-
Ladies in waiting…
…have been moved to the pasture closest to the house where we can keep an eye on them. It’s interesting that none of the cows in this picture is actually grazing…they’ve all adopted that far-off stare of cows waiting for birth. That event begins in just a few days! Keeping an eye on them has suddenly taken on added meaning. Two nearby farms have been struck by cattle rustlers and we’ve all gone on alert. With the number of expert marksmen on these farms, the rustlers are playing a dangerous game. Son Church, while standing in front of our house, once hit a fox 300 yards away running across this…
-
Upgrading some pastures…
…and using a no-till drill. In addition to clover, which we often spread, this year we’re mixing in perennial rye, cereal rye, turnips, radishes and cow peas. We’re doing several pastures hoping to extend the natural grazing season. Not only should it mean extra nourishment for mama and calf in the winter slump but some of these plants put down very deep roots. The theory is that will loosen the compacted soil and bring more minerals closer to the surface to feed the plants. It also should help capture rain water, limiting the effects of drought. As they say on television…”only time will tell”! David
-
The class of ‘21…
…welcomed to the Perrine’s nearby Slainte farm by the year around dog in charge, Molly. This group of 14 includes both heifers and steers. The Perrines and their neighbors, the Ferro’s, have been taking our young calves for a number of years. That larger calf to the right is a Devon-Senepol cross…a testimony to the magnifying effect of heterosis or out-crossing. The mama cows remain at Thistle Hill and they’ll be delivering new babies in about two months. Separating these calves enables us to bring bulls to the main herd for rebreeding. Incidentally these calves aren’t the entire class of ‘21. There are another 7 that have moved under the…
-
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
-
It’s been almost a year…
…since the birth of what we hope will be another line of pure, traditional English Devon at Thistle Hill. H364 was sired by Champson Defender via AI ten months ago and is now ready to be weaned. He was an early success story for Church, who is now waiting for Defender #2 to calve in October. Pure Devon genetics are increasingly difficult to find. Even some English breeders we know have given up because bulls are in such short supply there. Seeing what was happening, in both England and the States, Wooz and I decided we would create a living archive here in Virginia. David
-
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…
-
Free at last…
…with everyone in the family safely vaccinated, I was finally able to escape my senior residence for the first time in almost exactly a year. Naturally it was this year’s calf crop that interested me most. They’re five months old now and a rewarding bunch of prospects. Church’s favorite is THF 3…the daughter of TDA Cashtiller 4 and our Essington bull. She’s the latest in our line of pure traditional English calves. I was taken by this Bribery heifer..a combination of four great English herds. She’s two-years old…and perhaps in-calf. And she was the last mating Wooz and Church selected on our final visit to England. We were in agreement…
-
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
-
The final three…