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What is truly rewarding….
….is helping people getting started in Devon. Here, Linda Hendrix of Pacolet, South Carolina welcomes a young Thistle Hill bull to her farm. THF W31 was accompanied by four pregnant cows, two with calves, on the 10 hour trailer ride from Virginia. Most of the time was spent in the Friday afternoon, Memorial Day weekend rush hour around Charlotte. But now Linda and her son, Dr. John Hendrix, are on their way with what we might call a “Thistle Hill starter herd”. This is the view from the breakfast room window as, from this moment forward, Linda starts her day. A perfect Carolina morning. The Hendrix had not really planned…
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Just a tease…
We’re just back from North Carolina where we picked up nine young heifers and bulls…probably the largest infusion of genetics into our herd since we began. Five of the calves, including this one, are English Devon that we own in partnership. The others are daughters and sons of the famed Rotokawa 688 and a few of those are line bred. It was a great experience, sorting through our calves with partner Bill Walker, and selecting which would head to South Carolina and which to Virginia. DeKalb Wells and his family did a wonderful job raising these unique youngsters from embryos and we thank them. Wooz and I also want to…
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You gotta love her….
Wooz and I spent an enjoyable few hours with son, Church, today photographing much of our herd. We wanted new photos to “freshen” the website. We also wanted to grade our younger cows…such as X64 here with her mom. 64 seems to turn out “A’s” year in and year out and her calves are always among the first to be singled out by potential buyers. We, in turn, make sure that we always keep two 64 females in our herd for protection. In the main pasture right in front of the house is part of that “protection”, U64. She’s the granddaughter of one great Rotokawa bull, 974, and just bred to…
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The interloper….
Despite the disappointing results of the recent sale of Rotokawa bulls, we were pleased to see that one young bull did quite well. However, he was not out of a Rotokawa cow, but one that calls Thistle Hill “home”. Her name is the not-very-melodious “180” and she’s shown here nursing another of her bull calves at Thistle Hill. We smile when we hear other breeds claim their cows can wean close to half their weight. 180 can do that with half an udder. She’s something special, no doubt. Visitors invariably single her out as one of our best cows. A western cattleman, Steve Campbell of Idaho, took one look at…