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A reunion…
…with my friend and mentor Jim Gerrish the other day. Jim is the acknowledged guru in the grass fed business. He first came to Thistle Hill Farm about 15 years ago and was influential in designing our grazing plan. When people rave about the taste of our meat…they’re really raving about Jim. So when I heard he was speaking at a day-long grazing conference in Boonsboro, MD, I signed right up. Jim is a retired Ag professor and runs a thousand cow feeder operation in Idaho in addition to lecturing around the world. Most of all he has never stopped learning and revisiting what he knows. If he’s ever speaking…
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English update….
The bull calf on the left is out of a Tulip dam, a line that goes back as far as there have been herd books in Britain…about 170 years. He’s definitely a “comer”; love his head and muzzle! The heifer on the right is out of Bribery. Church spotted her dam on his first trip to England. Ten years earlier I fell for her grandmother but it took young Church to sweet-talk breeder Shiamala Comer into releasing the genetics. We’re often asked how we judge purity. Check the muzzles on these two calves. Flesh toned…clear of any spots. It also helps to know your registrar. In years past, our in-house…
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Did someone mention Valentines Day….
Our young bull Cutcombe must have gotten the idea somewhere because he took off overnight looking for love. Fortunately a neighbor spotted him early in his search and helped Church herd the young lothario back into the bull pasture. Fortunate too that his eight mates didn’t follow him on his quest. So no harm done…oh the fence! David
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Young cattleman of the year….
…if you’ll permit a proud Grandpa to brag. Grandson Church has just been named one of the 12 outstanding young cattlemen of the year by the leading grass fed organization in the country. The Grass Fed Exchange will salute the 12 young men and women at their annual meeting in Santa Rosa, California in April. The Grass Fed Exchange is an organization of regenerative farmers, processors and food experts dedicated to producing the highest quality meat and dairy products on grass. Each year they give full fellowships to promising young men and women starting out in the field of sustainable grass farming. Church manages our Thistle Hill herd of 34…
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The joy of farming….
Grandson Church is taking a post graduate course in biology this winter…and a course on everything else here at the farm. It’s easy enough rolling out the hay and makes for a nice picture but…but… The trick is to get the tractor started in zero temps and the bale positioned with the plastic wrapping off so the clamps grab it at the mid-point so the hay rolls out in an even line. The cows clearly look forward to their breakfast-almost-in-bed and you can see a calf or two moving in for a bite. What the young ones really like is sleeping in the hay instead of the frozen ground! The…
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Lord of the manor…
TDA Churchill was the first bull we developed in our pure English Devon project and we now have about a dozen of his progeny in our herd. Churchill’s dam was the best Devon cow we ever saw. She was national grand champion three years running until her breeder, Gavin Hunter of Tilbrook Grange, took pity on other English breeders and stopped showing her. Just as impressive…for four straight years her sons (Churchill’s brothers) topped the national Devon show auctions. We’ll always be grateful that Gavin shared Cashtiller with Thistle Hill. Cashtiller grandsons and granddaughters are available for inspection at our Farm. David
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The Radical Homemaker…
…is the pen name for Shannon Hayes. She was born and raised on a grass fed Milking Devon farm in upstate New York. Back in the day Shannon’s father was an inspiration to many of us getting started in this grass fed business. Shannon and her husband and children have long since joined her parents on the farm and expanded their operation into a store and cafe and market other farm products. Meanwhile Shannon has become an author with several books to her credit including “The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook”. All this is by way of recommending one of her recent blogs on the “mis-steaks” of cooking grass fed beef. David
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This isn’t all that bad…
….one of the mainstays of our herd, T2, interrupts her grazing after the first snowstorm of the season. As you can tell by her nose, she had no difficulty burrowing though the snow to get at grass. (There’s hay nearby, if she wants it.) Officially we had six inches of snow overnight though not quite that in this pasture. T2 is a Rotokawa 93 sired cow out of our R2. She is our template for a perfect Devon cow and we feel she holds her own even against our imported traditional English Devon. David
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Let’s call this before….
Christmas weekend opened splendidly with sunrise reflected off the Blue Ridge..captured by our designated early riser, daughter Carolyn. But if there’s a before there must be an after. At the moment Carolyn took the before picture a passing motorist was also admiring the sunrise over Thistle Hill. At least that’s what he told the investigating state trooper. In any event the motorist lost control and we lost four sections of four-board fence. Fortunately a neighbor saw the accident and moved our cows to a nearby pasture with intact fencing. Thank you Kathy Hartz! Rebuilding fencing wasn’t the way we planned to spend Christmas but the job is done! Thanks to…
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This just in…
…all natural grass fed, grass finished beef! Now there’s a delicious mouthful…and nutritious, too! Thistle Hill Farm is back in full operation now under the direction of grandson Church Humphreys. Our focus remains the marketing of the very best Devon seedstock but that doesn’t mean we can’t set aside a limited number of animals for personal consumption. Again we’re offering whole carcasses, halves and quarters. Bulk Prices range from $7 to $7.50 a pound…and that’s packaged weight in individual cuts. We’ll also endeavor to provide special packages of our mouth-watering hamburgers. You’ve never tasted anything this good..and a bulk buy at just $6 a pound is a family bargain. To…