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Reddi for action…
Not a misprint; that’s his name! He was Red Lad when he left Thistle Hill several years ago for Spring Pastures Farm near Middleton, Maryland. There, Brooke Henley immediately dubbed him Reddi. He was a well-mannered young man…one of Wooz’ favorites. Now with 19 progeny on the ground and more to come, Brooke and her husband Tom Garnett have regretfully decided he should move on. In fact since this picture was taken, Reddi has already been sold to Keystone Farms in Pennsylvania. The nice things Brooke says, coupled with “gushing” reviews of Thistle Hill bulls from Clark Farms, a commercial Angus operation in southwestern Virginia, prompts us to launch a…
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The system circles the wagons…
..for 20 years I’ve been railing against glysophate…a chemical herbicide that Monsanto has been selling worldwide under the trade name “Round-up”. A number of studies have identified it as a carcinogen and a few farmers have successfully sued Monsanto for damages. Now however the EPA has declared glysophate entirely safe, putting millions of dollars in court awards in jeopardy. And more than that our health in jeopardy…particularly because glysophate/Round-up is invariably used in growing GMO foods. In short, glysophate is spread on almost all the vegetables we eat folks and the government, Big Chemicals and Big Ag are going to keep it that way. Joel Saladin is a natural grower…
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Everybody outta the pool…
…a momma black bear checks out our swimming pool! She almost certainly has a cub or two safely behind her but out of sight. For at least 17 years this bear has been raising her family in a den just below what is now Church’s house. More often she is content to splash around in the two-acre pond, again just down the hill. The cubs often think it’s great sport to slap the row boat oars and watch them spin in the oar locks. They’re no danger unless surprised or accidentally cornered. She also is clearly well fed with her very own 200 acres of vegetation and fruit and berries…
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This little piggy…
…went to the freezer. Two of the pigs we’ll be harvesting between now and the holidays. They’ve passed 250 pounds and the closer they are to 300, the better we like them. These are mulefoot pigs…descendants of pigs brought here by the early Spanish explorers. Their diet now should be adding some acorns from trees in this pasture. And that’s the combination that made the flavor of Spanish ham famous worldwide….at $60/pound the imported price today! I’ve already ordered my holiday pig! Have you? Spanish pork at American prices. Call Church at (214) 802-1283 or churchhh@gmail.com David
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Grass update….
We’ve never gone into the fall and winter with this much reserve grass. It’s called stockpiling and Church is stockpiling about 70 acres which is just over half our total acreage. The best I ever managed was about 40 acres. This field was underwater the first part of the year. We think it’s switchgrass…a native grass that does particularly well with “wet feet”. An adjacent pasture with reed canary grass handled the flooding but not this well. The trick now is to get it consumed while it’s in this nutritious stage. Eventually it will probably grow to about 8 feet and be unpalatable. But for now it takes the pressure…
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It’s not too late…
…to purchase Thistle Hill burger for summer grilling. Our family gets great satisfaction in reading notes like this one from Bill E. It’s almost like we’re at the Outer Banks, too! We have the whole family at the beach in North Carolina for the week. We brought down 7 lbs of our most recent thistle hill ground beef. Our son made hamburgers for everyone. Of course they were spectacular and got added kudos when I told the family that this was local grass fed beef from my neighbor. Bill E. Thistle Hill Farm complete price list. Or call or write Church at (214) 802-1283 or info@thistlehill.net David
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This ain’t Kansas…
So what’s a pure English Devon bull doing in Virginia? He’s the result of the last mating Wooz designed on our final trip to southwest England a few years ago. The dam comes from the famous Tulip line…renowned all over the island. The sire the equally-renowned Cutcombe bull named Jaunty. The resulting embryos from the mating were flown to Thistle Hill for calving. This young guy is now 8.5 months old and destined for great things! David
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Starting second pass…
…after about 45 days rest. Grandson Church says too many weeds though that’s not apparent in the picture. We calculate we have about 54,000 pounds animal weight per acre…just about a quarter of what we really need to see the results off mob grazing. At this level the cows can still afford to be selective. And there’s only limited trampling affect. The obvious answer is to reduce the size of the paddocks but that brings up the question of water and shade. Yes, we could bring in more cows but it’s almost breeding time and again this year we’ll be testing several young bulls after ai-ing. Interesting choices for a…
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Perfect for summer grilling…
…just in time for your family cookout: Thistle Hill steaks, ribs and burgers. For the first time we’re offering individual packages…no longer only bulk sales! You owe it to your family to try delicious, healthful grass fed Devon beef. Our animals are raised and finished without supplements, pesticides, herbicides or antibiotics. Hamburger is wrapped in individual one-pound packages for just $7.50/pound. Steaks start at $15/pound. Yes, and there are bulk discounts! Farm pickup weekends and by appointment. Email ahead and your order will be waiting but we urge you to allow some time to look around. Fun for the kids and you’ll learn why Thistle Hill meat is simply better.…
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Post graduate work…
As if grandson Church didn’t have enough to do running the farm and studying for an advance degree in biology…he recently took a week to attend the Frank B. Graham Cattleman’s School in Kansas. The week-long program covered every aspect of herd fertility and calving, including artificial insemination, preg checking and delivering a calf. Church, pictured below with his classmates, is second from the right. He aced his final exam with a perfect score; only the fifth attendee to do that in more than 20 years! Not long ago Church was selected by The Grassfed Exchange as one of 12 outstanding young cattlemen in the country. His goal is to…