THE VANISHING BLOODLINE

By Margaret Davis
Taken from the Summer 98/99 QANB Newsletter

PIXIES MERITATEN was one of the original Anglo-Nubian does imported from England to help found the breed in Australia. Unfortunately, she had only three recorded progeny, and only one of these, Wingfield Pharoah, was bred from. He went to Filleo Stud briefly before being sold to Borneo.

Through some time-consuming research, I have followed Pharoah's line through the Herd Books, and discovered that it has almost disappeared in pure AN pedigrees. I traced only the pure AN stock for two reasons:

1. It cut down on the workload by leaving out the Appendix sections and the Nu graded up stock.
2. My interest is in pure AN bloodlines.

Starting with Wingfield Pharoah, we have the following progeny recorded as pure AN:

Macfields Prince Valiant
Macfields Confidence
Filleo Jovan Mihajlo
Filleo Hadamah
Pottage Queen O'Sheba

Cross off Macfields Confidence and Filleo Mara Ivka as they had no progeny, so that leaves only four grand-children for Pixies Meritaten. Macfields Prince Valiant sired a buck Jupiter and a doe Cherie. Jupiter had no AN progeny, Cherie produced three bucks who weren't used, so that's the end of the Macfields line.

Filleo Hadamah had a daughter Hosannah, who was sold with Jovan Mihajlo to Nayr Stud in Queensland. Mihajlo had sired on buck, Filleo Ben Adam before he left, but more about Ben Adam's line later. Nayr Stud had only one buck and one doe from Hosannah and they both went to Jananna Stud in Victoria. Jovan Mihaljo sired two does, Jill had no progeny and Julie went to the Range Stud in South Australia, but her three progeny weren't bred from.

Jananna Stud did a brother sister mating with Nayr Ben and Nayr Hosannah to produce a buck, Zirra, and a doe, Jedda. Zirra sired on buck, Jananna Ben Adam, who went to Lawes College in Queensland, where he was put to a few Nu does. I have not followed this Nu line thoroughly, but on the surface, it appears to have died out after on or two generations and Lawes College did not continue with Anglo-Nubians. Jananna Jedda had one doe, El-Rikh Jal in Queensland but she was only mated to graded up bucks. No more AN descendants from Filleo Hosannah and probably no Nu lines either.

Back to Filleo Hadamah, who went to Mindara Stud in Queensland and whose line was inbred on for 20 years, producing a total number of 63 pure AN descendants. With that number you would think that Pixies Meritaten's line was finally established. Not so. Mindara sold only two of their pure AN does and both went to people who used them with graded up bucks only. A buck, Mindara Zeus, was used by Aremooc Stud, and got two-buck kids. Aremooc Trojan had a couple of matings to Nu does, but not to AN stock. The last pure AN Mindara was born in 1983, and has no record progeny, so Hadamah's line has also come to an end except in a small number of Nu Stock in Queensland.

Pottage Queen O'Sheba, the last grand-daughter of Pixies Meritaten, had a long breeding life and several owners, but she too had mostly bucks-four for Inca Stud and a buck and two does for Denham Stud. The Denham buck was Nu, and of the two does only Flannel Flower had progeny. Two of the Inca bucks also had no progeny, and the other two went to Queensland, Hoseph to Mosman Stud to sire two bucks (end of line) and Solomaon to Mindara Stud, where his line had the same fate as Filleo Hadamah's. All but Denham Flannel Flower's line are eliminated from Pottage Queen O'Sheba. Her descendants are few, but they managed to hold on over the years just avoiding extinction through Laughing Willows Stud (3) and Golden Ace Stud who obtained a buck, Golden Ace Fred, from Laughing Willows Fern. Fred sired four bucks and two does, and one of these, Golden Ace Empress has progeny. If they are still alive, Misty Ridge Fairuza born in 1984, and Scotlin Farah Diba born in 1988 are the only pure AN survivors from Pottage Queen O'Sheba in 1990. Neither has recorded progeny so far.

Getting back to Filleo Ben Adam, the last line left to trace, it is the usual story of three buck progeny and only one used by Filleo Jachin has saved the day. He is behind studs such as Stoats, Jonmar, Wiloha, Urings, Talderry, Rockbank, Meesa, Oaklands, St. Fillans, Osory, Lue and Tollendool. Sounds good, doesn't it? Up to the mid 1980's, there were a reasonable number of Jachin's line coming through the Herd Books, then a large proportion had no recorded progeny. Osory and Lue did not continue with their Jonmar line, but Osory came back to Jachin through Talderry. Osory Talitha, born 1985, is the last and there is no recorded progeny. Woongarra Stud is also using Talderry, and has Sheridan, 1983 and Sally born 1987. No recorded progeny Jual Stud in NSW may have the last pure AN survivors from Filleo Jachin, as they have the most recent registrations with two bucks and a doe born in 1988, and their dams in 1985. Unless Woongarra Sally and the Juals reproduce, the Scotlin Farah Diba, then Pixies Meritaten line may become extinct.

The question is, why has this particular bloodline failed to thrive? Malpas Melisande had only on buck, but her line is well established in pedigrees. Is there something wrong with meritaten's stock, such as poor milk production, infertility, or early deaths, or is it just co-incidence? During the many hors of studying Herd Books, I did notice an unusually high proportion of bucks produced. Also, on several occasions, the few does born were sold to new goat owners, who did one or two matings, obtained only bucks, and were never heard of again. When bigger studs dispersed, some pure AN s went to graded up herds, so it is possible that Meritaten's line may continue as Nu stock in some pedigrees.

Since the Jonmar, Talderry and Uringa lines were the most used to establish other studs such as those mentioned, I would be interested to know why people suddenly stopped using them in the mid 1980's. With so few foundation stock behind Anglo-Nubians, I feel it is important to preserve all the genetic lines possible, unless there is a serious physical problem cropping up. Pixies Meritaten's genes may be well watered down after 30 odd years, but even so, her handful of living descendants are worth continuing. It would be an irreplacable loss to let any pure AN bloodline join the ranks of Dodo.

POSTSCRIPT: Since the article above was written, it has been discovered that the line lives on through Osory Talitha's progeny. A Talitha daughter, Osory Meritaten, born July 1993, was judged Champion AN doe at the Sydney Royal in 1996 by Dulcie Richards of Glen Warri Saanens. Several members of the QANB have lines that can be traced back to Pixies Meritaten, through Osory Talitha. The line appears to be well established and is set to continue well beyond 2000