BREAKTHROUGH!!!!….

….just before 2015 joined us, we got the welcome, long-delayed news that all our English embryos, tied up for almost two years, had finally arrived in the United States.

So we can now hope that some “Little Norahs” will soon be capering around the pastures.  That’s “Big Norah” on the right and her breeder, Ivan Rowe of Goldings Farm in Cornwall.  Norah, Buttercup and Snowdrop had been quarantined thanks to a minute gnat that carried the Schmallenburg virus across the Channel.

The virus can cause birth defects and even death in calves and, because it was something of a mystery to the experts, they closed down the export of all genetic material.  British authorities decided months back that the situation was under control, but the USDA took some convincing and quite a few tests before lifting the ban.  The doctors on both sides of the Atlantic we dealt with to resolve the situation were all professional, cooperative and quite firm.  Bureaucrats that were a pleasure to deal with, even as we lost round after round.

For those who are new to the subject, Thistle Hill formed a partnership with two other Devon farms to import pure English Devon genetics because the breed is being diluted overseas and we felt it was important to protect the traditional “real thing”.

Seven Devon farmers who, like Ivan, shared our passion went out of their way to open their pastures (and their homes) to us in our search for just the right pedigrees.  Cows and bulls were paired up over there, the cows flushed, and the embryos sent here for implantation.  We were about half-completed when the Schmallenburg virus struck.

The heroine in all this was Stella Scholes of Bovine Genetics in England.  She runs the clinic where we did all our embryo work and she kept after the officials, handled the lab work and the paperwork, until finally she had her “charges” on the plane and headed to the Colonies.  I think the picture shows exactly what a delightful and competent person she is.