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A bunch of hams…
…is what we’re raising…not baby beeves! I’d swear whenever Church unlimbers his iPhone our calves “assume the position” and proud mama poses in the background! THF 3 is a young heifer combining four of our pure traditional English Devon bloodlines: Tilbrook Cashtiller, Cutcombe Jaunty, Essington Buttercup and Ashott Barton Falcon. I’ve said before that I think this year’s calf crop may be our finest…and I place this five-month old heifer at the top of the list. My guess is she’s destined for our own herd but we encourage you to talk to Church about the entire group. After all you get to check out our new 4-wheeler! David
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Breakfast at Thistle Hill…
…and Churchill qualifies as an “eager eater”! He’s also the senior bull in our herd…still active in his 10th year. Churchill is descended from the great Tilbrook Cashtiller who along with Cutcombe Jaunty were the first building blocks of our traditional pure English Devon herd. And here’s another good-looking herdmate, Essington, from Brian Drake’s former Essington Park herd. Essington has been used on the bulk of our herd for two years now and we think his calf crop this year may well be Thistle Hill’s finest ever. If you’ve been wanting to introduce something special into your herd, we suggest you contact Church to inspect Essington’s progeny…male and female! David
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Neither rain, nor snow…
…not dark of night…can upset the timetable for embryo transplants once the clock is running. So under miserable cold and wet and muddy conditions, Veterinarian Tom Massey and grandson Church managed to successfully cut out and bring in eight cows that had been prepped. Eventually embryos went in six by bulls including Lakota’s P60 and Rotokawa 663 and 93. We’ll now turn in our English bull Essington from Brian Drake’s old herd…and our own Churchill…to finish the job. Sometimes I feel our slogan should be: What’s Old is New Again. David
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The final three…
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The three latest…
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We’ve calved 21…
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Falling behind…
…with calves coming faster than we can post them…or tag them! THF 15 (top photo) comes jammed with many of our best pure traditional English genetics…Ashott-Barton, Goldings, Cutcombe, Essington Park. He’s a 75-pound bull calf out of our English herd. THF 16 (middle photo) is a 65-pound heifer destined for our American herd. Her dam traces back to the Lenoir Creek and Lakota herds…sire is English. THF 17 (bottom photo) is a cross pairing we really like for our meat production…a combination of Devon and Senepol. The quality and yield just can’t be beat! David
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Multiple blessings…
…7, 8, 9! These three came in a bunch a week ago. But THF 7 was camera shy and we waited until we had pictures of all three. THF 7 and 8 are bull calves…7 out of a cow in our American herd; 8 is traditional English. So is 9…a smallish heifer. All three were sired by our Essington bull…a proud graduate of Brian Drake’s legendary herd. In addition to contributing his best cow to our partnership, Brian was always generous with his wisdom and hospitality. For those who have asked: we do raise our English and American animals together and will use an English bull with the American cows…but…
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The latest arrival…
…a combination of an English bull with the best of our American herd. Dam THF U3 and sire from the wonderful old Essington herd in England. Wooz and I were just getting started in Devon and visiting Lakota Ranch when I saw the grandmother of this little guy being born! I asked for her on the spot and Jeremy Engh promised eventual delivery! She turned into the prettiest American cow I’d ever seen…and Jeremy took grief from his Dad when he later came upon her on a visit to Thistle Hill. We eventually bred grandma to Watson…a descendant of the Rotokawa line. And the progeny have been equally beautiful. Cows…
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Awaiting the final grade…
…in just a few weeks. For the first time our bull sire battery will be joined by Thistle Hill Essington…a pure traditional English Devon bull. Essington will have to wait though for the first group of calves to finish…that will be this year’s AI group and the first by our grandson Church. Essington will have to wait though for the first group of calves to finish…that will be this year’s AI group and the first by our grandson Church. That and the fact it should introduce a new English bloodline to our herd has us all a bit tense. Back to Essington: he’s out of the Essington Park herd which…