What color is this?

[Nonesuch Farm (Melissa)]

Fancy is black... Fancy's last calf was this color (see pic) and her newest little heifer was born the same color... in some lights it looks red but I had her color tested and she does not carry red so I was assuming dun when I registered the calf... NOW of course I am not so sure! The only difference I can see is that Leah's nose is darker. She also has a black dorsal stripe... both pics of her were taken yesterday at 3 months old... Bluto was sold at 3 months and I only have newborn pics of him.

What do you all think? I'd hate to have to explain to Chuck that I didn't know what color the calf was! ;D

Fancy with her first calf Bluto. Sire was black... from a long line of black, not color tested buy had never thrown a dun calf in his many years of service in his all black herd. Fancy is color tested and carries dun. The calfs coat is brown all the way to the skin.


And him again next to a red calf and his black Mama for contrast.


Fancy's heifer calf Leah in two different lights. She is exactly the same color as Bluto except has always had a darker face and nose. Her sire is red, color tested carries dun and dam carries dun.

[ctownson]

In the 3rd photo, she definitely looks black to me.

charles

[Nonesuch Farm (Melissa)]

Charles,

What would explain her overall brown color?

[ctownson]

In the 3rd photo - the one with the "greenest" grass, look at her nose and head. It definitely appears black. It is not unusual to have a "chocolate lab" looking calf that will turn black as she ages.

charles
www.beavertreefarm.com

[rhonda]

I am fairly new to Dexters--but the year before last I had 2 black calves-this year 2 dun.. the little bull looks dun to me and heifer black. The black bull calf from year before went through kind of a brownish stage then was back to true black.

[Nonesuch Farm (Melissa)]

Is it possible for duns to have black faces and black 'points' like some of the reds do?

[Honeycreek Dexters]

We have had a couple calves like that and now they are black cows, but at certain times of the year or if the sun hits them just right you can see a red hue to the coat, when they calf the calf's are reddish when first born then turn darker with age. If the nose is black the tendency is to get darker like the other poster was saying. But if the nose is red then I tend to think they will be red.

[Olga]

I would judge that both calves are black. Very rarely have I seen a black calf that started out coal-black. Usually they look chocolate or reddish brown with darker points on the muzzle, ears, tail and by the hooves. The color depends on the length of coat - which mean that it depends on the season. Calves born in spring-summer, in my experience, will look lighter than those born during fall-winter. Most of these calves will shed out their baby coat by the time they turn year old, but some don't turn black till about 2 years of age.

That's a pic of Sugar Punkin, and she's a black cow that carries dun.

[legendrockranch]

Feb 7, 2010 22:45:06 GMT -5 Honeycreek Dexters said:

But if the nose is red then I tend to think they will be red.

OK Honeycreek, in all honesty I have no idea what you mean.
I have reds with black noses, pink noses, and sometimes a animal might have a pink nose with almost purplish speckles on it.
Never a red nose. Now in my defense I am red green color blind,
so maybe I am way off here.

Melissa, I think your little heifer will end up turning black. Hope she'll prove us all wrong.

Barb

[legendrockranch]

Feb 7, 2010 22:22:36 GMT -5 Nonesuch Farm (Melissa) said:

Is it possible for duns to have black faces and black 'points' like some of the reds do?

I am not aware of any dun Dexters that do.

Barb

[Nonesuch Farm (Melissa)]

Feb 7, 2010 23:53:33 GMT -5 legendrockranch said:

Feb 7, 2010 22:45:06 GMT -5 Honeycreek Dexters said:

But if the nose is red then I tend to think they will be red.

OK Honeycreek, in all honesty I have no idea what you mean.
I have reds with black noses, pink noses, and sometimes a animal might have a pink nose with almost purplish speckles on it.
Never a red nose. Now in my defense I am red green color blind,
so maybe I am way off here.

Melissa, I think your little heifer will end up turning black. Hope she'll prove us all wrong.

Barb

If she just has Fancy's udder she can be hot pink! I just feel like a do-do for registering her the wrong color! Somebody tell me I am not the first!

I've never seen a red nose either but it could catch on... just think Rudolph! ;D

I am trying to dig up a number for Bluto's buyer and ask what color he turned out... they were going to put him over an Angus herd as a calving ease bull so I am sure they would have been tickled pink with black and never called back when he wasn't dun, LOL!

I have had two other black bull calves here and they were black as coal when born...

[legendrockranch]

Hi Melissa, I just noticed that we are the only two that are logged on.
You're definitely not the first one to do it. Like I said hopefully she'll prove us wrong.

I don't have the opportunity to see the color changes the duns go through as the age.
The first red cow I bought had a black calf at her side, by mid summer the coat was bleached by the sun, I thought for sure the calf was going to turn red. Wrong.

The first Dexter bull I ever saw, I was sure was red, later only to learn he was dun.

Barb

[Nonesuch Farm (Melissa)]

Feb 7, 2010 22:53:55 GMT -5 Olga said:

I would judge that both calves are black. Very rarely have I seen a black calf that started out coal-black. Usually they look chocolate or reddish brown with darker points on the muzzle, ears, tail and by the hooves. The color depends on the length of coat - which mean that it depends on the season. Calves born in spring-summer, in my experience, will look lighter than those born during fall-winter. Most of these calves will shed out their baby coat by the time they turn year old, but some don't turn black till about 2 years of age.

That's a pic of Sugar Punkin, and she's a black cow that carries
dun.

Sugar Punkin is just about the exact color of Leah on a sunny day... so the answer is probably black! Thanks for the picture Olga, it went a long way to explaining what i am seeing.

And thanks Barb for all the info. I guess there are reasons that we do genetic color tests... not everything is black and white... er... black or dun... or red!

[cddexter]

melissa, you can double check with john p. but I think this is written in fairly hard stone:

At birth, black is black is black.

a non-black coat with black hair right around the eyes and right above the nose skin will turn black. These animals can be beige or even mahogany in the rest of the coat, to start with. This has been traced back to either carrying color or sometimes a copper deficiency.

a beige nose and beige feet will be dun

a pink, black, greyish or spotted nose, usually pink feet, and a non-black coat will end up red. Again, check in the 1/2 inch of tiny hairs right around the eyes and immediately above the nose. Also, a 'mealy' nose, where there is a tiny (but up to 2 inches in the adult) of cream hair just above the nose will probably turn red.

Do I see a mud pond in the background. Lucky you. Can I send my koi to you for a summer vacation? I have soil that drains like a bathtub, and all my ponds are lined. No fun at all.

Hope the info helps. It can be confusing if you haven't seen dozens of animals of all types. c.

[copperhead]

I've had several that were the chocolate brown color and I alway registered them at dun. My black ones are black from day one. I do have one cow that is reddish dun on her legs and up partly on her belly, but she is black. I usually figure if the nose is any color but black, that it's a dun calf, cuz I don't have fancy reds like Barb
P.J.