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Send me in coach…
…our pure traditional English bull Essington is ready for his assignment as this year’s cover bull for the main herd. We’ve AI-ed 26 of 40 cows and it will be up to Essington to cover the rest and any of the AI-s that didn’t take. It’s the first time we’ve tested him. His dam was Brian Drake’s Buttercup by Shiamala Comer’s Millennium Falcon…both renowned English breeders who insisted on traditional values. David
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Breeding…part three…
…and now it gets really interesting…starting in the pre-dawn darkness… and a pasture alive with blinking red lights. It’s the heat detectors…right on schedule at 48 hours. When a cow goes into heat, another mounts it, crushing the chemical patch on its rump. One of Carolyn’s jobs is thawing the semen straws. That’s what that pot next to her arm is for. No time to waste! And the deed is done. But it’s a slow process at the end…finding just the right spot…then pushing the plunger to deposit the semen. It’s a process that’s repeated 29 times over three days…matching cow, heat, and the right bull. Hard work…and cold…but satisfying.…
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Breeding step two…
…is very much a family affair. The herd has to be brought in from the pasture and sorted to isolate the target cows. We started in the dark, in a light rain. Grandson Church is really in charge now. He administers a shot of lutalyze which will bring the cow into heat in 48-72 hours. Dad Curt (in background) is the Chief Wrangler, bringing the designated cows into the chute. Mom Carolyn is “manning” the headgate. Gotta grab ‘em just right or it’s back around and try again. How many farms have a gynecological cancer surgeon in their crew? The final step: putting an alarm patch on the rump. When…
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Let the fun begin…
…Church moves the first group of cows into the chute to begin the process of artificial insemination. This will be his first solo effort and he’s set an ambitious schedule…almost 30 heifers and cows to bring into heat. Included in the group is a wonderful English bull whose semen, unfortunately, did not score very high. But we wanted to give it a try. We’re also going to experiment with another breed—-British White—-as a terminal sire to gage its impact on meat yield. Here the cows are receiving hormone shots to trigger cycling. There’s a two-day wait before actual insemination. Church took a course this summer in artificial insemination and got…
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Parade of bulls…
…TDA Ransom…a Wooz favorite maybe because his mama was Goldings Snowdrop…selected by her when the “wise old men” of the partnership were favoring others. She called him “Handsome Ransom”…and saw something in him even in his awkward teenage years. He’s come into his own now though Wooz is no longer with us to say I told you so. (That wouldn’t be like her anyway!) We keep eight to ten bulls in the same pasture. Why is it when they reach their prime they invariably stand apart and spend most of the day posing? Ransom’s sire is the great Millennium Falcon. David
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Meeting of the braintrust…
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Parade of cows…
…time to get back to business with a quick look at our main herd. Leading the way to fresh grass is an English pure traditional Devon, TDA 5. She was originally assigned to our partner John Forelle’s care. The cow right behind is an American Devon whose tag is illegible. But you can appreciate the uniformity. Our aim is to produce moderate-sized animals… ”sturdy” Wooz would call them…thick and deep to my eye. Grandson Church will start breeding about Thanksgiving, starting with the heifers. A family meeting is scheduled soon to finalize the pairings. The cows condition is (are?) just about perfect…a tribute to Church’s first year as herd manager.…
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Parade of bulls…G101…
…is a pure traditional English calf just 10 months old. Again note the deep ruby red coat..a distinguishing feature of a pure Devon. G101 is a grandson of Ashott Barton Millenium Falcon who we spotted in Cornwall and is the bull that got us started in importing English genetics. His dam is TDA 4…a cow that has produced for us consistently. She was a daughter of the famed English cow Tilbrook Cashtiller, who won three grand championships before retiring undefeated. Cashtiller and Falcon are found throughout our herd now and we’re indebted to our English partners Gavin Hunter and Shiamala Comer for sharing their genetics with us. Sadly many English…
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Parade of bulls…
…features a relative newcomer who is pure traditional English on both sides. He’s F65; one month past his first birthday. F65’s dam is Essington Buttercup, from one of England’s oldest and finest Devon herds…one that sadly was dispersed a few years ago with the retirement of owner Brian Drake. The sire was our major herd bull Thistle Hill Churchill. He in turn is the son of Tilbrook Cashtiller…the award “winningest” Devon cow in recent English history. In fact four of her sons topped successive sales and our Churchill is their half brother. F65 has quite a lot to live up to! David
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To be honest…
…we weren’t planning on becoming a unique source for pure traditional English genetics. That came later when we realized pure Devon genetics were becoming a rarity, even in England. Originally, we just wanted to see whether infusing those English bloodlines into our herd of American Devon would be worth the trouble. King David provides the answer. This two-year old bull out of THF X2a by the Traditional English Devon bull Victory has already produced his first calf crop…and they’re winners! And he’s still got a lot of growing to do. If you’ve bred your herd into a box we recommend considering a bull like Victory. We have several to choose…