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Make yourself at home…
..and our new piglets settled right in this weekend. Grandson Church gave a welcoming scratch of the head. The source of the newcomers was Indian Summer Farm near Lynchburg, Virginia. And these piglets are certainly a testimony to superior breeding and care. Three are pure Berkshire and two are Berkshire/Tamworth crosses. I’ve been partial to Tamworth but Berkshire probably is the breed of choice for growers of gourmet meat. The combination is exciting to anticipate! David
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A picture only a farmer…
…can love. A spade full of our western pasture taken at random. The worms (I count six!) confirm a lot’s going on out there. We’re planning on improved organic matter readings with more hooves on the ground in the coming year. Here is what it looks like right now too…over in the eastern pasture. Church is holding back the herd…wants six more inches of grass before he starts strip grazing. A few more days like today and he’ll be putting in the temporary fencing. Love the clover. It’s the second year for this stand. That’s nutrition for the cows…the ground…and those worms! David
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Happy great-grandparents day…
…after swearing “no more pigs”, Church has surrendered to my wearing down and come up with some excellent piglets in nearby Lynchburg. You can’t always be sure from a photo of course, but these look like exceptionally healthy, well cared-for youngsters. Some are Berkshire and the rest are a Berkshire-Tamworth cross. I’ve always been partial to the Tamworth, particularly for their bacon, but “pig pros” seem to tilt to the Berks. So here we have on the way the best of both worlds! Believe it or not, it’s not too early to put your name in for one of these guys! David
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Still in his prime…
…Highwayman was one of our first pure traditional English bulls. And he’s now pushing 10 years of age. His sire was the famed Falcon and the dam Ivan Rowe’s Norah. We did the pairing in England and it was our most successful flush ever…26 embryos! You can see one of his progeny by scrolling down to “Chip off the old block…”. Like his dam, Highwayman is a smallish animal beautifully proportioned. We’ve found him ideal for keeping the herd to the moderate size we prefer. David
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Fighting the Coronavirus…
…not. Perhaps the safest spot in the world…a Thistle Hill pasture miles from anywhere. Unfortunately, this is a picture out of the file. Daughter Carolyn is back in Dallas seeing patients at Baylor Medical Center. And they’ve got me locked up in an Assisted Living Home in nearby Falls Church. That leaves grandson Church to keep the home fires burning. But if you promise to leave the virus at home you’re welcome to visit. We want to add we’re particularly proud of our new granddaughter in law—Courtney Gentry— a care-giver at a nursing home in the Shenandoah Valley. I know from firsthand experience what a dedicated bunch these caregivers are.…
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Essington Park…
…makes its mark on Thistle Hill. A brother and sister from a famous English herd now are full contributors to our herd! The culmination of a lifetime dedicated to the Devon breed, famed English herdsman Brian Drake volunteered his Buttercup cow…dam of this young cow now maturing in America. The sire is Millennium Falcon. Now that she’s bred, she can reunite with the main herd…passing her full brother on the way. Son-in-law Curt Humphreys escorts four-year old Essington to a pen for return to the bull pasture. For the past 45 days he has served as the cover bull for almost 30 AI candidates. And that’s our most ambitious artificial…
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The Thistle Hill Alumni Club…
…features THF Magic…now 10 years old and still active in Louisiana. Magic is the son of Rotokawa 93…grandson of Rotokawa 688. On the dam’s side he is out of one of the best bulls Lakota has produced, 48N, in turn traced back to the early Kinloch herd. Before leaving here, and it was not easy letting him go, Magic made a major impact not only on our herd but on our thinking. In many ways, we still seek to replicate him. David
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Couldn’t have said it better….
…mostly I ignore the rants of vegans and the extreme animal rights people…because they’re beyond reason. But I was tempted to sound off after Joaquin Phoenix used his Academy Award victory to launch a diatribe against those who eat meat. In fact commercial farming of vegetables is far more destructive of the earth and its environment than responsible grazing. But Joel Salatin, a neighboring cattleman who is a leader in the grass fed industry, did the job for me. https://www.thelunaticfarmer.com/blog2/2/14/2020/joaquin-phoenix-hates-you-nbsp
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The unappreciated steak…
…but not here at Thistle Hill. Others can have their filet or rib eye but no steak tastes better to me than the Delmonico! Church liberated a couple of Delmonicos from the freezer the other day…and started with a short marinade. He followed with his favorite cooking method which is Sous Vide and then a quick flash searing on the grill. The result using that technique is a perfect steak every time! If you’ve wondered, the Delmonico was introduced at a New York restaurant of the same name back in the 1800s. The Baked Alaska also originated there…as did Lobster ala Newberg and clam chowder. And if you’re a fan…
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Call me Brexit?
Just a thought after all the hoops we had to jump through to get this little girl and her sister out of England. We spotted her granddam years ago but her owner—-Shiamala Comer—-didn’t like the wear and tear flushing eggs put on a cow. Fast forward 10 years and Wooz finally convinced Shiamala to sell us a Bribery heifer. That she was to be a gift to grandson Church and that this would be Wooz’ last trip to England secured the deal. Still we had to wade through a ton of export paperwork while we waited for our heifer to grow up. Finally we flushed her to one of our…