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TDA 14….
….another English traditional Devon made it through border security this week. This little bull calf is less than a day old in this picture….the son of Millennium Falcon and Goldings Norah. We now have been calving for three years….and just beginning breeding here. And we do have confirmed pregnancies!
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Meet TDA 10….
….over at Traditional Devon America we welcomed another excellent Tilbrook Cashtiller daughter over the weekend. Sire was Cutcombe Jaunty. As the number indicates, our English project now has 10 calves: four bulls and six females. It’s been a painfully slow process, dealing with the ramifications of both TB and the Schmallenberg virus which has closed down British exports. But then a little one (well not all that little) comes along and makes it all worth it. This heifer is less than 24 hours old!
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Where to begin….
….well, to coin a phrase, “start at the beginning”. Posting has been non-existent for almost a month, but not because there’s been nothing to report. It’s breeding season and Wooz here discusses strategy with our vet, Dr. Monica O’Brien. AI comes first, and we’re using two sires across some of our best cows: Traditional Devon’s Falcon (our English bull) and Rotokawa 243, who has given us some wonderful calves in the past. After that, came sorting the herd into groups….getting the right bulls with the right females. In all, we’ll be using four bulls this time: Jackpot and U2 plus limited use of two Traditional Devon bulls, a son of…
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Milestone (continued)….
….we mentioned in the previous post that there are two English heifers being bred in South Carolina (at Walkers Century Farms). This is one, TDA 03. Her dam, Tilbrook Cashtiller….who recently passed away….swept all the English competitions. Her equally outstanding sire, Cutcombe Jaunty, is also no longer with us. So we have, indeed, accomplished a small part of our goal in saving pure, traditional English genetics. It wasn’t so much death we have been concerned with as the increasing practice on both sides of the Atlantic to dilute the purity of the Devon breed, in the search for some elusive “super Devon”. We think they’re super enough and are content to…
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A Traditional Devon milestone….
….readers of this blog know that Thistle Hill, in cooperation with two other American breeders, has been selecting the best of pure English genetics (semen and embryos) and importing them. The project is now 3 years old and our first heifers have finally been delivered to the vet for breeding. The heifers are out of the English champion Tilbrook Cashtiller, who we bred to a great English bull, Cutcombe Jaunty. The embryos were brought here and implanted in recips. We decided to take the heifers to the vet because the early winter weather has been so unreliable we couldn’t be sure the AI process, once started, could be completed. In…
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The Cashtiller legacy….
….we mentioned the passing of Tilbrook Cashtiller the other day but also the fact that Traditional Devon America has some of her calves on the ground. This is TDA3 at Walker Century Farms in South Carolina. (click on picture to enlarge) Her sire is Cutcombe Jaunty….another English great….and the result is a “meatier” animal than Cashtiller. TDA3 and four of her sisters will be bred in just a few days to Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon. Now that’s also something to look forward to!
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Two young “debs”….
….from England and now ready to breed. We have three Traditional Devon heifers here and two at the Walker’s Century Farm in South Carolina. We’ll try first to AI the girls to another English bull—Tilbrook Sunset—and we’ll follow with a young English bull here who was sired by TDA Falcon. The TDA partners spent a good deal of time recently discussing our breeding options…still limited because our herd is small and we want to continue our emphasis on pure Devon genetics from England.
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End of an era….
….came in a phone call from one of our English partners, Brian Drake, of North Tawton. Brian poses here with the American members of the team: Bill Walker, John Forelle and myself. No one we know has been breeding Devon any longer than Brian. He took over his father’s herd in 1950 and his Essington Park genetics can be found in most of the herds in England. We’re fortunate that we were able to flush his wonderful cow Buttercup and one of her sons is approaching his first birthday here in the States. More are on the way! While he’s leaving the Devon world, he remains a good friend. We…
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They tried to tell us….
….we’re too young. Clearly time to split these two up! That’s Thistle Hill Babette snuggling up to our TDA bull Churchill. Actually, Churchill will be going off this week….to North American Breeders where we’ll be collecting him….not for sale but for protection. Traditional Devon America (TDA)….a partnership of three breeders…wants to be sure to preserve the Devon genetics we’ve gathering on our trips to southwest England.
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My how she’s grown….
….one of our English Devon….a Tilbrook Cashtiller heifer….in residence at Walker Century Farms in South Carolina. TDA 03 is approaching two and we’ll soon be breeding her to a Tilbrook bull, Sunset. Three of 03’s flush sisters are here at Thistle Hill, and we’ll be AI-ing them to Sunset as well. Traditional Devon is a partnership of three farms, all working together to find pure English Devon genetics for import into the United States.