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Just the latest…
…a summing up of a half dozen great lines combined just on the sires side here. A special delivery to Thistle Hill today. Our natural service calves will be coming now that we’ve concluded with our artificial breeding portion of the herd. It’s been a memorable season for Church who concluded his second annual efforts with successes such as Potherridge President, Champson Defender and Tilbrook Sunset. Add in some bulls that have only recently passed their first birthday and Thistle Hill now is the repository of the most complete traditional pure English champion Devon’s available anywhere. Why not treat yourself to a Thistle Hill Christmas.
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Watch that first step…
…frozen 70 years ago…tucked in an ampule…and speculated about ever since! Who dare risk cracking the seal?! One of the very few samples of semen from the famed Potheridge President. Brought to the United States and put into closed-herd competition with the other great breed sires of the day! Potheridge President emerged the clear winner and Devon beef became the industry standard for quality. With all the other great names in our herd Thistle Hill is proud of its burgeoning reputation as home of pure traditional English Devon anywhere!
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In praise of Devon…
…it isn’t often a Devon develops a hoof problem. But if it happens a half-mile from the working chute, it sure is nice to take the portable chute to the middle of nowhere and know she’ll load without a fuss. Not even some portable panels were necessary. Vet Tom Massey arrived just after the picture was taken and TDA 15 was cleaned right up. David
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King of the hill…
…all English but made in the US! Our herd bull Essington…the result of a mating of Brian Drake’s Buttercup and Shiamala Comer’s Falcon…two leading English herds paired here thanks to embryo transplants. Essington is six years old. David
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Update: Defender…
…who seems on track to become one of our key herd bulls. Right now Defender is on lease to the Rohwer’s Sun Eats Farm in Maryland. Since he has taken charge Church has developed a thriving business supplying bulls to farms who can’t quite justify a full-time sire of their own. And of course it helps us manage our large battery of bulls. It also develops progeny history and of course gives a bull more opportunity for what a bull does! Defender is new to the US…Church imported his semen and AI-ed to a Cashtiller granddaughter to give us the first American Defender. David
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What’s for dinner…
…a juicy beyond organic hormone and antibiotic free sirloin steak. Curt went overboard with his seasoning on this one: avocado oil and then a rub of black pepper, yellow mustard, coriander, lemon peel, garlic, celery seed, dill, Chile, cardamom, and salt! Lightly and quickly grilled. In a word: delicious. David
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Off to summer camp…
…go eight Thistle Hill yearling heifers. Once again Mary Perrine and Don Ferro have volunteered their adjoining pastures. It’s a lovely setting at the base of Cobbler mountain and the girls and we appreciate the hospitality. The two farms get lawnmowers and entertainment for the grandchildren and the heifers get loving care and civilizing and are well away from the bulls. David
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The waiting game…
…seems to be a subtitle for much of the year at Thistle Hill. Right now we’ve confirmed the pregnancy of the cows we artificially inseminated(AI). A2a is one of the AI recipients. She’s one of two carrying calves by Grantland Granite of John Forelle’s Folly Farm. That herd was dispersed several years ago. Grantland was the name of Bob Grant’s herd and Bob was an important figure and treasurer of the American Devon Association. Gearld Fry bought his herd and Granite wound up with John Forelle. I saw him at Folly Farm in about 2005 at the very first meeting of the North American Devon Association in Albany, New York. …
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The spring green-up…
…is well underway at Thistle Hill! And Nala seems appreciative of the work we’ve done to improve the pastures. The over-seeding we did a year ago has really taken hold. Perennial rye and and cereal rye and several clovers have all thickened our sward significantly. Not apparent but a big contributing factor we feel certain was the conditioning of the soil with the work of turnips, radish and cow peas. The cover in the area pictured here was very thin and the soil quite sandy. Our hope is that continued rotational grazing and the addition of more cover crops will put this pasture on a par with our very best.…
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Hi-tech preg check…
…Dr Kiel Hausler of Rose Hill Vets using ultrasound to preg check one of our young cows. It’s a little more reliable predicting calving days and it has the added benefit of revealing the sex of the embryo. The wranglers are son Church to the left and son-in-law Curt to the right. Putting more than 50 cows and calves through the chute can leave you pretty wiped out. David
