Description

MALE

Nickname Rafter O Meadowlark
Date of Birth Mar 19, 2020
Mother RiverGrace KL Ruby Tuesday
Father One Nine Acres Blue Indigo
MDGA XN11636P

Rafter O Meadowlark

Breed: Mini Nubian 1st Gen

Date of Birth: 03-19-20

Percentage: 77.72% Nubian / 22.28% Nigerian

Polled – Moonspots

G6S Normal by Parentage

Meadowlark is a very nice POLLED buckling with lots of flashy colors and spots…plus MILK behind him! He is out of Ruby and Indy’s quadruplets. He’s got ears for years, and a very sweet, loving personality. We had him for sale, but after further evaluation, we decided to keep him! We will use him on some of our lower-gen does. We retained have retained two of his daughters, Sandy and Sue. Sandy won Grand Champion Junior Doe in the Summer 2021 MDGA Virtual Show, and Sue won both Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion Junior Doe at the Texas Mini Milkers Texas Two-Step in Boerne, TX on May 6, 2023.

2020 TMGR Conformation Clinic Comments (Evaluator: Rebecca Nix)

“Very correct rear leg set when viewed from the side. Nice balance to the length of bone in the legs. Very nice hoof and pastern shape and length. He has a nice length of neck however I would like to see it blend more smoothly into the wither. He has a very nice back. However, I would like to see the rump a bit longer from hips to pins.

When viewed from the front the front end assembly is nice and balanced with adequate width from top to bottom however he is very deficient in depth of chest floor as evidenced by being able to see his belly from the front.

Looking over the top he has a nice shape to the rib with a nice spring to the barrel however I’d like to see him fuller in the fore rib. When viewing from the rear, he has a nice clean escutcheon however I’m not sure of his age but I would prefer to see a more developed testicle and more masculine head. He looks very refined and dairy, so would probably use this buck on heavy-boned does.”

Name Origin

Eastern Meadowlark…Or is that a Western Meadowlark? As is so often the case in central Texas, which straddles the boundary between eastern and western birds of all kinds, we have the mixed blessing of playing host to both species. “Mixed” because these two birds are nearly identical in appearance (though with distinct songs and calls), making for challenging ID– even for an experienced birder. In general, Eastern Meadowlarks can be found year-round in eastern Texas, while Western Meadowlarks are winter residents. Unlike some species with overlapping ranges, the two species of Meadowlark almost never hybridize, and in fact, will compete for nesting sites. Strangely, both Eastern and Western Meadowlarks also bear an uncanny resemblance to a totally unrelated African bird called the Longclaw, which confused the naturalist Carolus Linnaeus enough to consider the three birds part of a single species, and list the species’ range as “America, Africa.” Although the taxonomic confusion has been resolved, the mystery of the visual resemblance between Meadowlarks and Longclaws remains, as their coloration and pattern do not seem to have any adaptive advantage. Mostly inconspicuous during breeding season, both species of Meadowlark are common throughout the area in fall and winter; listen closely for a song or call to determine the species.