First non black - First non black

[springwater]

He could be Del-boy :laugh:

[Anna]

For us it is also a P year. We name calves after poets or writers. This years are Paul (Auster), Per-Olof (Enquist) and Pinki (Virani).

I have been looking forward for the B year, so I can have a lovely heifer called Beryl. Do you think she would have disliked that?

[wagra dexters]

Hi Anna, Beryl was quite scathing of the use of human names for cattle. I never was game to tell her our dun bull was Duncan. A friend in the states has a Hedgehog bull called Rutherford. But you know, Anna, I reckon she really doesn't mind so much anymore, so long as we all love our Dexters.
Hi Carina, Freesia was on my list of names, but our cow with the double E, Breeze, had a bull calf. We don't follow a single nomenclature, but all the names have a reason, not just because I like the word. Most follow two letters:- Willow is the dam of Dillon & Estelle, etc.
The red tinge is a mystery. Sometimes I think they have a red glow rather than tinge. The 'tinge' can disappear with mineral blocks but the 'glow' doesn't, and it does seem to restrict itself to red carriers. Don't quote me. I'm not certain.
Margaret

[Broomcroft]

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

I thought that once, but my favourite black cow that has only ever had red calves (when with a red bull) is jet black.

[Anna]

Beryl was quite scathing of the use of human names for cattle.

Well, our B year will be 2024 or something, if I survive until then I will find another beautiful B name. Every person should be respected as far as possible when it comes to big and small things like this. I am glad to know.

Ps. I misspelled the name of the steer Per-Olov in my former post, it should be with a "v". It matters since he is named after someone..



Edited By Anna on 1292411405

[Saffy]

Well Anna - Beryl was a good friend of mine and whilst I know she didn't much like human names for calves I think she would make an exception with a big smile - I hope so our last calf, also our first ever dun is called Berylsmagic. As in many ways it is a bit of the magic that Beryl sprinkled around the dexter world that helped create our first little dun heifer.

Everyone comments on how pretty she is, even the young vet who arrived the other day to start the dreaded TB test muttering that he had heard about dexters being fiesty! He said she was ever so pretty and her coat was very soft. Are dun calves usually so soft? I am delighted to say our herd behaved like angels and he loved our handling system but fingers crossed they all pass tomorrow, it is a scary time!

Stephanie

[Denise]

Oh Steph - that time again already - GOOD LUCK and hugs!

[PorcPrunus NL]

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

I was told that a look at the eyes say a lot.

Dun kalfs have 'snake eyes'
Red and Black have normal round pupil.

When a red kalf has black eye-lashes it will turn black before it's a half year old.

That's what I've heard.

[Broomcroft]

Here's a red calf destined to turn black, and she did. Her sire was red and her dam black. Her dam also produced a full brindle.





Edited By Broomcroft on 1296754647

[springwater]

What a beautiful little creature

I still can't decide whether my little calf is a red or a dun. I think I'll have to ask Bernard to come and have a look at her. We've only ever had black before. I thought she was red, but her coat looks more dun now?

[Broomcroft]

We've also got another from the same cow that produced the one in the photo, now a cow herself, and she was red as a calf, but now she is a full-blown brindle. But she has a pale pink mussel, skin and eye-lashes.



Edited By Broomcroft on 1296892100

[Broomcroft]

Just for comparison, this little calf stayed full red, but still has a dark grey mussel and a tiny amount of black hairs in her face. She's a really nice cow now.

[Broomcroft]

Just found a photo of her grown up at 24 months (on the right):



I meant to say she has a dark/mid grey nose.



Edited By Broomcroft on 1296893156