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What Barn Owl Dairy Goats has to say about Elena (the following statement and more images can be found HERE.


"According to our relief-milker Ruthie, Elena is a “stud-muffin.” Easily our tallest, longest, and most elegant doe, Elena exemplifies dairy character, sharpness, and levelness. Likewise, Elena’s progeny have been consistent with continuing this superb dairy character. However, we have only her 2011 doeling Kerrigan in our ownership, as Elena has proven to be our most popular doe with other breeders and her many daughters and sons have flourished in herds throughout the country. Elena was also Mariah’s showmanship doe, following after her sister Surya and dam Katya—a family of does that helped Mariah to win four National Champion Showmanship titles (1998, 2002, 2003, & 2005). Making this a line that is practically legendary for their superb personality.

By the time Elena passed on at 15 years old on our 2018 Linear Appraisal day, she truly had become a legend in and of herself.

Our tribute when she died: Elena did amazing all winter long, finally finding her maternal instincts when she adopted a solo November-born baby doe as her own, and never lost her fiesty streak as she reminded granddog Jaeger who was boss at every opportunity (yes, a 14-year old doe chased a terrier up the driveway nipping at his tail). She loved her senior citizen treats, but the heat was not her friend and a fast decline in the past month led to her quietly saying good bye just hours before our Appraisal session started. Because it was Appraisals, Mariah and others were here to say goodbye and thankfully she seemed to be in no serious pain, it was just time to fade away. She was Mariah’s last showmanship goat, winning together the 2005 ADGA Senior Showmanship Champion title, and daughter of Mariah’s first national-winning showmanship doe Katya in 1998, making white, wattled does a bit of her trademark. She was beloved by all our local help,even nicknamed “the studmuffin” by a family friend. While it is never easy to say goodbye, especially to a doe who has been with us for the majority of our herd’s incarnation and is literally in many of our family portraits, getting to show off her daughter Edelina (3-3 FS91 EEEE) and granddaughter Eliona (1-6 FS88 VEEE) today reminded us that the greatest gift of farm life is that the cycle of life keeps cycling. Thank you Elena for all the time you gave us, you were so much more than just another goat."

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