The story of the gray baby…
☆ April 8, 2013
It’s kind of a convoluted story, so bear with me. Last summer, some friends of ours – a newly married couple – wanted to start ranching and bought three cows, and asked if they could put their cows with ours for the summer so they wouldn’t have to buy a bull. We said of course. They soon found that buying ranch land is a nearly impossible feat, and so we have kept their cows here with us ever since.
One of them is this white cow, a charolais; one of them is the holstein pictured here; and the third is a darling mongrel cow – she’s white with a few black splotches and tiny horns. I’ve named them Blinky, Pinky, and Inky, respectively. They were all bred with our black angus heifer bull, Billy. And Blinky, the white charolais, had this gray calf. Black + White = Gray, who knew!
We have never seen a gray cow or calf before (generally, people who run charolais cows also have charolais bulls), but we believe she will remain gray – it will be so fun to watch her grow up. She’s quite a star around here, already. If our friends decide to throw in the towel, ranch-wise, we’ll most certainly buy these cows and their calves, but in the meantime, we get to live with them. And we don’t need to own them to love them.
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52 Responses to “The story of the gray baby…”
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April 8th, 2013 @ 6:36 am
Oh, I want a print of the top one!!! So adorable!!!
April 8th, 2013 @ 6:42 am
Shreve, you are just a magnet for the beautiful and interesting.
April 8th, 2013 @ 6:51 am
What a great story! Love these photos with the three different colors. There’s some special love going on here!
April 8th, 2013 @ 7:19 am
I think he’ll stay gray. I know a farmer who regularly breeds his charolais cows to a black angus bull and the offspring are always gray. I love the combo.
April 8th, 2013 @ 7:39 am
I can’t decide which of these 3 prints I want to own… as always , each is a masterpiece.
such a gorgeous calf!
April 8th, 2013 @ 7:47 am
Her color seems to be getting ‘richer’ with each photo. I hope you’ll post a new one occasionally so we can see the difference, if any.
April 8th, 2013 @ 7:53 am
Never seen a gray cow, absolutely gorgeous! Please update your Farmily Tree, including the “adopted” members. Love your stories and photos!
April 8th, 2013 @ 7:53 am
Are her ears smaller than some of the other calves you’ve had? Or am I just obsessing over those perfect little teacup ears?
April 8th, 2013 @ 8:08 am
she is perfect!
April 8th, 2013 @ 8:09 am
You mention black + white = gray. Does that mean Daisy could have a Gray Baby too? Or not, because she’s not a charolais? :)
Hopefully the little Sterling Baby will keep the gray color. So beautiful!
April 8th, 2013 @ 8:22 am
She is beautiful! Great pictures! Great story! Thank you for making me smile!
April 8th, 2013 @ 8:30 am
I figured it was Daisy’s calf. Interesting story! I guess Daisy isn’t really white though, but more of a light cream.
April 8th, 2013 @ 9:23 am
A ~ I think it’s the lighting, the light rim which makes them look smaller – but I will check out in the field!
K ~ Daisy wouldn’t have a gray calf with a black angus bull – those babies have been red, like Fiona (Daisy’s calf from last year who didn’t survive was rust colored as well). But I’ve heard that if the mother is black angus and the father is brown swiss (like Daisy), then the calves are a mushroom taupe color. It’s all so strange and interesting! Daisy bred to a holstein (Frisco’s pop) ended up with a black calf (Frisco). Now I want to find a Dutch Belted bull for her to breed with and see what happens there!
Dutch Belted pics: http://bit.ly/10LsxsT
April 8th, 2013 @ 9:40 am
I’m so in love with the gray baby…
April 8th, 2013 @ 9:44 am
We get gray babies out of one of our red cows (black bull) and our gray cow of course. I like the gray white face babies, so adorable with the little pink noses.
April 8th, 2013 @ 10:38 am
I *LOVE* the first picture – what a moment you have captured there!!! LOVE this gray baby!!!
What an amazing wonderful world we live in.
THANKS so much for these delightful photos!!
April 8th, 2013 @ 11:12 am
OH I love the Belted Galloway’s! There is a herd in Maine near where my Husband and I got married. I have to stop and photograph them each time we travel way “up there.” One year, the owner let me into the corral with her and I got to get some close up shots.
April 8th, 2013 @ 12:57 pm
I let out a squeal after seeing the first picture. I’d probably print it too — too cute and adorable!!!
April 8th, 2013 @ 12:58 pm
That is an amazing story. I wonder if his coloring is genetically dominant – you could start a trend. Love your stories. Will you ever sell your beef in Montana? I would definitely buy some.
April 8th, 2013 @ 1:10 pm
I love the Gray Baby! Fiona is gorgeous like a super model; the Gray Baby is beautiful like the Girl Next Door, if that makes sense. :-) More Gray Baby!
April 8th, 2013 @ 1:18 pm
Does Gray Baby have a name?
April 8th, 2013 @ 1:22 pm
Beautiful photos of LOVE!
April 8th, 2013 @ 1:26 pm
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love cows thanks to your blog. And the little gray one is spoon-worthy she’s so adorable.
Whenever I meet animals, I call them all Blinky.
April 8th, 2013 @ 2:15 pm
She’s absolutely beautiful. I’d name her Dori – short for Dorian Gray. I hope you decide to sell prints. That first pic is too sweet.
April 8th, 2013 @ 3:21 pm
Love the gray calf!!
Perfect statement: “…we don’t need to own them to love them”. <3
April 8th, 2013 @ 5:40 pm
That top picture!! What a snuggle bunny! I love it.
April 8th, 2013 @ 5:56 pm
In genetics, this is called ‘incomplete dominance’ when genetic phenotypes are blended in offspring created a whole new phenotype. I love that phrase… incomplete dominance. It sounds like such an unlikely triumph.
April 8th, 2013 @ 7:05 pm
A ~ so cool.
April 8th, 2013 @ 7:27 pm
I feel terrible to admit this, but not 2 hours ago I told a friend who had shared a picture of his new baby boy with me that he was the sweetest baby I’d ever seen. And I meant it. . . until I saw these pictures!
I am a terrible person. : )
April 8th, 2013 @ 7:51 pm
Oh, how darling that first photo is…. LOVE that cuddly grey baby!! AWWWW…too cute! Thanks for sharing the sweet baby and the story with us. :)
I just LOVE COWS!!!!!
April 8th, 2013 @ 11:58 pm
She will most likely stay some shade of gray, or blue as it is sometimes called but she may get a little bit lighter as she grows up. Charolais can have that shade and there is a breed called pink charolais that is a pale red color. It makes a lot of sense to breed charolais to angus because the angus is a smaller breed and charolais tend to be big boned and can have problems birthing those big boned babies. If you aren’t keeping the calves for breeding, a smaller bull makes a lot of sense.
April 9th, 2013 @ 1:15 am
What a lovely story. (Does the couple come to visit their cows?)
When our three dogs get together mine is Jumpy, my parents’ is Lumpy and my sister’s is Grumpy. Nicknames.
Blinky, Pinky and Inky, huh?
Perhaps if Mom is Blinky baby should be Winky?
April 9th, 2013 @ 5:14 am
Let’s all vote for Winky.
April 9th, 2013 @ 7:04 am
I don’t think I can get behind Winky…. (Inky, Blinky, Pinky are the names of the PacMan ghosts)
April 9th, 2013 @ 7:13 am
Thanks for the info, Shreve! I find color genetics fascinating. Those Dutch Belted’s are very neat! Hopefully you get your wish. :D
April 9th, 2013 @ 9:58 am
What a lovely baby! I like cows, though as a city-dweller I seldom have cause to meet with them.
Re: inky, blinky,etc.: there was also, once-upon-a-time, this poem….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynken,_Blynken,_and_Nod
April 9th, 2013 @ 11:45 am
Thanks so much for sharing the story of how the grey calf came about. I was so curious!
April 9th, 2013 @ 12:04 pm
I have no knowledge of PacMan. I thought it had something to do with their coloring or behavior.
But I do have fond memories of Winken, Blinken and Nod from childhood.
Hence Winky and Blinky. Noddy just didn’t seem to make any sense.
April 9th, 2013 @ 12:13 pm
Thank you for the update and the new pictures. Just can’t help but smile when you see that first one— my Goddess, the love between the two!
April 9th, 2013 @ 4:22 pm
How about Taji? It’s Japanese for Silver colored. Or Ms Pacman :)
April 9th, 2013 @ 7:27 pm
The gray baby is so cute but all babies are cute. Always welcome your updates to your family and ranch critters.
April 9th, 2013 @ 7:49 pm
I may have missed something but what is a “black angus heifer bull” I am a farm girl and raised on a dairy farm we never had any heifer bulls.
April 9th, 2013 @ 9:52 pm
Anita beat me to it. I am NOT a farm boy, but also wondered about a heifer bull. It must have been late…….
April 9th, 2013 @ 11:51 pm
I’m not sure what a heifer bull is unless it is the bull that the heifers are bred to. Black Angus is a breed. A heifer is a young cow who hasn’t had her first calf. As I said in an earlier comment, angus cattle are a little smaller than some others and it makes a lot of sense to breed heifers to an angus bull because the calf will theoretically be smaller and the birth will be easier on the mother.
April 10th, 2013 @ 6:55 am
A heifer bull is a bull that is used to breed heifers (heifer = maiden/first time mom). The bull is a bit smaller than the other bulls, because heifers are younger and therefore a bit smaller than a full grown cow, and the bull has genetics for smaller birth weight calves, which makes the birth process easier on the heifers, since it’s their first time.
April 10th, 2013 @ 10:07 am
A lot of Charolais have been bred with a breed known as Murray Grey. That might also be where the grey baby gets his coloring. I think you should call her Earl :)
April 10th, 2013 @ 6:54 pm
I have seriously melted into a puddle over these pics. Mom and gray baby are just gorgeous!
April 10th, 2013 @ 9:14 pm
this is some serious cuteness. how could you not love this gray girl? is her tongue black? it kinda looked that way in the yawn pics.
April 11th, 2013 @ 7:29 am
Precious – I luv the grey baby!
I think a fitting name would be Nola (Irish, short for Finola, meaning Fair Shoulders).
Shreve, your world is like the sweetest dream that we get to peak into.
I
love it, thank you for sharing the beauty!
April 13th, 2013 @ 12:10 pm
Lovely… everything. The contrast of frosted Frisco in the black-and-white of it all, with the sweet idyllic group of the Charolais, the little velvet-smoke baby and the camera-shy black baby ensconced in pastels of hay, field and fence posts, pretty much depicts Wyoming in a nutshell, doesn’t it?
April 16th, 2013 @ 4:24 pm
Hi there – in Australia we have a stud of Murray Grey cattle – originally a mix of angus and shorthorn cattle. Although these is some variation in shade – we are calving now and have a paddock full of little grey calves such as yours!
March 23rd, 2014 @ 11:32 am
April 8 is my birthdate, so what a lovely gift to read about this lovey on my special day!