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Getting to know you….
….we’ve mentioned before that nothing is more fun than starting another new farm in Devon. And we’ve just delivered two cow-calf pairs to Bill and Cindy Ketner at Summit Point, West Virginia. Bill and his family have returned to his father’s home and he has one more year of commuting to his position at NIH before he can retire fulltime to the farm (his heart is clearly already there. We think the Ketners made the right decision beginning with two experienced mama cows. As someone once said, God gave the cow all the information she needs to be a successful cow! And now they can teach the Ketners. Plenty of time…
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Ma, our baby boy is all growed up!
His name is Augustine and he’s packed with Rotokawa 667 genetics. He’s also the son of one of our favorite cows. With all the attention we’ve been devoting to our English project, we didn’t want to give the impression we’ve been ignoring our breeding of Rotokawa offspring. At Thistle Hill, under the watchful eye of Ken McDowall, we’ve been interweaving our three favorite lines: 688, 974 and 667. Augustine is still shy of 2-years….imagine what he’ll be like “fully growed”!
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Cooling it on the Mason-Dixon line….
….some of the cows we’ve sold write back to tell us things are better than they ever were at Thistle Hill. Here’s THF Red Lad for instance getting a cooling shower out in the pasture at Spring Pastures Farm in Maryland. Brooke Henley tells us her farm in now ready to start offering meat. If you live near the Sharpsburg/Harpers Ferry area you may want to make a note. Brooke’s email is springpasturesfarm@gmail.com When people come to check out our cows they don’t realize that Wooz is checking them out, too. Wooz’ instincts were clearly on target with Brooke and husband, Tom Garnett. (yes, she has refused some sales) BTW: I’m…
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Recharging our batteries – 5
….and if this won’t do it, you need a new one. We usually wind up our English tours at the tip of Cornwall…not only because of the cows and the scenery but because this is where our search for pure traditional English Devon first began five years ago. I used to say this was “Doc Martin country”…but now I guess I should say “Poldark country”. And the lovely thing is the people aren’t much changed from those times. My mate, Ivan Rowe of Goldings herd, is a case in point. But all the attention we’ve paid him has made Ivan something of a celebrity. One of the days we were there…
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A world without antibiotics….
….I switched dentists the other day and, for the first time in more than 30 years, the hygienist presented a cup with four little pills….yes, routine, preventive, antibiotic therapy. The explanation was that I’d undergone hip surgery in 1980 and there was a danger of infection when she cleaned my teeth. Never mind that I had somehow survived almost four decades of dental work, including extractions, crowns and the like, without antibiotics…the young woman and the older dentist were insistent. So I did what any obedient subject of modern medicine would do: I palmed the pills and threw them away later. But I wonder, as with red meat and red…
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Recharging our batteries – 2
….after a brief detour to the Cotswolds to stay in one of our favorite inns—Russells in Broadway—we plunged into the heart of Devon country. This is famed Exmoor, in legend at least the birthplace of Devon. The moor is both beautiful and forbidding but nearby are some of the finest Devon farms in the world. And there is none finer than Ashott Barton, one of our partners’ properties just outside Exford. There, Shiamala Comer and her son, Jeremy, have an outstanding herd of truly traditional Devon. Not only her colleagues agree with her, but Shiamala’s devotion to detail—and the results she has achieved—can’t be denied. It was she who bred Millennium Falcon,…
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From Canada to the Gulf of Mexico….
….you’ll find Thistle Hill genetics! A group of six of our heifers…two bred and these four just yearlings…were loaded for the trip to Canada just before dark last night. Grandson Church Matthews and Duane Ard are shepherding them on board. The last little one did need a helping hand from Church. It was a high step. In the background is Ontario cattleman John Moelker who not only purchased our heifers but a bull from Lakota Ranch, which is nearby. Getting advance approval for the import and export papers was a bureaucratic nightmare and even involved re-testing the animals for brucellosis. Turns out the Canadians don’t recognize the American test so it…
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Out of season….
….the experts say this is the perfect time of year to calve, but we prefer fall calving at Thistle Hill to avoid the stress of Virginia’s hot summers. To prove the point, this little guy arrived just about noon when it was hotter in our area than anywhere in the country! Still the pair handled it effortlessly. Mom is a very young and quite small cow and this is her second calf. The young bull, C163, was sired by TDA Highwayman. U2a gave no sign she was that close to calving when Wooz checked her in the morning. A couple of hours later: there we was! We like it that way.…
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Thistle Hill Alumni Club….
….Rich and Linda Maurer sent this picture of a steer which is a combination of Thistle Hill and Rotokawa genetics. (Couldn’t go wrong!) He’s out of an old Thistle Hill cow….THF N48…and Rotokawa 982. The Maurers do all their breeding by AI. I hear someone out there wishing this is one they hadn’t steered for meat.
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Sounds of spring…
….WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE IF YOU CLICK TO ENLARGE PICTURE. Spring weather causes teachers to come up with ways to get their rambunctious charges out of the classroom. Farm tours are high on the list of diversions…prompting the photos to the right. (Again, language warning)