Blued eyed Brangus

[Dusty Britches]

My brangus heifer calved last week and the bull calf, out of a reputable registered Brangus bull has light blue eyes. I think he is blind, but my husband thinks otherwise. His pupils are black, the irises are a light blue - almost white.

I hope it is just blue eyes, but how can I tell? He walks ok (only 4 days old) and he follows his mother well, but it could be his hearing and smell working for him. He sure is funny looking. Black as night with blue - white eyes.

I am perplexed about this and most very experienced cattlemen I've talked too said they have never seen or heard of anything like it. When I figure out whether or not he's blind, I'll be calling the ranch I bought her from.

PS - I'll be posting this in the Breeds Board, too.

 

[Chuckie]

Tracey, I have never seen a blue eyed cow before. Please post a picture of the calf. I find this very interesting. It sounds like it might have eyes like a Malamute. I hope that it isn't blind. I would think the odds of having a blue eyed calf is so low.

 

[ctlbaron]

I have seen them born with light area in the eye, I guess you would say a blue area. But they usually turn full black in a week or two. I've never seen them stay that way.

 

[Dusty Britches]

Well, then I guess I better go take a picture of him. It is very weird. You can see his eyes from 100 yards away.

 

[sidney411]

I've had 2 heavily brahman influenced calves born with light blue eyes, they turned hazel brown within a couple weeks. When they were a couple months old they were dark brown.

 

[jersey lilly]

I had a brangus heifer this year born with blue eyes, she's not blind, perdiest lil blue eyes ya ever seen. Was told by a friend that's worked cows all his life that somewhere in the past there was a long horn??? (not in the recent herd, but a throwback from years, decades ago) dont know if that's fact or not. I hadn't ever seen one either until this one hit the ground. Her eyes didnt' turn brown, they stayed blue for a long time, then gradually turned a amberish gray color, still odd looking. but she's a beauty. Kept her as a replacement.
She's sorta a tiger striped dark red in color with just a few black stripes.
If they are born blind, it will be a real milky blue color and you can usually tell right away that they are blind, they stumble and stagger and bump into things.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I have a cock eyed simbrah cow with blue eyes. i call her jack elam she looks like a bovine version of him ;-)

 

[L Weir]

We have a Pb Simmental calf that has blues and she can see just fine.

 

[Dusty Britches]

He is a purebred Brangus. From a reputable and highly respected ranch. I already talked to them and they are considering coming out to look at him and trying to decide what to do if he is blind. They've never had this come up before.

 

[milkmaid]

How does he react if you catch him and move your hand in front of his eyes? any reaction?

 

[ALACOWMAN]

What makes you think the bull is at fault? did you buy or raise the heifer? :shock: now i see where she came from should have read your first post better sorry

 

[Dusty Britches]

milkmaid - I haven't caught him yet. Well, actually I did, but didn't think to check for blindness. I caught him because he ran into me. After I let him go, I got to thinking that was really weird. That led to the next thought.

I'm not saying it is the bull (though I can "see" why you thought that), but the heifer was bought from the same ranch. (Pun intended.)

Perhaps his eyes will turn brown. I'll definitely get a picture tonight.

 

[bward]

I had a Gert bull whose babies were all born with slate blue eyes. They all turned brown over a week or two.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

You don't know how happy I am to read these posts!!!! We have registered Beefmasters.

We had a brand new calf born 10/12/05 (7:30 p.m.), 52# - beautiful Beefmaster heifer... but she has a slight blue tint to her eyes... some of you will remember my post on the the bull calf we lost just 4 weeks ago had these same blue eyes (died within 12 hours of being born).

The vet said the blue eyes in the bull calf we lost was either mineral/vitamin deficiency or loss of oxygen/strangulation during birth (just like y'all said). However, after evaluating our feed program and vaccination schedule again - he said it must have been strangulation.

So to see it again Wednesday nite, I thought, DARN IT! not again and thought I'd have the vet autopsy the little thing on Thursday or Friday to figure out what in the world was going on... but she's doing well. I call her mom up with her every time I go out just to make sure she's still kicking around.

I'll have to let everyone know if her eyes turn brown or hazel in the next week. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Dusty Britches]

Here's the pictures. He's 5 days old in these.

 

[sidney411]

Nice pics! You've got more grass then we do
His eyes look like my calves eyes did, I would bet they turn darker as he gets older.

 

[TheBullLady]

Hey.. personally I think that's pretty cool looking! Maybe you've got a $100,000 calf there!

 

[Dusty Britches]

Hey.. personally I think that's pretty cool looking! Maybe you've got a $100,000 calf there!

I'll sell him for a lot less, care to make me an offer before I casterate him?

 

[jersey lilly]

Here's a picture of my lil blue eyed heifer that was born in january. She's not as red now, more a dark dark red with brindle stripes.