Goat of the Week - Prairie Wood No-Way Jose

Prairie Wood No-Way Jose - smiling for the camera

This edition of Goat of the Week is a sad one for me to write.  There is no other goat more prominently in my mind these days, so he is the only choice for this week's edition.  I am honoured to be able to share his story with you all.

Looking back, I don't remember the original circumstances that brought Jose to me.  I remember that there were a group of bucklings imported from the USA, and that for whatever reason the people were unable to keep them.  I was lucky to be one of the first to pick amongst these bucklings.  There was something special about him, I could tell even just from the pictures.  We were even able to pick his name.  As he came from New Mexico, we wanted something that suited.  Although we settled on Jose right away, the rest of his name took some time.  He was almost Jose Jalapeno (if Geordon got his way he would have been!) but in the end we settled on No-Way Jose.  

Jose was a couple months old by the time he finally was able to come home to us.  Right away he won us over with his sweet nature and silly antics.  Jose was incredibly playful and was always looking for someone to chase him.  He even loved jumping on the trampoline in his younger days. 

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Jose always had a very un-buck like personality.  He was sweet and cuddly, and enjoyed being brushed.  Not many will appreciate the smell that breeding male goats have.  It is not an odour that is easily removed, and is not the kind of smell you want to wear as cologne.  Intact male goats have some amazing abilities, one of which is the ability to shower in their own urine.  This smell drives the lady goats crazy!  Jose was no exception.  Although he was cleaner than my other boys, he still smelled just as bad as the rest.  Jose was always a complete gentleman with his ladies.  The trouble was, that sometimes the breedings that I hoped would happen with Jose, sometimes didn't,  Jose was a lover and not a fighter.   He would much rather cuddle and play than get into serious fights.  For this reason, my golden boy was a little tricky to breed at times.  Some of my females are a little rougher and tougher than Jose would prefer.  There were a few times over the course of his life that I was unable to breed Jose to the mate of my choosing - because he was AFRAID of them!  A perfect example of this was when I tried to breed Jose to my finished champion doe ASH Donna.  Donna head butted Jose and no matter what I did to try to intervene, he was having nothing to do with her.  He decided the best place to be was to hide behind me.  He may have even screamed a few times when she tried to hit him again lol.  She also proved that she had no interest in his "make love, not war" philosophy, and was happy to wait for a rougher, tougher kind of buck.

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Jose being grateful for his Christmas gift of Daphne

Sporting his festive Santa hat for Christmas day breeding

​Over the years, although there were a few breedings we weren't able to accomplish with Jose, we did accomplish many wonderful breedings with other does.  There are a few of his sons, and many daughters out there carrying on his lines.  We are saddened that we do not have a son of Jose to carry on his genetics here.  We do however have a few of his daughters in our herd.  His daughter Honeynut has proven to be a wonderful mother and has given birth to quads 2 years in a row.  Jose has a few younger daughters in our herd that haven't been bred yet; Hermione, Nymphadora and Arya will all carry on after him.  

Sky River Meadows Asia (left) Sky River Meadows Neveah (right)

Back when I was still showing goats, a couple of Jose's daughters did quite well in the showring as Junior does.  Sky River Meadows Asia won Jr. Reserve Champion AOP at the 2013 Brooklin Spring Fair.  Sky River Meadows Neveah won Jr. Reserve Champion Nigerian Dwarf Goat at the 2013 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.  Jose's son Sky River Meadows Hades also won a Grand Champion Nigerian Dwarf at the 2014 Eastern Ontario Buck Show in Delta, ON.  Jose lost to his son Hades in that ring, placing second behind him.  That was the same year that Jose completed his Championship legs, earning him the status of Permanent Champion.  He won 3 out of 4 rings at the 2014 Eastern National Buck Show in Delta, ON.  I had hoped to get more of his offspring into the show ring, but I have not had the time to show my goats for a few years now.  Maybe one day we will again!

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The last few years of Jose's life were spent enjoying the good life with his "bros", waiting for the special time of year when all of our boys have work to do.  Jose's temperament was so sweet that he was quite fearful of many things.  I will always miss his voice as he was a very vocal boy.  His way of hollering out whenever anything scared him always made me smile.  Jose was a beautiful boy, with the most amazing coat.  What he did not possess in brains and braun, he more than made up for with his good looks, perfect conformation and sweet disposition.  It was an absolute shock and tragedy that took him from us so soon.  Jose will forever be missed.  March 24, 2012 - November 14, 2019  RIP Jose.