A bit of a silly jersey heifer color question

[deineria]

This heifer's dam has, as you see in this first photo, a black face.
She is a pretty cow, but I kind hope our heifer doesn't get that black face.
I went with a Jersey because I think they are gorgeous cows - though that might seem odd.

This is her still with no black points / areas a few months back:


Here she is tonight at 8 months old - CORRECTION - nearly 7 months old
The face is getting a dark tint ontop of the the eyes and around the nose bridge

Should she end up with the black face? I don't know how they change with color, but her color has changed a lot since buying her.

[gone-a-milkin]

Yep, she will likely get a dark face. I can see the darkness around her nose even in the 2nd pic. In fact, she is darkening on the shoulders and neck too. She will finish out to be quite a bit darker than her mama is.

It is amazing how much they can change. Also, the winter coat can really look different from the short summer hair. A lot of cows darken in winter and lighten in summertime.

Hopefully you will still love her, despite her coloration.


And no, it is not "odd" to think they are gorgeous cows.
Just LOOK at them! Lovely animals.

[deineria]

Lol - Oh, we will. She is so above and beyond the quality of Jersey you see for sale within HOURS of here (which we bought her 12 hours away - lol) - I wouldn't part with her for anything, but ideally, I'd loved her to be very light fawn -

[arcticow]

Ideally, I'd like all Jerseys to be "blue"... actually a dove gray with a blue tone to 'em.

[springvalley]

I find it very interesting at how much they change color, from summer to winter for sure. We have some that almost turn black in the winter, but go back to a lighter color in the summer. I do like my Jersey`s Thanks Marc.

[triple divide]

If the daughter inherits the dams' udder, I'd not sweat it. She is loaded with dairy charicter, very feminin, wonderful looking cow.

In my experience (with Jersey's) it always seemed if the calf had black hooves, she'd have a black face. Just something I always noticed, probably nothing. Then again we were majoritively a Holstein/Ayrshire farm with only a couple Jerseys in the herd history

[topside1]

Sorry to say but it's clear she's going to have a black face and neck. The before and after type photos will be incrediable...She's eight months old? Topside

[Rockytopsis]

She is beautiful and so is momma.

[Terry W]

Aren't calf coats ( the original ones they are born with) also lighter because of the amnionic bleaching? i have seen this in dogs, alpaca, llamas, horses, and my rabbits......

[deineria]

No, I had that wrong. She will be 7 months old on the 16th of this month. I had to pull out her reg. paperwork.

The calf came from a Catholic monastery who spared no expense on the dam of the calf or making sure she was bred to the best bull they could have, so I was happy to make the trip to get her.

Ideally, lol - she would have been fawn. . . all over . .. however, she is a lovely calf and black face and all, we love her.
The nuns and mother said in the all years they've had cows, which is a great deal of years, Zoe, the dam there, was the kindest and best natured
cow of all. . .so we hope Stella is the same.

[dairymon]

What a beauty she is...most of my jersey had the same coloration as she does.

I sure miss my Jersey girls :-(

[deineria]

Topside, does she not seem large enough for her age or too large? I really have no idea. She is our first heifer.

[dosthouhavemilk]

Could you list the dam's registered name?
Just out of curiosity.
I just cannot get over how much she looks like Tina. Tina ended up at the farm the nuns purchased Zoe from.
Thanks!

[deineria]

OA Zoe Mom

116802242

[dosthouhavemilk]

Ah okay.
A Grade dam.
Tina's Purebred papers went along with her, so I can't imagine them not following her to a new home.
Thanks!

[dairymon]

Its a little hard to tell from picture...nothing to scale off of, but she seems just fine to me. Hope she grows up like mama...I really like her looks, great udder an legs.

[deineria]

Does the OA mean the dam isn't proveable as a purebred?
I know with grade goats and horses, of course, the animal isn't registerable with most main groups. The dam and sire of Zoe are listed only as UR Purebred Jersey Sire or Dam.
Stella's name is listed as PR Stella Doro.

[deineria]

Nevermind. I found the page about it on the site. I didn't realize this about her - never thought anything of the OA and PR before the names as many places do initials before horses, as we do, with their paperwork.

What does this mean in regards to pricing any future heifers and such?
so selling them as registered Jerseys or purebred would be dishonest - how sad.

So her calves couldn't be shown or anything like that, likely?

[dosthouhavemilk]

Stella's daughters will be GRs and I believe the generation after that goes into the Purebred herdbooks. Until they hit the "Purebred" book, they are "Identified" through AJCA.
It is one aspect I don't like. Our Jersey/Norwegian Red crosses end up in the same books as our registered Jerseys that the family has been breeding since the late 1850s.
Considering the number of cows we sell with papers and the few who ever transfer them, it isn't as big a deal in the Jersey world as it is in the ADGA world (especially the Nubian world).
At our county fair, in Open class, I cannot show our crosses. Even though one first calf heifer classified at an 85 and looks Jersey.
4-H is a different story. They don't have to be registered to show in 4-H around here.

[deineria]

I noticed the identified part earlier. I am sure the mother of the monastery never realized she wasn't actually registered. . . but she was purchased with the understanding she was registered. I never looked at her paperwork more than a glance. . .
I am awfully dissapointed. We paid a lot for her, planned to sell her calves for the same price, but I wouldn't want to upset the nuns - who send us lovely gift packages of homemade cheese and food all of the time and ask for updates on Stella. . . and mention their error. Oh, but my husband will be SO upset. I hate to tell him. Shew, maybe I will wait on that.