The
death of my beautiful old doe GCH Eder's Xandra recently at the grand
old age of 13 has made me think of the line of long-lived animals behind
her that extends all the way back to one of my original does. Xandra
is descended from one of the four does my parents bought for me when
I was in 4-H in the early 1960s. That doe was Four Acres Princess Ilona,
known as Lucy. Lucy was by Laurelwood Acres Sailor and out of
a daughter of Chimney Rock Spark Nugget, two very famous bucks at the
time. Lucy lived to be nearly 17 years old, freshening every year
and being shown until she was 14. Lucy classified by Sheila Nixon
the very first year of the classification system that preceded linear
appraisal with an amazing score of 87 (88 91 90 80) as a dry 16 year
old.
A few
generation down the line from Lucy, Atomic Acres Nanette became a
part of my herd. Nanette was a daughter of Diamond Sunshine Carouse.
Also purchased about the same time were Nanette's twin daughters,
also by Carouse. Upon freshening, both Kay and Kila became premanent
champions very quickly. Kay and Kila along with another daugher
of Nanette, GCH Eder's Natalie, are in the pedigrees of every Toggenburg
in my herd, sometimes many times, and have produced many champions,
including the eight CH/GCH's currently in the herd. This line
had produced four of the five Spotlight Sales animals I've consigned
over the years, starting in 1970. The top seller at the 1998
Spotlight Sale was Eder's Locksmith whose new owners are Patti and
Dennis Dean of Willow Run Dairy in Ohio. Locksmith is sired
by Eder's Zephyr, whose dam Shasta (a daughter of Kay) was also Xandra's
grand dam. Locksmith's dam Astra is about 3/4 sister to Xandra.
Locksmith has in his pedigree GCH Ta-Lee-Ho Kiss Chocolate Fudge and
Hidden Oak Tor Monitor, two bucks that have worked extremetly well
with my herd, along with Mount Douglas Key Principle.
Xandra's
daughter Janie was a 1996 Spotlight Sale consignment. Nanette's
son, Nucleus (twin to Natalie) was also a Spotlight Sale consignment.
This particularly
strong and long-lived doe line lives on in my herd including Astra
(ten years old) and five of her daughters, three daughtes and one
son of Xandra, and other closely related does. Most remain productive
and very competitive in the show ring throughout their lives.
Xandra was carrying triplets when I lost her. Astra, at ten
years old, kidded with triplets on March 1st. Cassandra, Xandra's
eight-year-old daughter is still going strong.
