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I’m confused…
…and understandably! About four inches of snow sandwiched between 60- and 70-degree days. One of Thistle Hill’s fine young American bulls trying to figure out the recent change-able weather. He’s a combination of excellent bloodlines from Rotokawa and Lakota. And he’s one we not only use ourselves but loan to small farms who can’t manage a full-time bull. Contact Church for his and other availabilities. David
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Parade of (baby) bulls…
…features three of the yearling bulls we’re holding back to see how they develop. The first is the final pairing Wooz selected on her last trip to England. His dam comes from the famous Tulip line. The breeder resisted collecting her and after some to and fro, we bought her outright! Then we had to figure out the complexities of owning a single cow…both physically and legally. We are greatly indebted to Tilbrook’s Gavin Hunter for providing the umbrella and eventually the transport to the clinic where Tulip was flushed to Cutcombe Jaunty. Gavin also arranged a permanent home for Mom. Too bad we couldn’t have arranged a Thistle Hill…
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King David on assignment…
…we’re fortunate to have some cooperative farmers to handle our heifers (and keep them away from the bulls)! But this is NOT that time of year. Here is the King (2nd from right), a half English Devon bull from the old Essington Park herd, and his harem of eight English and American heifers. Between munches he can be heard saying “tough work but somebody’s got to do it”. If you’ve been wondering: yes there’s a plan in our breeding. We start with the heifers and then the artificial insemination before moving to the main herd. That spaces the calving so we are generally watching the right cows at the right…
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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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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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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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The parade of bulls…
…this time features a young bull exactly one year old, F100. He’s a combination of English genetics. The sire is the great English champion Cutcombe Jaunty. The dam was selected by Wooz on what turned out to be her final visit to England. She choose an Ashott Barton Tulip heifer which in turn we mated to Jaunty. All this in a clinic outside Oxford. The resultant embryo was shipped to Virginia where we implanted it in a top Thistle Hill cow…in our Rotokawa line, in turn from New Zealand. That recip is a vital part of the whole process. So there you have F100…a citizen of the world! When we…
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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…
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Reddi for action…
Not a misprint; that’s his name! He was Red Lad when he left Thistle Hill several years ago for Spring Pastures Farm near Middleton, Maryland. There, Brooke Henley immediately dubbed him Reddi. He was a well-mannered young man…one of Wooz’ favorites. Now with 19 progeny on the ground and more to come, Brooke and her husband Tom Garnett have regretfully decided he should move on. In fact since this picture was taken, Reddi has already been sold to Keystone Farms in Pennsylvania. The nice things Brooke says, coupled with “gushing” reviews of Thistle Hill bulls from Clark Farms, a commercial Angus operation in southwestern Virginia, prompts us to launch a…