-
The first bull calf…
…of the year weighs exactly 70 pounds. And though mom is a heifer she has him well-disciplined. No easy task with a rambunctious little bull calf! The sire of these early calves is TDA 35…an all English bull by Falcon out of Norah. Mom is a good example of crossing our American herd with an English import. In this case grandma is R2…a calf we spotted at Lakota Ranch 15 years ago…and it paid off for us and farms throughout the East. The English grandsire was a bull we nicknamed Handsome Ransom and, while early, this guy is well-proportioned just like grandpa. Never was good at fractions but I guess…
-
The final three…
-
The three latest…
-
Two little girls are we…
…on a foggy morning. Both are about 18 months out of American Devon dams…but their English sires have had an impact! The heifer on the left is out of my personal favorite…R2…an almost after-thought purchase and a cow that was a trouble free producer of great calves for 15 years. This will be her last calf. Her sire, now sold, was an English bull Wooz called Handsome Ransom. The other heifer, against the fence, has U2 in her background…as well as two English greats…Cutcombe Jaunty and Ashott Barton Millenium Falcon. As we’ve said before, we imported English genetics because pure traditional Devon are a disappearing breed in England and here. …
-
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
-
1/48th day old….
….or 30 minutes. Mom is 1/4 Senepol….the rest Devon. It’s a cross we really like for our meat operation. The yield is better and no loss of quality. The sire is one of our personal English bulls that Wooz calls “Handsome Ransom”. We like to tag pretty fast…before these guys “get their legs”. But we also like to see them get their first milk with colostrum before we distract Mom, particularly a first calf heifer like this one. As it was it was a bit of a struggle. Took two of us and two tries to get the tag in. Duane Ard, our farm manager, provided the muscle and, more…
-
Still sold out but….
….here’s one of our pure English bulls: TDA Ransom. Our partners, Bill and Nancy Walker, have been raising him in South Carolina. But it’s time to bring him up to Thistle Hill. He also has a full younger brother…same flush but implanted a year later…in Georgia and he’ll soon be here, too. Ransom is out of Goldings Snowdrop in Cornwall…we saw his mother on our last trip…by Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon. (Saw him too!)