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Going, going….
….our latest offering of Pork Paks is just about sold out. We’re down to our last two boxes and, when they’re gone, we’ll have only a few individual packages of sausage and ham steaks left. Each box contains: Pork chops 6 Ham steaks 4 Bacon 2 Sausages (bratwurst, sweet Italian, breakfast links) 2 packages each The box weighs about 15 pounds and costs just $5.50/lb per actual weight. If you live within driving distance of Hume, Virginia and want to try our delicious, natural, pure pork contact us at info@thistlehill.net or phone (540) 364-2090. Sorry, we do not ship our meat.
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On our home page….
We wanted to alert those who skip our Home Page and come direct to this blog that we’ve posted some pictures of our 688 line-bred calves there. We’re not entirely convinced that breeding a sire (even one as good as Rotokawa 688) to his daughter is a good idea. But in these matters, at least, we think it’s a good idea to try something for ourselves before making a decision. So far, the results have been excellent. Of the 10 embryos implanted, we got seven calves…two males and five females. One of the bull calves died at about six months and, while we think it was the shock of a…
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About those gestation cages….
…here’s a picture of your McDonald’s breakfast Sausage McMuffin I ran across on a political blog today. The company is asking its producers to stop the practice…sometime in the future. But their recommendation is to put the sows in the same kind of crowded housing they use for their piglets and continue pumping them full of antibiotics and hormones to keep them growing and breeding….until they drop. For now, you can see the pigs can’t even turn around. Thistle Hill pigs are entirely free range, grazing with the cows and rooting for acorns. You may not have believed me the other day when I said we could tell they were…
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Better living through chemistry…
More and more, I find myself wondering how long man can continue playing with Nature before we pay the ultimate price. Experiments with that ultra-flu virus make me think that way. So does reading that scientists in the Netherlands have developed a glob they think is artificial beef. The first hamburger will be ready to serve in the Fall. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9091628/Test-tube-hamburgers-to-be-served-this-year.html There’s a somewhat limited market for a $400,000 dollar hamburger but mass production will kick in and take care of that. But what would be the real price of such a burger? And I don’t mean all the un-calculated real costs in energy and transportation and minerals involved in production. I…
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A bull’s life…
…ain’t bad at Thistle Hill. First, there are fences so the women can’t run too far. We’re using two very young bulls this year and each has a very limited work load. (You call this work?) But with all the AI and embryo transplants, they should have no more than about 10 cows each to cover. This is U6. He has Rotokawa 688 back a few generations on both sides of his pedigree. The cows and heifers are all 974 descendants, so it should be quite a pairing. U6 is with the heifers and first-calf heifers; U2 is across the road handling the older cows. We think one of the…
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Devon cattle in England…
Continuing the dialogue from the previous post…. The four cattle-judging events in England each year are very formal events. The judges, as you can see, wear bowlers and black suits. All the animal handlers and owners dress in white smocks. Wouldn’t want a judge looking at my cow that way! This judge is Gavin Hunter, whose own herd, Tilbrook, is one of the very best in the United Kingdom. We have now partnered with Gavin to bring embryos from his champion cow Cashtiller here to the States. For years, Cashtiller won everything in sight (not with Gavin judging) and many consider her the best cow in a generation. Devon were first…
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First, let’s be clear…..
…Prince Charles is not one of my favorite characters on the international scene. But he is a farmer and raises Devon. He and I attended the Royal Cornwall show a few years back. (Full disclosure: he arrived by helicopter; I came in a bus. BUT THAT IS NOT ME IN THE COW HAT!) I digress. The point of this post is that we’ve just seen a copy of the speech the Prince made on “food” at Georgetown University last year. It is one of the best treatise I’ve read on the subject and, if you’re new to the subject and this blog, grab a cup of coffee and settle down for…
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Two old cowboys “chew the fat”…..
While I can be hard on government ag agents, it was one of those critters (since reformed) who set us on the path to grass fed cattle and, indirectly, Devon. His name is Jim Gerrish, a consultant now, who lives and works out of Idaho. Jim visited Thistle Hill almost 10 years ago, when we were still a traditional operation using chemicals, feeding grain, and not really interested in eating our own meat. That really shocked Jim at the time and he immediately pointed out a cow that we should slaughter and taste. Jim also recommended moving our calving to the Fall, to spare the cows the stress of Virginia’s…
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We get hits….
You may not have noticed, but we had a “commenter” recently from Australia; it refers back to a post months ago. But it prompted us to check the hit counter to see just where our readers live. Not surprisingly, just about 90% are from someplace in the U.S.; we aren’t able to tell where. After that, the leading countries were Canada, New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom. Farther down the list were a few surprises: India, Russia, China and Uruguay. Our intention remains to give our neighbors a “feeling” for what’s going on at this grass fed beef and pastured pork farm in their midst and encourage more healthy diets…
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Help is on the way….
Wouldn’t you know? We recently made a down payment on a new puppy…an English shepherd which might grow up to be a herd dog. We had barely sent off the check when our editor of the “often-overlooked”—Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grasslands Beef in Arizona—sent us video of an amazing rabbit that herds sheep. Now if someone would train a groundhog to herd cattle, we’d stop payment on that check. Here’s the video but a warning, it does get kind of monotonous after a minute or so; but the music is fun. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/yes-you-are-watching-a-rabbit-successfully-herd-sheep-like-a-dog/