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Coping with the cold….
….hasn’t quite been the proverbial “piece of cake”. Wooz has done pretty well and of course I’m inside the tractor. Here she checks our first-calf heifers to see how they withstood below zero temperatures the night before. When it gets this cold we do relent and give the young ladies some grain….not only to stay warm but help with their first re-breeding. If this looks like pretty meager fare, it is; less than two pounds per cow. (Wooz gets a little more) They’re also getting high quality alfalfa-mix hay and we believe that helps them through the cold, too.
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Two that got away….
….that Regina Tesnow is a sharpie! She snapped up two of our really good, older cows awhile back. And they didn’t let her down. On the left is Thistle Hill Shenandoah and on the right Thistle Hill Brandy Station. They’re both two now and ready for breeding. Both were sired by our herd bull U2 Double Trouble. He’s made a big impact on our herd, too, and will be going back into the herd this week once we let the AI work settle. Actually, it sometimes pains Wooz, but it is our policy to sell our good animals. We always save one to protect the line, but after that we…
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“Mad cow” in Germany….
….for the first time in five years, a case of “Mad Cow” disease has been discovered in Germany and several of her offspring did make it into the food chain. Others were still on the farm, but the story doesn’t say if they were infected. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-18/germany-finds-mad-cow-disease-in-bovine-in-first-case-since-2009.html If you read carefully, you can see that the experts really don’t know what causes “Mad Cow”…..generally it is claimed it is due to contaminated feed…or feed made from animal by-products. My own non-expert opinion, with absolutely no scientific training, is that the “experts” should consider the pesticides that are routinely sprayed on commercial cows….particularly those that attack the nervous system. Examining the chemicals…
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The best things in life are….
….made with grass fed beef! Like this beef stew. (Pardon me, my daughter the English major may see this: Such as this beef stew!) And it was only the proverbial “gilding the lily” to toss in some Hennessey’s. We first tasted it at Linda Maurer’s house, she of Springhaven Farm near Madison (sorry, address not available), and it was absolutely the best stew we ever had. Linda being a dear friend, and quavering only slightly due to the gun pointed at her, volunteered to share her recipe. She called it “Parker’s Beef Stew”. Well, being a fanatic about such little things I had to track down “Parker”. Turns out he was a…
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Where to begin….
….well, to coin a phrase, “start at the beginning”. Posting has been non-existent for almost a month, but not because there’s been nothing to report. It’s breeding season and Wooz here discusses strategy with our vet, Dr. Monica O’Brien. AI comes first, and we’re using two sires across some of our best cows: Traditional Devon’s Falcon (our English bull) and Rotokawa 243, who has given us some wonderful calves in the past. After that, came sorting the herd into groups….getting the right bulls with the right females. In all, we’ll be using four bulls this time: Jackpot and U2 plus limited use of two Traditional Devon bulls, a son of…
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From our house to yours…..
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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A bacon explosion!
I yield to no man in my love of bacon! (As long as it is Tamworth bacon!) But these folks do seem to be carrying their passion a bit far. You may want to file this away for warmer weather. http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/
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Why didn’t we do this sooner?
Workmen lower a propane tank into place to power Thistle Hill’s new 20kw emergency generator. Until now we’ve made do with an older and smaller version that could not supply all our appliances, particularly 5 freezers, at the same time. Just as bad was walking down the hill to the pump house when there was snow and ice and messing with jerry cans of gasoline. This unit has all the bells and whistles including automatic start when it senses a failure in the power line. Somehow it also phases in the freezers so not all the compressors hit at the same time. Let it snow, let it snow……
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I’m from the government…..
…and I’m here to protect you. Not! The USDA is announcing a plan to open our markets to cattle and beef from Brazil….despite the fact that that country is plagued by Foot and Mouth Disease…the most deadly disease that can infect cattle. Apparently the plan is to chop down the prices US cattlemen have been getting for beef. Brazil’s herd is about three times the size of the American herd, so this should do it. Thanks to Bill Roberts for this link: http://r-calfusa.com/news_releases/2013/131220-Brazil.htm When they get here, the meat and live animals will presumably be inspected by the same crack teams that have passed these chickens. (not to mention all…
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‘Tis the season….
an entry in a Christmas parade in England. (from the Farmers Weekly)