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Thistle Hill Alumni Club….
…..Q48…was our first female when we switched to Devon in 2002. We made the short trip down to Madison, VA recently and Rich and Linda Maurer’s Springhaven farm, where 48 is still producing outstanding calves at 13 years of age. Actually, we have double reason to be proud. The Maurers brought 48 back home to breed to Traditional Devon’s ™ Highwayman and he barely let her get off the trailer before starting his courtship. Apparently has a thing about older women. “48” was a daughter of Lakota’s H89….a bull we feel is one of the great unsung sires of the breed. And it’s probably not a coincidence that an even older…
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Probably ready to wean….
….the oldest of this year’s crop of Thistle Hill bull calves….THF 163…at 10 months. He’s by Traditional Devon’s™ Highwayman. The dam is one of our smaller American cows but from a top-producing line, X2a. The experts say you should expect a good cow to wean a calf half her weight. Please don’t tell X2a!
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Wooz’ favorite bull….
….currently away on a business trip. He’s Traditional Devon’s™ Highwayman…one of our pure, traditional English bulls working with partner Bill Walker’s herd in South Carolina. Some of the “experts” consider this Frame One bull too small but not the lack of air between the stomach and the ground. Highwayman is all meat…easy to maintain and easy on the pasture. Lots of his first calves are on the ground here at Thistle Hill. Incidentally, that’s a Traditional Devon™ heifer in the background….another showpiece!
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch….
….life ain’t so bad either. A group of our senior cows on a lazy Spring afternoon. These are all being exposed to our “Jackpot“. He comes down to us from Rotokawa 688 and 243. A British bull, Highwayman, is doing the honors with the other half of our American herd. The English-imports also were bred to one of our other home-grown Brit imports: Ransom and Victory. The English animals, of course, are owned by Traditional Devon.™
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A battery of bulls….
….actually, our bull inventory is pretty low right now. Our two-year olds are all sold and the group of yearlings is sandwiched between Traditional Devon™ Wellington on the left and Thistle Hill Jackpot on the right. To the left of Jackpot is a particularly exciting young English bull—TDA Highwayman—and next to him is another excellent prospect, Thistle Hill 126. 126 is descended from the Rotokawa 667 line. Second from the left is Thistle Hill 08, an exemplary result of pairing the English bull Millennium Falcon with Goldings Snowdrop. He is Wooz’ special project and she “done good”. (Somehow a steer got in there and is in the middle, in the shadows)
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A piece of cake….
….the folks at North American Breeders wondered if this young English Devon bull had the experience to mount a bigger steer in the middle of a barn…no restraints for either. They needn’t have worried. Traditional Devon’s™ Highwayman acted like he could do it all day….but it only took several times to gather enough semen. And a billion per whatever and almost no malformed semen! It’s what grass fed bulls can produce. Corn fed bulls can’t match that performance. Highwayman is headed for South Carolina and our partners, the Walkers, after breeding several test cows here at Thistle Hill. Their calves are due in a few more months. We want to…