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Bright Eyes

August 26, 2011 / 13 Comments

I was going to call this post ‘Super Freak’ but then decided that was unkind.  And really, I am not normally an unkind kind of girl.  Okay sometimes I AM unkind . But only if you are unkind first… (and I doubt I technically fall into the ‘girl’ category either)… but those are other themes for other posts.  Now where was I? Oh yes…

This post is about freaks amazing physical features.

And mostly about this freak unusual-looking calf we spotted while inspecting our cows and their spanking new offspring the other day.

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Now at first glance, this calf is not that unusual.  Actually it’s a pretty nice little bull (at least I think it’s a bull… have you ever tried to tip you head lower while looking at a two-dimensional image to see if you can get a better view of something a bit more up under? It doesn’t work.)

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He’s got nice solid little limbs, a lovely little polled (no horn nubs) head and is nice and dark in his coat.  All good characteristics.

But do you see anything weird different?

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Those. EYES… Whoa!!

These are the palest blue-white eyes I have ever seen in our herd.
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Sometimes our more Brahman-infused cattle are born with lighter-coloured eyes, but not usually THIS light. What makes it even more amazing is there is no sign of any kind of albinoism (is that a word?).  It has a black nose, black pigment around the eyes… just these incredible silver eyes.

Late edit: the calf can see fine – he is not blind and doesn’t seem to have any kind of sight problems.

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He was not that comfortable with us pointing and shooting (with the Nikon) at him.  His Mama called him close and took him off.  She didn’t rouse on us, but I think we may have got ‘the look’.

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Don’t worry little man. I like to think we all have our own brand of freakishness.

I wish my freaky feature was amazing silver eyes.  ‘Awful big feet’ and ‘Lunar Park Mouth’ just doesn’t have the same kind of gilt-edged mystique somehow.

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So, dear reader, do you have a freaky feature you’d like to share in comments?  Silverado and I would like to hear…

😉

BB

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13 Comments

  • Kelly
    August 27, 2011 at 12:46 am Reply

    Wow! I find him amazingly beautiful with those eyes! Not freakish, just different. 🙂 I’m sure it won’t matter if he’s destined for the meat market, but if you were to sell him for breeding purposes would it be a detriment?

    One of our dogs is black with just one eye that color. (We named her Blue for her one crystal eye.) I’ve sometimes wondered if she’s blind in that eye, but it doesn’t appear so.
    Kelly´s last blog post ..Ponderings #8

  • Theresa in Alberta
    August 27, 2011 at 3:27 am Reply

    BB, I could not find an email for you and mine did not remember you so forgive me for posting this on your comments section BUT BUT on comment number 5 on todays post on PW’s webside on the on one of the replies is a link where I can watch the Foodnetwork from Canada on the net,,,which means………….we can watch PW’s show tomorrow even thou we are outside of the USA WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Jane-Kurrajong
    August 27, 2011 at 10:42 pm Reply

    OH yes ….we have a three legged calf! He is actually a descent calf too so we have left is nuts in and J** is going to build a prosthetic leg so he can mount properly. Ahhh just kidding! about the mounting not about the three legged calf. Do you want to see a photo? He is in our house paddock I will try and get one. (Don’t tell J** I put that on the internet 😉 Lucky we don’t have a stud – wouldn’t be a good image!

  • Quincy's Keeper
    August 31, 2011 at 1:17 am Reply

    My friend raises black Brangus and sometimes she will get a red calf pop up. Last year she got a pink heifer calf. Wierd. Figured there was red genes in the woodpile on both sides. Calf didn’t make it through the winter. That mating won’t be repeted. I kinda like him. Reminds me of my old Catahoula 🙂

  • Mother of Calves
    March 5, 2020 at 6:56 am Reply

    I work on a dairy farm with a few hundred Friesans and we’ve had a few blue eyed calves over the years, some almost as pale as your guy, but not quite there. Until this year. This year, we had a bull born with white eyes. Not blue. Not silver, but actual WHITE. It’s crazy to look at. I’ve nicknamed him Zombie because his eyes look like zombie contact lenses lol. He’s not blind but his vision is definitely not 100%. Little cutie though 😀

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