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It’s a dog’s life…
..at Thistle Hill farm. The term may not have originated here but…
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At the heart of our herd…
TDA7, daughter of the great Tilbrook Cashtiller who is still the finest cow of any breed we’ve ever seen! We flushed Cashtiller twice in England and nine years ago TDA7 was born here along with five sisters and two brothers. TDA7, like her mama, has aged gracefully…udders still as correct as a three-year-old. Our friend and veteran cattleman Bill Roberts spotted 7’s dam Cashtiller on a visit to Gavin Hunter’s Tillbrook farm near Cambridge, England, and his judgment was confirmed by pictures and then our first visit along with 50 other Devon breeders on the 2010 tour. It was then that we formed a friendship with Tillbrook’s Gavin Hunter and…
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Our namesake…
…and a stubborn little plant! The Canadian Thistle dominated our pastures 20 years ago…along with Rosa multiflora. It’s taken a long time (and many grandchildren serving hard labor) to get both weeds to manageable proportions. We simply keep cutting them to ground level and eventually the plant gets the message and quits trying. The multiflora was an earlier brainchild of someone who wanted to duplicate European hedgerows on this property. While neither is considered edible, we’ve heard of people successfully training their cows to consume thistles. They simply spray the plants with fish oil, the cattle love it and eventually the fish oil isn’t necessary. David
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Caution…grass at work…
…it may look like resting and that’s what graziers call it…but this grass is hard at work! The trick in grazing isn’t how much grass the cows eat…but how much they leave. Ideally we like them to bite off about a third…and trample a third…and leave the rest for regrowth. That’s what’s happening here. The cows have left…we’ve topped off the weeds and seed heads…and now the roots which have died back to mirror the amount of leaf surface above ground…are regrouping. It’s that new growth which is most nutritious and the cows will be returned in 45 days for another pass across this pasture. Not only will there be…
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Strip grazing…
…and the main herd has settled in…changing paddocks with no more than a whistle. I’m sure you could set up an automatic gate opener and they’d move themselves. There are 33 pregnant cows in this group. The section already grazed is in the foreground. By enlarging the picture you may be able to see the single strand of polywire which is all we need to keep them together. The grass as we began was about a foot tall, and we’ve taken the top half before moving on. In recent years a technique has developed called “mob grazing”…or “high intensity grazing”…that is jamming the equivalent of 500 to 700 cows into…
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The Thistle Hill Alumni Assn…
…well maybe not technically. But he was bred here and went on to serve at Rich Hamilton’s Elim Springs Farm for the past 8 years. His name is Rojo and he’s been used in the Elim Springs meat business for the past decade and is still going strong. Rich uses him as a terminal sire on his Senepol cow herd and it’s a winning combination! Rojo’s pedigree on the dam side is packed with well-known Devon greats including Noyl Boy, Buckeye and Kinloch. As for his sire, he is the first bull that made a major impact on our cows: Watson. We found Watson at Don and Heather Minto’s farm…
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The Thistle Hill Alumni Club…
…features THF Magic…now 10 years old and still active in Louisiana. Magic is the son of Rotokawa 93…grandson of Rotokawa 688. On the dam’s side he is out of one of the best bulls Lakota has produced, 48N, in turn traced back to the early Kinloch herd. Before leaving here, and it was not easy letting him go, Magic made a major impact not only on our herd but on our thinking. In many ways, we still seek to replicate him. David
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A gift to us…
…from us. What Santa left under our tree. A new 24-foot Wilson cattle trailer! Needed with Church increasing our bull leasing and seed stock sales. Oh, not to mention more frequent trips to the butcher. Our old trailer…16-feet and bumper mounted…had been driven into the ground. A goose-neck with excellent tracking was clearly called for…particularly on some of the mountain roads we have to navigate. So if you’re in the market for animals get in touch with us quickly while delivery comes in a bright new and clean trailer! David
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Breeding…part three…
…and now it gets really interesting…starting in the pre-dawn darkness… and a pasture alive with blinking red lights. It’s the heat detectors…right on schedule at 48 hours. When a cow goes into heat, another mounts it, crushing the chemical patch on its rump. One of Carolyn’s jobs is thawing the semen straws. That’s what that pot next to her arm is for. No time to waste! And the deed is done. But it’s a slow process at the end…finding just the right spot…then pushing the plunger to deposit the semen. It’s a process that’s repeated 29 times over three days…matching cow, heat, and the right bull. Hard work…and cold…but satisfying.…
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Breeding step two…
…is very much a family affair. The herd has to be brought in from the pasture and sorted to isolate the target cows. We started in the dark, in a light rain. Grandson Church is really in charge now. He administers a shot of lutalyze which will bring the cow into heat in 48-72 hours. Dad Curt (in background) is the Chief Wrangler, bringing the designated cows into the chute. Mom Carolyn is “manning” the headgate. Gotta grab ‘em just right or it’s back around and try again. How many farms have a gynecological cancer surgeon in their crew? The final step: putting an alarm patch on the rump. When…