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Parade of bulls…
…TDA Ransom…a Wooz favorite maybe because his mama was Goldings Snowdrop…selected by her when the “wise old men” of the partnership were favoring others. She called him “Handsome Ransom”…and saw something in him even in his awkward teenage years. He’s come into his own now though Wooz is no longer with us to say I told you so. (That wouldn’t be like her anyway!) We keep eight to ten bulls in the same pasture. Why is it when they reach their prime they invariably stand apart and spend most of the day posing? Ransom’s sire is the great Millennium Falcon. David
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Introducing TDA 35….
It was 10 years ago that I walked out in a pasture Cornwall, England with a grizzled old farmer named Ivan Rowe. Ivan was introducing me to the best herd of cows I had ever seen! More than that he was offering me my pick to breed…flush the embryos…and ship back to the States. It took at least an hour to walk through the herd but it wasn’t a difficult choice. I spotted my candidate almost immediately and said “how about that one”? “Well you did choose the best,” Ivan grumped. And from that point on he’s always called me “mate”…the highest honor I’ve ever received. Ivan is a lifelong…
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Hanging out with the guys…
…three of our bulls doing their own version of intensive grazing. On the left Guardian, a Rotokawa-bred animal, and then two of our English bulls, Essington and Highwayman. The last two are both sired by the great Ashott-Barton bull, Millenium Falcon. My guess is they’re all favoring the grass right there because an underground stream is just beneath. David
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Traditional Devon update….
…..the principals of Traditional Devon™ got together this past week to review progress…and here’s an example: TDA 23. She’s an Essington Park Buttercup embryo daughter by Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon. She’s just five months old but this is what we’ve been working for. English breeders Brian Drake (who provided the dam) and Shiamala Comer (who provided the bull) deserve the the credit. But we think the picture demonstates another thing: the importance of the recip. Awhile back we decided that we were going to select our very best cows to serve as recipients. In our opinion that is just about as important as the genetics. Incidentally, veteran cattlemen Jerry and Jeremy Engh of…
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When a Devon boy meets…
a Cornwall girl….well Wooz saw that it happened…when she choose a cow of her own outside the Traditional Devon™ partnership. Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon was the sire, Goldings Snowdrop the dam. And here, at a year and a half, is their first calf: Thistle Hill Yeoman. Wooz was right (again).
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Warning: do not try this at home….
….unless Mom is a Devon. Grandson Church Humphreys fortunately was on Thanksgiving break from college this morning to “bulldog” two newborn English calves. This one is a heifer out of Essington Park Buttercup by Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon. Just slightly up the hill her full brother was also born overnight. In both cases the dams put their noses right into the action…mooing softly to the calves that Church wouldn’t hurt them. Of course, David with his tag applicator and pliers to pull tail hairs was another matter. Note that we use our best cows as recips. We feel they’re every bit as important as the actual donor cow and sire.…
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The cycle begins again….
….with our first calf of the season….a Traditional Devon™ bull calf, TDA 20. He’s an adventuresome fellow. Here, just a half day old, and he’s returning from a jaunt about 500 yards from his mother. She waited by our Gator as he sauntered back across the field. The dam is TDA Cashtiller 2, daughter of Tilbrook Cashtiller… a producer of great bulls in England. I need grandson Church to help with the tagging now. He uses his track skills from Denison University to catch them in the open field. Try that in a 10-acre paddock sometime! To complete the pedigree: the sire is the son of Essington Buttercup and Ashott…
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Recharging our batteries – 5
….and if this won’t do it, you need a new one. We usually wind up our English tours at the tip of Cornwall…not only because of the cows and the scenery but because this is where our search for pure traditional English Devon first began five years ago. I used to say this was “Doc Martin country”…but now I guess I should say “Poldark country”. And the lovely thing is the people aren’t much changed from those times. My mate, Ivan Rowe of Goldings herd, is a case in point. But all the attention we’ve paid him has made Ivan something of a celebrity. One of the days we were there…
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Recharging our batteries – 2
….after a brief detour to the Cotswolds to stay in one of our favorite inns—Russells in Broadway—we plunged into the heart of Devon country. This is famed Exmoor, in legend at least the birthplace of Devon. The moor is both beautiful and forbidding but nearby are some of the finest Devon farms in the world. And there is none finer than Ashott Barton, one of our partners’ properties just outside Exford. There, Shiamala Comer and her son, Jeremy, have an outstanding herd of truly traditional Devon. Not only her colleagues agree with her, but Shiamala’s devotion to detail—and the results she has achieved—can’t be denied. It was she who bred Millennium Falcon,…
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The waiting game….
….begins again! And this time with added suspense! Embryologist Dr. Jim Evans implants English embryos into our cows….always a bit nerve-wracking but particularly since these little ones were tied up in England for almost three years because of a mystery virus that hit a number of herds and sheep flocks. Looking on are Jane Narrimore and Duane Ard who served as our wranglers. For recips this time we selected from our own herd….our 10 best cows with unblemished records of breeding, calving and mothering. We were determined to do all we could to improve the odds. Dr. Evans was also particularly selective…and knocked out four as not being perfectly ready…