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All too brief….
….we’ve just returned from a trip to England to visit our friends and partners in Traditional English Devon™. As always, the friendship was warm and (progress of sorts) the beer was cold! Then the icing on the cake: we found two cows and a bull that fit perfectly in our program. There’s all sorts of bureaucratic red tape and multiple health tests to go, but it is exciting to be planning (and dreaming) again. It was also sad to see that three of our cooperating herds have or will soon be closing down. But it underscores our belief in the importance of Traditional Devon; to save the purist genetics possible.…
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All Brit…and American too….
….we’ve finally reached the “end game”….producing pure English Devon genetics here in the States. TDA Cutcombe was conceived and calved here at Thistle Hill eight months ago from an English embryo dam born here and a sire (Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon) whose semen had been shipped here. Cutcombe is the name of one of our partners’ farms in Devonshire….the name as well of one of their champion bulls. His dam is TDA Cashtiller II.
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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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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…
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BREAKTHROUGH!!!!….
….just before 2015 joined us, we got the welcome, long-delayed news that all our English embryos, tied up for almost two years, had finally arrived in the United States. So we can now hope that some “Little Norahs” will soon be capering around the pastures. That’s “Big Norah” on the right and her breeder, Ivan Rowe of Goldings Farm in Cornwall. Norah, Buttercup and Snowdrop had been quarantined thanks to a minute gnat that carried the Schmallenburg virus across the Channel. The virus can cause birth defects and even death in calves and, because it was something of a mystery to the experts, they closed down the export of all genetic material. …
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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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Recent arrivals…
….at Thistle Hill. In the background, an English Traditional Devon™ heifer just brought up from the recip farm in Georgia. She’s a Cashtiller/Jaunty 8-month old beauty. In the foreground, a ™bull calf born here a few weeks ago to TDA 4. And the sire was Ashott-Barton Falcon. Here’s where it gets complicated, so pay attention: The heifer is a full sister to the little bull’s mother. Do they know they’re related? Talk about a family reunion! Then there’s this late arrival…just a few hours old. (Hang on now.) His sire is Churchill, who is a brother to the heifer above and uncle to the little bull above. Got it? The…
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Special delivery….
….our Traditional Devon™ bull “Churchill” has been transferred from Thistle Hill in Virginia to our partners, Bill and Nancy Walker’s farm, in Anderson, South Carolina. Churchill’s first calves are on the ground here….and the Walkers will be trying him out during the next breeding season. From South Carolina, we dipped down into Georgia and picked up some Traditional Devon™ from Doyle Unruh’s recip herd. We brought back three calves along with two 2-year old bulls raised at Century Farms plus Wellington, Churchill’s full-brother. Doyle is on the left and our friend, Glen Covington, who volunteered again to make the trip with me. Bill Walker is on the far left if you click…
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So far, so good…..
….our Traditional Devon America™ bull, Churchill, has a second calf to his credit. She’s a day-old in this picture, the daughter of a Senepol/Devon cross heifer. The birth was easy (easy for me to say)….we saw the heifer go into labor…drove back across the street to get a tag…and the calf was actually already on its feet by the time we got back. We’ve used Churchill over several more pure Devon and this weekend he heads to our partner Bill Walker’s farm in South Carolina. His full brother, Wellington, will be in the trailer on the return trip, along with a half-dozen other English Devon.
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Made in the USA….
….Traditional Devon America™ reached another milestone with the birth of this little bull calf. TDA is a partnership of three American breeders focused on importing traditional English Red Devon genetics to the United States. The dam of this calf….one of the first English embryos conceived at a clinic in Oxford and the daughter of two British Devon champions….was Tilbrook Castiller. Cashtiller was particularly note-worthy for the great bulls she produced. The AI sire of this little guy was Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon, but we’ll do him a favor and call him Falcon, for short. He’s just over 12 hours old in these photos but we’re hopeful. We calve our heifers…