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A Traditional Devon milestone….
….readers of this blog know that Thistle Hill, in cooperation with two other American breeders, has been selecting the best of pure English genetics (semen and embryos) and importing them. The project is now 3 years old and our first heifers have finally been delivered to the vet for breeding. The heifers are out of the English champion Tilbrook Cashtiller, who we bred to a great English bull, Cutcombe Jaunty. The embryos were brought here and implanted in recips. We decided to take the heifers to the vet because the early winter weather has been so unreliable we couldn’t be sure the AI process, once started, could be completed. In…
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The Cashtiller legacy….
….we mentioned the passing of Tilbrook Cashtiller the other day but also the fact that Traditional Devon America has some of her calves on the ground. This is TDA3 at Walker Century Farms in South Carolina. (click on picture to enlarge) Her sire is Cutcombe Jaunty….another English great….and the result is a “meatier” animal than Cashtiller. TDA3 and four of her sisters will be bred in just a few days to Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon. Now that’s also something to look forward to!
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Tilbrook Cashtiller, R.I.P…..
The great English champion Tilbrook Cashtiller has been put down. She was the prettiest cow I have ever seen. Cashtiller campaigned in British shows for several years and was never beaten. A great moment came at a Royal Cornwall show where she was named not only champion cow but Grand Champion. Her ribbons, silver trophies and plates could fill a room at owner Gavin Hunter’s home….and do. When the partners of Traditional Devon America saw Cashtiller first in 2010, they nervously broached the subject of flushing her for embryos….but Gavin quickly and generously agreed. “Cash” more than cooperated, providing us with 25 embryos. Right now we have 7 of her…
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Speaking of England….
….Bill Walker weighs in with a recent picture of Traditional Devon’s TDA 3, now exactly two years old and we’re about to breed her. “3” is, of course, out of Tilbrook Cashtiller by Cutcombe Jaunty. Doesn’t get any better than that!
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They tried to tell us….
….we’re too young. Clearly time to split these two up! That’s Thistle Hill Babette snuggling up to our TDA bull Churchill. Actually, Churchill will be going off this week….to North American Breeders where we’ll be collecting him….not for sale but for protection. Traditional Devon America (TDA)….a partnership of three breeders…wants to be sure to preserve the Devon genetics we’ve gathering on our trips to southwest England.
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My how she’s grown….
….one of our English Devon….a Tilbrook Cashtiller heifer….in residence at Walker Century Farms in South Carolina. TDA 03 is approaching two and we’ll soon be breeding her to a Tilbrook bull, Sunset. Three of 03’s flush sisters are here at Thistle Hill, and we’ll be AI-ing them to Sunset as well. Traditional Devon is a partnership of three farms, all working together to find pure English Devon genetics for import into the United States.
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Cashtiller keeps on giving….
….it was love at first sight when I first saw Tilbrook Cashtiller in the yard at Gavin Hunter’s Tilbrook Grange. She became the foundation cow for a partnership with two other breeders that we named Traditional Devon America. TDA now has seven of her cows on the ground here in the States thanks to embryo transplant; three more are on the way; and eight embryos remain in the canister. Cashtiller is 13 years old now and this is her latest calf, a heifer. Gavin says this one was a little tougher for her and he’s not sure he wants to breed her again. As Wooz commented, “This is what she…