Meadowlark was born February 19, 2007 to Magpie and Mr. Mahogany. Here she is with her mother and her brother Merlin.
In May she was sold and moved to Shaw Island. Unfortunately she was not a friendly goat. In fact, she was the complete opposite. So we bought her back in March 2009.
Although she wasn’t friendly, she made beautiful babies. After being bred with Dean, she produced Maynard and MacGyver.
MacGyver had a heart on his side.
In March 2012, after breeding to Dean again, she gave birth to Morrison, Caramello and Manny.
Then in April 2013, after being with Yahoo, she gave birth to Mockingbird.
That is when we decided to stop breeding our goats. So she enjoyed (hopefully) a long retirement on our farm.
Just the other day, I got a sideways glance at her in the pasture and thought she looked a lot like her grandmother, my first Nigerian Dwarf goat Dot.
But she became suddenly ill. Two days ago she didn’t eat, but I wasn’t too worried because she does that sometimes. I should have paid more attention though, but I was tired, just getting off a tough shift at work. But yesterday it was obvious she was sick. I tried Vitamin B and antibiotic injections but rather quickly she was dead. I, of course, feel horrible that I should have noticed her more the day before. Once again farming is a humbling and sad experience. But she was almost 16 years old so had a long life. She was never friendly and a chore to catch for goat maintenance, but she was a pretty goat who will be missed.
In better news, today was sunny, and all of the animals seemed to be enjoying it.
And the White Midget tom seems to have recovered from his illness/injury. I still am not sure what it was but happy to have him back again.
It is cold though, and so I rather quickly did winterizing today. I emptied all of the hoses. I plugged in the heat strips for the faucets. And I took down the pheasant pen netting. I haven’t taken down the hot house cover yet as there are still tomatoes ripening in there. What a weird weather year we are having.
so sorry to hear about the passing of Meadowlark. she did make some beautiful babies over the years! We winterized yesterday as well. can’t believe that we’re supposed to get temps in the mid-20’s in the next couple days. weird weather for sure.
Thanks Denise. I wore my fall coat for about 2 weeks. Now it’s winter coat time.
I reckon Meadowlark would have no issues over your care of her. She had an awesome life in your care, free to be as unfriendly and difficult to catch as she wanted and still receive care and love. Oh but her babies were gorgeous!!
Thank you so much! I hope so.
As had been said, Meadowlark did have beautiful babies! I think MacGyver was especially pretty, with his heart on his side! Did you keep any of Meadowlark’s kids?
I’m very sorry about your loss. Ornery or not, she was beautiful! Don’t beat yourself up over her death. Sixteen years is a good long life, and I know you took good care of her.
Thanks Jeanne! We didn’t keep any of her babies which is sad. We have her half sister Mavis who is just as ornery.
i would have been so tempted to keep some of her babies, but I’m just a goofy person who falls for adorable critters! It’s possible that some of those little cuties would have been just as ornery as their mother. It’s too bad Mavis is an ornery one also!
May I ask why you made that decision to stop breeding goats?
I don’t know if her kids would have behaved like her or not. Her parents were friendly. We decided to stop breeding after https://schoonover-farm.com/2013/02/16/the-return-of-gertie-and-wiki/ and
https://schoonover-farm.com/2013/02/21/the-return-of-lady-madonna-and-ewegenie/