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A virtual hug…
…to three families who welcome Thistle Hill cows to their property. We couldn’t operate the way we do without them. Mary Schindling Perrine sent this view of her farm…our cows in the foreground…Cobbler Mountain at sunrise. Confederate raider John Mosby—the Gray Ghost—always made his getaways to Cobbler and the Union troops could never catch him. The Perrines…and the Ferro’s adjacent…provide us with 20 acres of pasture for our young heifers. We’re convinced that the tender and personal care of these two couples make our young ones even more gentle. Could I say our calves our “house broke”? Well, grandchild broke anyway. Just around the corner, the Rowland’s are keeping a…
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At the heart of our herd…
TDA7, daughter of the great Tilbrook Cashtiller who is still the finest cow of any breed we’ve ever seen! We flushed Cashtiller twice in England and nine years ago TDA7 was born here along with five sisters and two brothers. TDA7, like her mama, has aged gracefully…udders still as correct as a three-year-old. Our friend and veteran cattleman Bill Roberts spotted 7’s dam Cashtiller on a visit to Gavin Hunter’s Tillbrook farm near Cambridge, England, and his judgment was confirmed by pictures and then our first visit along with 50 other Devon breeders on the 2010 tour. It was then that we formed a friendship with Tillbrook’s Gavin Hunter and…
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End of the trek…
…we take this for granted now but it is quite an advantage to raising Devon…particularly Thistle Hill Devon. Here the herd has moved itself from one of our main pastures to another…perhaps a half mile with lots of tempting grass in-between…but they trust Church and don’t break ranks. (Looks like they’ve survived the winter pretty well, too!) David
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Happy new year…at last…
…the scene we wait all winter to see! The main Thistle Hill herd moving from the western to eastern pastures to begin strip grazing. Here temporary fencing already has been put in place. That will allocate roughly one acre paddocks per day. The confined space increases the trampling effect….the cows pointed toes grinding in some of the grass…the result is organic matter and food for the soil. This is the first pass over the eastern pasture…and if Mother Nature is good…there’ll be one and maybe two more. That’s Church…our manager/foreman…supervising the herd. Someone tell him he needs a haircut! (Inside family joke) David
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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…
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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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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…