

There is Red coming through from intensifying the white range.

There is Brown as in the Boer goat.

There is Chocolate as in NDs and Pygmys

And there now is Cinnamon.

Its important to distinguish one from another as their method of inheritance is different or their effect on the two Melanian pigment is different

Eumelanin (Brown/Black)

Pheomelanin (Red/Yellow)