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Mission accomplished….
….we’ve just returned from delivering a load of six females to South Carolina, to Linda Hendrix and her son Dr. John Hendrix. Their farm in Pacolet is rapidly becoming Thistle Hill South. The shipment included four bred heifers, being off-loaded here by our good friend, Glen Covington, who in real life manages our local co-op. For some reason, he enjoys long distance driving as much as I try to avoid it. Included in the load was a lovely young heifer out of Thistle Hill’s “Niner Magic”, who is one of our three lead herd bulls. And this little one keeps intact the record of our “64” cow, who only knows…
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What does the “proper” Devon look like…
….well, this is what a “good one” looked like 120 years ago. She’s Flower the 2nd, winner of the Gold Medal from the Royal Agricultural Society in 1889. Her breeder was Sir William Williams, Baronet, of Heanton, Barnstaple. There’s an on-going debate within the two Devon associations over breed “standards” but we think this female could well be the model. (click to enlarge) Thanks to Juliet Cleave of Cornwall, one of our English partners in Traditional Devon America, for the picture. She sent along a string of old pictures which we’ll be posting in coming days.
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We are about cows, after all….
….and we don’t want to get too far off subject. Here’s an English Devon cow on baby-sitting assignment in Cornwall. She’s from the Kew herd, of course, and our favorite Cornwall lass, Juliet Cleave.
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Duh….
….it is good we have government and university (but I repeat myself) studies. Turns out that animals do better with clean water. Who would have ever thunk it? http://news.psu.edu/story/277672/2013/05/22/campus-life/study-suggests-dairy-herd-water-quality-linked-milk-production Pretty soon you’ll be required to have a university degree and a government license to raise a cow. Did I just give them an idea? Thanks to Dr. Sue Beal for the link.
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Keeping her young….
….though she didn’t seem to appreciate my thoughtfulness. Wooz getting plenty of fresh air and exercise this morning, cutting the wrapping on a bale of hay for the main herd. I’m supervising from the warmth of the tractor cabin. Michael Ortwein may be proud of his horned steer doing the same job; but I’ll put up Wooz and her knife against him anytime. The main herd had weathered the storm over the hill and it’s quite a climb in difficult footing. The only thing worse would have been for us to have tried to take the tractor with the half-ton bale of hay down the steep hill.
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Yes you can….
….find happiness away from home. Thistle Hill’s 312 certainly has in the pastures of Tomina Farm. Of course, Regina Tesnow really pampers her cows and 312…now nicknamed “Chantilly“…has fit right into the Tomina herd. Wooz has always insisted we be careful in placing her girls and she’s become a big fan of Regina’s for the way she’s handled the adoptions. (If you look carefully, you’ll see tiny hooves behind Chantilly. We had to delay shipment until the calf was born.)
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A trip to the salon….
….yes, sometimes some cows need a pedicure. Regina Tesnow of Tomina Farms sends a photo of one of her animals getting a trim. Look carefully, or enlarge the picture, to see the hooves jutting out. The cow has been walked into a chute that is actually a tilt table. She was turned on her side for the work. Most cows don’t seem to really mind, though Regina says they’re sure in a hurry to get back in the trailer and head home! When hooves need trimming at Thistle Hill, we just bring the cow into the chute, tie her leg off the ground, and the vet does the job. We’ve found…
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You can go home again…
….at least if you’re Thistle Hill’s Q25. She was born on this same pasture seven years ago…sold to John and Teri Guevremont’s Reality Farm of nearby Sperryville, Virginia three years ago…and now returned here for mating with one of our bulls. Q25 is one cow we should have never let get away. With the superb Rotokawa 667 on both sides of her pedigree, we sold her with an outstanding bull calf that John and Teri are now using on their grass-based Angus herd. Hopefully, we’ll be able to arrange for his temporary return as well. It’s a line we’d like to re-establish here. Reality Farm is our preferred source for…
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We’ve been busy….
…both on and off the farm. But here’s our pre-occupation right now at Thistle Hill: welcoming new calves to our world. It’s the most special time of the year. This is our seventeenth calf so far, a heifer, by one of our best cows. The sire is U2, which means she has Rotokawa 974 in her blood. The calf is still wet and a bit wobbly. Wobbly is good when you have to tag a new-born. A few more hours and she would have been too “mobile” to catch and we would have had to wait to catch her sleeping. A tag snapped into your ear comes under the heading…
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Those who can’t….
….well you know the rest. And it’s certainly true in the cattle business. Some of the best-known consultants have never really successfully managed a herd, much less produced a notable cow. You can check. But here’s a Devon cow bred by a consultant, Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grassland Beef, that would be a star in any herd. Her name is 12 Stones Maxine and she traces her roots back to the Lenoirs Creek and Lakota farms. Bill not only produces beautiful animals but does a limited amount of consulting when he can fit it in between finding grass steers for processors and running a mineral business. I hope you’ve been tracking…