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Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:17 pm
by springwater
We've had our herd of Dexters for five years now and have a batch of 6 cows calving now - what timing! The four girls that have calved so far have done well and have chosen well protected spots to calve and the calves are thriving. One had arrived overnight and I just went out to check again as I thought Blackberry wouldn't be long and was thrilled to see a beautiful and bouncing non black calf. Now I say non black as I don't actually know whether it's dun or red. It was getting dark and rather misty and murky so I'm really looking forward to going out tomorrow morning to have a proper look and to see what sex it is. Whatever it is - it is gorgeous :D I'm going to have to do some research and I'm hoping that it is easy to tell the difference between a red and a dun calf?
This is our 58th calf and the first that isn't black. All our cows are black but our new bull is red and this is his first batch of calves.
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:17 pm
by Broomcroft
We started with a red bull and black cows springwater, and had a run of red calves, year after year. Some black cows, even now, have never had a black calf from a red bull. It is a 50/50 chance of red isn't it? But these cows seem to have other ideas :D. Maybe you'll have the same 
.
We've never had a dun calf from a red / black mating. Had 2 duns from black / dun matings where the black carried dun, or I assume it does as his dam was dun. I don't understand dun.
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 8:44 pm
by Duncan MacIntyre
The muzzle of a dun calf is greyish, whereas a black is black and a red is pink, though some reds have dark muzzles most of them are pink at birth. In poor light with a slimy wet calf it can be difficult, but in good light not too hard to tell the difference - it is a lot easier when you have seen a few of each. I had seen a good few red calves before I saw any newborn dun, but when the first dun arrived there was no doubt.
Black dexters can carry dun and/or red but since the black dominates they look black. Sometimes a black animal will have a reddish coat at birth which can persist for the first few months, but bit by bit the black shows through. The clue with these ones is usually the intense black muzzle, and black lower legs and around the eyes.
Black and red genes are an either/or situation - there are two in each animal,one from sire one from dam. So the possiblities are black/black, black/red or red/red. For simplicity I will not try to go into different types of red, but for the curious there are countless posts on this forum on the subject - do a search!! Dun is caused by a third gene which prevents the full formation of black pigment, and it is recessive - so any amimal carrying one dun gene will look either black or possibly red. But when the animal inherits a dun gene from each parent, the black becomes dun. So a dun parent and red parent usually give a black calf, which surprises most folk. If the red parent carried dun then a dun calf might result.
For many years red and dun were much less common, but I think there are more of these than there used to be, so the rarer combinations are more likely to be seen. Isn't life interesting?
Duncan
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 9:11 pm
by springwater
Thank you for that, Duncan. I will get a better look at the calf in daylight. As I said, it was getting dark and was misty and murky so I couldn't really see its exact colouring, though it was up and dry - but it definately isn't black. I'm looking forward to the morning - then I'll know what sex it is too :D
We've had a few new born reddish coloured calves but I have read quite a lot of the threads and did know that a black muzzle meant a black calf - even though my partner has been sceptical on a few occasions :;):
I'll let you know ...
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 1:32 pm
by springwater
Well - I think she is red :;):
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:27 am
by Minnie
What a wonderful surprise!!
I know when our black heifer had a dun heifer to our black bull I was sooo excited and then she followed it up the next year with another one.
Congratulations
:D
Vicki
Oh my icon is my first dun heifer Cinnamon.
Edited By Minnie on 1292203681
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 7:03 pm
by springwater
Thank you, Vicki
I'm now trying to think of a name - Poinsettia is the current favourite :D If I could work out how to do it, I'd add a pic!
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:20 am
by Minnie
I love the name Poinsettia and how apt so close to Christmas. We call ours with the letter assigned to a year by the association, so were lucky that Cinnamon was born in a C year, Erin (our other dun) hmmm not so lucky.
Hence our premmie girl got Fatima (which is also about Miracles :laugh: )
Look forward to seeing your photos.
Vicki
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 3:22 am
by wagra dexters
When the Dexter Association first began in Australia they used the year letter A. That followed on until year H. Then after that, in order to fall into line with all the other cattle associations, our association jumped to year R.
We are shortly about to begin year G and 9 of our 10 F heifers still don't have names yet. The one who does have a name is called Flossie, poor little girl.
Graham reckons he always wanted a cow called Flossie so when Blossom had a heifer, it just had to be, and no I didn't name Blossom either!!
Anyone would think they are just any ordinary old cows with names like that. Sacrilege, I reckon!
Margaret
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:28 am
by Rebecca
Well Margaret - we have a "Flossie" this year too! :D Although technically she will be "Faerie Floss" coz she is so sweet... :p Mind you her mum (our teenage pregnancy) is called Ermintrude as hubby was reliving his childhood and had to have Ermintrude from the Magic Roundabout in our 'E' year.... I call her Trudi, not such a mouthful.
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:21 am
by wagra dexters
Ermintrude!?! I love it!
I'm waiting for year 'H' so we can have Hermione.
(Please forgive me Beryl, but some human names just beg to be used on cows)
Margaret
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:12 pm
by Denise
Hmm - Hermoine is one of my Parson Russell bitches name !
Naming animals (and humans) can be really interesting and a lot of fun!
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 11:28 pm
by Minnie
Hi Margaret and Denise,
We started the year with Foxglove, then Fernando's first calf on the ground (our little bull) had to have a double F name so she's Fairy Floss and of course Fatima.
:laugh:
Originally I wanted all berries and herbs but...
Vicki
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 11:32 pm
by springwater
To Margaret - if you want an F name, how about Freesia? I sold a cow in the summer and let her buyers chose the name of her calf which I registered before she left. I thought Freesia was a lovely name.
I also need another couple of seasonal sort of names for my other 2 heifer calves. I've already had a Holly and an Ivy :D
I'm still waiting for the last 2 to calve. And allowing myself to hope for another red :;): One of the cows yet to calve always has a red tinge to her coat - is that an indicator that she could carry red? Or a red herring :laugh:
Carina
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 11:58 pm
by Louise Badcock
Boring--- but all my heifer calves are called Della, so we are now on Baranduin Della 11th. The original cow was Beeches Della 11th, so I carried on the tradition of naming them the same way. The latest one is a red bull born two weeks ago. I will try for some pics soon but it is very muddy.
Louise