Monday, July 28, 2008

Tonka Tails Court Jester, the Bizmark of the 2000s

This is *B Tonka Tails Court Jester. He is arguably the most influential buck of this decade. And he figures prominantly in the pedigrees of elite animals in the breed and in my own herd as well.

The founding buck of my herd: *B FDF-Pleasant Fields Solaris was the last son of two time national reserve champion in the '90s, GCH Destiny Farm Souvenir *M 91EEEE. The sire of Solaris was a grandson of Tonka Tails Court Jester.

My new buck, *B Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete is grandson of Court Jester as well. His sire White Haven Sousa 92EEE is a Court Jester son.

On their website Dauberts a few years ago mentioned that they still had Court Jester but he appeared to be sterile. That must not have been the case because he sired more kids in the last few years, including a spotlight animal. When someone on OberhasliTalk asked about a picture of Court Jester, Dauberts made a rare post and said that he is still alive and looking great. That was about this time last year. I sure hope he is still alive and kicking. Jester was collected and there is still some semen around that people are using from time to time on their best does.

Just as an example or two, here are some winning animals at 2008 nationals and how they are related to Court Jester. Ober-Boerd Jayda was the eye popping gorgeous yearling daughter of Tonka Tails Tipperary Prince, a Court Jester son. A CJ 3year old daughter was 14 place, SG Tonka Tails's Jester's Vanity. First place 4 year old was SGCH Tonka Tails Violet of Toulouse (a former National junior champion) is a grand daughter out of SGCH Tonka Tails Jester's Mischief who is a high scoring excellent doe but I'm not sure of the score right now. There are more; these are just a couple.

These are my observations and opinions. If you want to agree or disagree or if you know of an euqlly influential buck compared to Court Jester, please post a comment I would love to read it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is some more information on relatives of Court Jester:

Dam: SGCH Tonka-Tails Parson's Divinity is a multiple National Champion. Her Final Score is 91 VEEE

Sire: Destiny-Farms Star Man was a Spotlight Sale buck himself

Maternal Sister: SGCH Tonka-Tails Divined Rapsody has a final score 91 EEEE she achieved in 2008 while milking through. She was also 3rd place at nationals with 3rd udder, and also received the High Lifetime Milk and Lifetime Butterfat Awards. She was Grand Champion and Best of Breed at the Minnesota State Fair in 2007, and was the District 5 Oberhasli Speciality Best of Breed in 2008. Her daughter, CH Tonka-Tails Woodwind Melody was the D5 Grand Champion, and had an appraisal score of 89 VEVE as a first freshening two year old.

Daughter: SGCH Jester's Mischief is arguably the best Jester Daughter. She has produced two National winning daughters-> Tonka-Tails Violet of Toulouse (mentioned in original post) was a Junior National Champion (Toulouse is also the dam of the 2008 Junior National Champion, Tonka-Tails Yorkshire Violet) and SG Tonka-Tails Victoria Ann, who was the 2007 Reserve National Champion, while milking through. Last time Mischief was shown at Nationals, in 2006, she was 2nd place with 2nd udder, as a 7 year old doe. In 2005, she was named Best of Breed, Best of Udder of Breed, Best in Show, and Best Udder in Show at the Chippewa Valley DGA Summer Show in Ladysmith, WI!
Her final score is 91 VEEE

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for pointing out the excellence of the Court Jester daughters and their exceptional and consistent success in the show ring at the highest levels.

Court Jester is in my opinion at the heart of the Oberhasli breed right now through his offspring and related does.

Kirt Snipke has a CJ son, Prince. Heaven's Hollow has a CJ son, Sousa. I have a CJ gr-son, Pistol Pete. Siders have a wonderful CJ son Sir Pembleton, who is making his own name in the milk records. I'm sure there are many more who escape my memory right now. There was another CJ buck in this area a while back who was in the herd of Shawna Guffy.

There were CJ animals born this past year through AI who have all the promise in the world. There is still some precious CJ semen out there. So at least for the future, the CJ legacy goes on.

Abby said...

Great article. Without a doubt, Court Jester is one of the best Oberhasli bucks. I'd also like to mention Lyme Kiln SM Hans Michael. He sired 5 time National Champion Cherry Pie, and he is just as legendary. We are lucky to have a buck out of him right now. He lingers in many of our goats' pedigrees, and he has formed the basis of our herd. Sousa is an excellent buck, as well. Our best buck we ever had, Artero, was out of Sousa before he became popular. But nevertheless, Court Jester is one of the best bucks ever, in my opinion. We are expecting kids out of him this year! AI has worked wonders.

Linda Oliver and Robert Stidham said...

Court Jester's reputation keeps growing and growing. He certainly was a star in his day.

Re: Hans Michael. Yes, Indeed. It's hard to find a pedigree that doesn't have Hans Michael in it. If you go to ADGA genetics and pull up Shotsi's inbreeding HM is right at the top of her ancestors.

Go over and do the same for her herdmate Jezabell and again HM at the top.

You have to watch out for an occasional white coming thru if you breed him to west coast lines, but he's a fabulous buck.

Brandi Giachino said...

I have a buck named Tonka-Tails Rebel of Wicklow that is a 3/4 brother to Tonka-Tails Victoria Ann. He is also the paternal grandsire of Tonka-Tails Yorkshire Violet. I really believe in this buck, though many people seem to have their doubts for some reason. I have 5 milking daughters. They are all very consistent in type and milk production. I am thrilled to see that you appreciate these lines too. I also have a 2 year old Jester son. His first kid was born last week. Very pretty little doe. We'll see what Jester does in 2011 when she freshens. :-)