-
Our cows…
…are built around the great English cow Tilbrook Cashtiller. She won three consecutive national grand championships and a host of ribbons and silver. And to top it off three of her sons were the top selling bulls in the annual Devon breeders sale. We’re indebted to Tibrook’s Gavin Hunter…who again today is serving as president of the British Society …for permitting us to flush Cash twice! TDA 7 was out of that first flush 12 years ago and not showing her age. Her sire was another British champion, Cutcombe Jaunty. Cashtiller is gone now but we have several of her daughters and granddaughters and other descendants in our herd…and some…
-
Our bulls…
…have become an increasingly important part of our operation…not only joining herds from Canada to Louisiana but as leased sires to smaller farms that can’t justify a full-time bull. Right now we have eight bulls at work for Thistle Hill…and a dozen more in the development stage. Our bull pen is still headed by Highwayman, sired by the English bull Millennium Falcon. The dam was from the Goldings herd of the legendary cattleman Ivan Rowe. Ivan gave us the pick of his herd and smiled a rare smile when we selected Norah. It was the only pedigree that he had carried in his pocket. Ivan judged many breeds in his…
-
Making history postscript…
…includes selecting the “cover bull”…that’s the bull that checks for open cows…the ones that didn’t take in Artificial Insemination or Embryo Transplant. Selected for the job this year is Prince…the son of the last cow Wooz selected on our final trip to England. Prince is from Ashott Barton’s Tulip line. His sire another favorite Cutcombe Jaunty. We generally wait at least a week before bringing the bull to the herd. Many breeders release the cow right out of the chute to the bull but Church feels traces of heat can remain. Whether AI or transplant, we think it’s best to allow the embryo to firmly settle. It also provides separation in…
-
The one that got away…
…almost. Some years ago we were very pleased with our Sunset bulls from Gavin Hunter ‘s Tilbrook Herd in England. So were others and one day we realized we had sold the last of the blood line. Thanks to AI tanks we have just solved the problem. Church found some Sunset semen in an old Folly Farm tank and Sunset is back on our pastures…in the form of this three-month old bull calf. Making this an all the more exciting mating…we AI-ed Sunset to our new young Tulip cow. She’s from the Ashott Barton herd in England. We’ve barely finished this year’s calving and it’s already time to start planning…
-
Home again…
…are three yearling bulls who were at summer camp…actually the pasture owned by neighbors, the Rowland’s. Truthfully I’m not sure which is which….but these are sons of some great English herd genetics such as Champson, Essington Park and Ashott Barton. We take our young cows away for the summer to ease the pressure on our grass. That also means more here in our stockpile and easier to supplement with hay. David
-
Back in the bull pen…
…and oblivious to his achievements in the pasture…is TDA35. This young bull has sired this year’s heifer candidates. The son of Goldings Norah by Ashott Barton Falcon..TDA 35 has an outstanding background on paper. This is his first real test. David
-
Let the calving begin…
…and we start with our first-calf heifers. F21 is a Bribery embryo daughter and this is first born…a little heifer by a young Thistle Hill bull out of Goldings Norah. In fact this is a combination of the herds of many of our great English partners…Cutcombe, Ashott Barton and Goldings. It’s great fun now that our English herd is maturing to begin to paint our own history with them at Thistle Hill! Only 26 more calves to go! David
-
Closing the circle…
Bribery is her name and we spotted her grand dam on our first visit to Ashott Barton farm in England 10 years ago. The breeder, Shiamala Comer, didn’t want to submit her best cow to the rigors of flushing. Fast forward 5 years and on our last trip to England , Wooz and Church convinced Shiamala to part with two heifers, one Bribery’s daughter. What followed then was a convoluted journey to overcome England’s export ban. In brief, we sold the heifers to a friendly English cattleman…flushed them…bought back the embryos…and shipped them to Thistle Hill to implant in our cows. And here stands the result…our Bribery, in an unbroken…
-
Waiting for the jury…
…well actually TDA35 is waiting for his first Thistle Hill calves…due in a few months. We’ve loaned him out to neighbors in the past who had just a few cows. 35 is the result of a mating between two great traditional Devon herds…Goldings in Cornwall and Ashott Barton in Sometset. Church was pleased with the results our neighbors got. If we like his Thistle Hill calves we’ll consider whether to promote him to cover the main herd later this year. What looks good on paper doesn’t always turn out in the real world. David
-
The time capsule…
…F212 carries genetics from many of the milestones in the 20-year history of Thistle Hill Devon. 212 is the daughter of Lakota 180…a natural daughter who until she died recently at the age of 19, had produced some of our best bull calves. So when 212 came along we grabbed her and now have great hopes for this young cow. On the other side, her sire was Highwayman…an English cow by Ashott-Barton Millenium Falcon. And now, to top it off, she is expecting a calf by Lakota P60, one of the finest meat sires in the breed! So if there’s a legacy cow on our pastures it is 212…with an…