Calf color

[shortybreeder]

Alright, so I've seen some pictures of "black" calves that have red hair on them as babies. I'm curious if this is one of them? He's an embryo calf out of a shorthorn-sired black cow and Castlerock (roan shorthorn). We went 3/3 on these embryos, the first one came last year and was red. This year we got 2 more that look red, except this little guy seems to have black tips. It matters because we may paper him as ShorthornPlus, and it makes the difference between 50% and 67.5%, as well as wanting to paper him accurately.

 

[lightnin4]

I use a shorthorn bull on my commercial Angus cows.  Any calf we've had born colored like this has turned black.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Black

 

[diamonddls]

In our experience black points or black nose and eyes will turn black but the red gene is awful strong in them when used as breeding stock.

 

[shortybreeder]

Thanks for the replies. I kinda figured he'd be black after seeing the progress pics of Firesweep's clubby experiment. I have a full sib born the day after him that is red with the white underline, but he doesn't have anything black, so at least we have an easy way to tell which is which! Otherwise they are basically cookie cutter at this point.

 

[RyanChandler]

He's definitely black. As he sheds out, it'll become more obvious.  I have quite a few calves right now out of a roan shorthorn -Vanguard- and brangus cows.  As far as color, they are all just like this calf. 

As far as your SH percentage concern, the color of the calf no longer matters.  All Shorthorn influenced cattle will now have the correct SH % stated on their papers, regardless of color.  Here's the kicker.  Even if the calf is bred up to 99%, if it retains the black color, it is ineligible for purebred status.