What colour will she be ?

[Dominic]

Today our first calf of 2007 has arrived and we are delighted with her and so is her mum !
My question is what colour will she be / should I put on her registration application.
Her mum is red and her dad is dun and she looks very black all over with the exception of her head.The base of her ears and side of her face are a lovely coffee colour.Is she at all likely to go dun or will she perhaps be a faded black :D
Many thanks

Dominic

[Duncan MacIntyre]

She is most likely to be black, though there are a few much less likely possibilities.

Duncan

[Dominic]

Thankyou Duncan.
We have now had our second calf and she too is quite pale almost a smokey black / brown.I have actually put on ther reg cards black but I think I'm beginning to wonder if I should contact the DCS.
I'll get some photos taken for folk to cast their eye over

[wagra dexters]

Dominic, of about 250 Dexter calves, we have found that if they are not red or dun, they are black. We have recently learned that the darker wild red can go black, but true red doesn't go black, and dun doesn't go black.
Born brown, in our experience, always goes black. Black can go brown in younger calves, but will always return to black. Dark dun can look almost red, until stood beside a red. Pale red can look almost dun, until stood beside dun. Brown is brown, and will always be black, in our experience.
I don't know how genetically correct this is, but I hope it is of some help to you.
Margaret.

[Dominic]

Thankyou Margaret - Yep , these girls wil obvioulsy be black , I have looked at some dun calves through a google search and they are certainly not dun and sure not red.

Thanks all

[moomin]

Black calves have black noses and black tongues [surface of tongue that is], red calves have pink noses and pink tongues, dun calves have light brown noses and tongues. Look in the mouth! Some black calves look as though they have red or light coloured tinges but they go black eventually.

[Kirk- Cascade Herd US]

red calves have pink noses and pink tongues

True red calves (e/e) do have pink or pinkish grey noses and pink tongues, but wild-type reds (E+/E+ or E+/e) can have nearly any color of nose depending other shading genes.

Kirk

[Dominic]

I've taken some pictures of the calves and they are looking paler by the day.
Just trying now to post them for you all to see !

John C - how do I put the piccies on ?? Have uploaded them at photobucket but I'm now stuck !!

[Dominic]

Is she black or dun then ?? :;):

[Dominic]

Think I've mastered posting the picture and at a more reasonable size than my first attempt ! :p

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Black

Duncan

[Penny]

Can you ask her to stick her tongue out please?!

Penny

[Rob R]

Black, even without the photo you're far more likely to be right that way, but look at that- is that animal wearing a black hairpiece? :D

[Duncan MacIntyre]

What is going on here? The picture now showing is not the one I looked at before replying. I downloaded it to my computer so I could enlarge it and look at the calf's mouth as it seemed a bit strange. I decided not to comment on the mouth, and deleted the picture from my computer,but the one now showing is not the same. I honestly find it difficult to believe it is the same calf.

Duncan

[Dominic]

It is not the same calf !
There were 2 pictures of 2 different calves , both by the same sire and born within a week of each other.