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The happy marriage…
…of two great English herds at Thistle Hill. TDA 31 is an embryo heifer from Goldings Farm in Cornwall and Ashott Barton Farm in Somerset. 31 is Exhibit A in what we hoped to achieve with our pursuit of pure traditional English Devon genetics. We would be hard-pressed to find some way to improve her. The dam was Goldings Norah who we discovered in Ivan Rowe’s pastures at Lands End. Ivan told told us to select any cow we wanted from his herd of more than 100 Devon. He’d wait for us back at the house. Wooz and I trudged back and forth in the rain all afternoon before settling…
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Waiting in the bullpen…
…one of our herd bulls, THF Essington. He’s five years old now and has served as our primary sire for the past two years. Essington’s dam was the daughter Brian Drake’s great English cow, Buttercup. The sire was our THF Falcon, who traces back to the Ashott Barton herd in Devon. Thanks to the mating of these two great lines in Essington, his progeny will be the mainstay of our herd for years to come. A commercial cattleman in Virginia compares Essington favorably to Rotokawa 688! Since 688 in our view is one of the top bulls in Devon history, we appreciate the compliment. Here’s a picture so you can…
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A bunch of hams…
…is what we’re raising…not baby beeves! I’d swear whenever Church unlimbers his iPhone our calves “assume the position” and proud mama poses in the background! THF 3 is a young heifer combining four of our pure traditional English Devon bloodlines: Tilbrook Cashtiller, Cutcombe Jaunty, Essington Buttercup and Ashott Barton Falcon. I’ve said before that I think this year’s calf crop may be our finest…and I place this five-month old heifer at the top of the list. My guess is she’s destined for our own herd but we encourage you to talk to Church about the entire group. After all you get to check out our new 4-wheeler! David
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Christmas gift…
A Christmas gift for TDA 35… …his very own set of two-year old heifers! We start breeding our heifers about one month ahead of the main herd. That, and holding off until they’re 2+, makes it a little easier on young, still growing females. It also increases the percentage of successful rebreeding. TDA 35 is a full brother of our wonderful English bull Highwayman. His sire was Ashott Barton’s Millennium Falcon and his dam, Goldings Norah. David
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Heading out on assignment…
…a young pure traditional Devon bull out of Ashott Barton Tulip. F100 is 25 months old and just passed his breeding soundness test. His assignment is an easy one…servicing three young cows we sold bred to Paul and Lauren Rohwer in Ijamsville, Maryland plus a few others. Those Thistle Hill heifers have all calved and are now ready for rebreeding. With both an American herd and the english bloodlines we have to maintain a large inventory of herd bulls. Church has developed an important sideline offering them at stud. F100 will stay at the Rohwers for 70 days. It’s a cost effective way to build a herd! David
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Falling behind…
…with calves coming faster than we can post them…or tag them! THF 15 (top photo) comes jammed with many of our best pure traditional English genetics…Ashott-Barton, Goldings, Cutcombe, Essington Park. He’s a 75-pound bull calf out of our English herd. THF 16 (middle photo) is a 65-pound heifer destined for our American herd. Her dam traces back to the Lenoir Creek and Lakota herds…sire is English. THF 17 (bottom photo) is a cross pairing we really like for our meat production…a combination of Devon and Senepol. The quality and yield just can’t be beat! David
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An overnight delivery…
…not sure how Church managed to find this one in the dark, but he did! And he’s special too. His working number is 12 and he’s out of Church’s personal cow…a gift from his grandmother on our last trip to England. The original dam was Ashott Barton Tulip, purchased by Wooz and then taken to Bovine Genetics where Stella Scholes bred and flushed her. The embryos were implanted here at Thistle Hill. And now those calves are having their calves…pure traditional English Devon here on American soil. Sorry for the color quality but the original is so dark nothing really shows. If it were a negative and not digital I’d…
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Standing by…
A full English bull by Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon out of Goldings Norah. An imported embryo calved and raised at Thistle Hill. Really excited to see how this young three-year old boy does this fall. TDA 35 is a full younger brother to Highwayman, and has been producing amazing calves at one of our partner farms for the past two years. Here’s to hoping the trend continues! Church Humphreys
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Two little girls are we…
…on a foggy morning. Both are about 18 months out of American Devon dams…but their English sires have had an impact! The heifer on the left is out of my personal favorite…R2…an almost after-thought purchase and a cow that was a trouble free producer of great calves for 15 years. This will be her last calf. Her sire, now sold, was an English bull Wooz called Handsome Ransom. The other heifer, against the fence, has U2 in her background…as well as two English greats…Cutcombe Jaunty and Ashott Barton Millenium Falcon. As we’ve said before, we imported English genetics because pure traditional Devon are a disappearing breed in England and here. …
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Chip off the old block…
…D168 is just four…a lovely blend of English and American genetics. Dad is our English Highwayman from the Ashott Barton and Cutcombe lines. Again we’re pleased to see the deep ruby red coloring of the English Devon passed on to the next generation. The female side is thanks to the Lenoir Creek and Lakota herds. Coincidentally, we just sold the 14-year old dam of this young cow. One of the things we like to emphasize at Thistle Hill is longevity. A 14-year old is by no means our oldest. Just the other day a 19-year old quietly went to sleep and didn’t wake up. She had been a wonderful stress-free…