-
A split in the ranks….
….the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) is a major voice in the field and, through the efforts of its executive director Brian Snyder, increasingly a voice in Washington on national farm policy. We haven’t been entirely enthusiastic about the way our representative has represented those of us in the field but, since starting this blog, we’ve mostly stayed away from politics. However, it has seemed to us that Brian has been too willing to compromise on some important issues, such as the animal identification system, and we’ve wondered if he has succumbed to what we used to call “Potomac fever”. That is, whether he has been carried away with the excitement over…
-
Yes, it’s true….
….Greg and Jan Judy’s Green Pastures farm certainly lives up to its name. More than 50 would-be grazers attended Greg’s three-day program near Moberly, Missouri last week to study the power of mob grazing. It’s been a cold, wet spring but the proof was there as you drove down the road. Greg’s green pastures alongside neighbors who were still feeding hay! The featured speaker was Ian Mitchell-Innes who practices a version of what might be called “Mob Grazing for Dummies”. Ian’s approach is throw you in the shallow water so you don’t have to drown. He has become something of a missionary in the battle to save the microbe. There’s…
-
Throwback at Trapper Creek….
….is a very informative website we found recently. It details the “adventures” of Nita Wilson, a third generation farmer in the Pacific Northwest. She spends a good deal of time on each topic she develops; her treatment of beginning rotational grazing in the spring is an example of her work. http://matronofhusbandry.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/its-complicated/ It’s worth your time to check out the entire site.
-
Our alumni club….
….we think we treat our animals pretty well here at Thistle Hill, but Regina Tesnow at Tomina Farms in Kentucky puts us to shame. Here she’s grooming a bull we shipped to her not long ago. She calls him “Casino“…a Rotokawa 243 son…who she hopes will replace her famed “Magic” who is also a Thistle Hill alum. Regina apparently pampers all her Devon this way. I suspect she even tucks them in at night with an alfalfa cube.
-
Updating our British newcomers….
….we spent several days recently inspecting our British calves at Doyle Unruh’s farm in Georgia…and our older heifers just across the state line at Bill and Nancy Walker’s farm in South Carolina. This is an Essington Buttercup son by Millennium Falcon, now almost six months old. Doyle will be holding him on his recipient mother for a few more months. His half-brother, a Goldings Norah son also by Falcon, has an interesting story. Recently our partner in Cornwall, England, Juliet Cleave, posted a picture on her Facebook page of an outstanding young bull . The picture was taken in 1963 and other than the name— Uggaton Highwayman 2nd—she was asking…
-
The “right stuff”….
….few things are as much fun as watching a young dog learn to herd. Our nine-month old English shepherd “Pokey” has got it all figured out…except where to put the cows once she has them in a group. Almost any corner will do. We’re hoping a professional trainer will soon sort things out for her. Of course, “Pokey” did not have the advantage of an Australian shepherd we saw recently on YouTube. He got to practice on ducks before graduating to cows. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=89luGserh3o
-
Famed Devon breeder a stroke victim….
Gerard (Jerry) Engh of Lakota Ranch has been stricken by a serious stroke. Son Jeremy Engh tells the American Devon Cattle Association (ADCA) that the stroke occurred several weeks ago and Jerry is recuperating at the ranch in Remington. Jeremy says it may take a few months before there is a full recovery. The senior Engh played the key role in keeping the Devon breed going through the dark days of the feed lot craze. There was a time when an Association meeting would draw only a handful of breeders. Today, with the merger of ADCA and its offshoot NADA in the offing, there are several hundred Devon farms in…
-
Our government, here to protect us….
….The New York Times discovers the antibiotic menace. Of course, years after the problem first surfaced. This article is revealing on several accounts: First, the most recent warning from the FDA was published in February but no one noticed until a public service group publicized it. The government didn’t do much to spread the word. Second, the inevitable professor of agriculture at a major university—Minnesota—jumps in to defend Big Ag. Third, the prof lets the cat out of the bag. The antibiotics are used to “keep cows healthy”…not to cure a sick cow. A cow on pasture is as healthy a creature as there is. It is only when you feed…
-
Dessert….
….the main herd has now been moved from the last of the stockpiled grass and getting their taste of the “green stuff”. It’s so good, they don’t stop even when you stand right over them…certainly not when you take their picture. Ironically, this could be the first time they’ll actually need hay. Too green grass goes right through them. But there is enough dried grass mixed in that I suspect it may not be a problem. What we do now is just let them get the top inch or two and then move them….top all the pastures quickly and then they’ll return here in 45 days and take up a…
-
One of those moods….
….sometimes you just don’t feel like going out and feeding the pigs….and that’s when you get what might be called “off topic posts”. Though as I confessed in my very first post, I have no idea just what the topic of this blog is. I like this for the spirit and an insight to one of the many things going on that we never hear about. The Miami Dolphins cheerleaders recently put together a music video for our troops in Afghanistan. Some creative types over there took time out from “surviving” to respond with a video of their own….perfectly mirroring the cheerleaders. Watch to see some young people enjoying themselves in dreadful…