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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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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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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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It’s fescue weather….
We had a good solid freeze last night…the time of year that fescue pastures come into their own! The main herd has just moved into the next to last paddock. The green line is obvious but you can click on the picture to enlarge. Scientists say that the freezing temperature increases the sugar content considerably. And we’ve never been able to buy hay that tests as well in winter as our fescue. Not by coincidence this is exactly when we time our calving. The cows are in peak condition and there’s plenty of energy in the ground for nursing and rebreeding…and no endophyte toxicity around to complicate things. When the…
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Remember, the answer lies in the soil….
When we first moved to Dallas, we had an English gardener, Patrick Butterworth, who ended every letter, birthday card, and bill with the above phrase. Over time I have come to appreciate how incredibly apt this phrase describes so many systems, from the human body and how well it heals, to the garden, to the pasture and the animals on it. Diversity has been shown to be an important part of any ecosystem, whether one is looking at the boardroom, the gut flora, or the soil. For our gut flora, we want a diverse population of bacteria, archaea, viruses, and fungi that together shape our physiology, guide our immune system,…
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We knew her “when”….
….Thistle Hill is fortunate in the company it gets. I guess it’s because we try so many things and have become a real world laboratory. We’ve hosted visitors from around the world and learned from them all. One who stopped by last year was Sarah Flack, a young forage expert. She was writing a book (see the link below describing her visit) and now a mutual friend, Jim Gerrish, reports that Sarah’s book is coming out. We consider Jim at the top of the list of forage experts and that he would give a boost to someone new to the field is, as they say, “the mark of the man”. (You…
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Needed: short term pasture….
….in the Petersburg-Richmond area of central Virginia. A young farm couple we work with needs a pasture for about 15 cows…some with calves….for 90 days. If you can help out, please contact us here at Thistle Hill. We’ll all appreciate it. http://info@thistlehill.net 540-364-2090
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And that’s the way it is…..
….although no one is the Ag community talks about it. Health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola blows the whistle in the practice of dumping sewage sludge on pastures and crop lands. Several farms have down this in our area despite the serious concerns that have been raised about the practice. In our experience, the pastures look good the first year…but deteriorate rapidly. Wonder if the sludge kills the microbes in the soil? At least I’ve never noticed anyone doing a repeat treatment. Here’s the Mercola link: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/11/01/biosolids-fertilizer.aspx?e_cid=20151101Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20151101Z1&et_cid=DM89600&et_rid=1193536402
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By way of explanation….
….we haven’t been able to enjoy our fall pastures much….or update this blog….for quite a while. So below is a recent picture by our manager, Duane Ard, and now the explanation. A month ago, Wooz fell on our gravel road and broke her hip. A routine x-ray then revealed a small mass in her lung. So our hours have been filled with frequent trips to the University of Virginia hospital (90 minutes away), where Wooz first underwent a complete hip replacement, then a Gamma knife treatment to clear up several brain lesions and finally the start of chemo for her lung. There’s still a long road to go, but she is…
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Thistle Hill as laboratory….
….we’re fortunate to be considered something of a “place to see” if you’re studying this business (profession? trade? art?) of raising grass fed cattle. Not long ago, we were visited by Sarah Flack who is in the very early stages of her career in forages,though she got quite a head start as a member of the Flack family, one of the important names in Milking Devon. And now at the very other end (my end) of the career time-line, we were pleased to welcome Martha Holdridge who writes an important blog with the address: www.grasspower.org. Martha (seen here with Waniqing Zhou…a young Chinese woman with World Watch and a story…