….that’s what a group of us who have been involved in the Holistic Management pilot project met to discuss last night.  To eliminate the suspense, we all quickly voted to continue. The idea behind the project is to demonstrate that a farm can be management without all the usual inputs of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and even grain.  And without, hay, too, which is by far the biggest expense in raising cattle.  Two of our colleagues said they had made good progress in their grazing: both were still basically on grass and one said he’d cut his hay costs in half.  The remainder were all satisfied they had made a significant improvement…

We’re keeping a close eye on the eastern pasture today, watching for three cows to demonstrate they’re ready to be bred.  (They mount each other and everything in site; have to be careful in our Gator)  Once we note the time, we count forward six to eight days to transplant more embryos. We’re also playing another game of “who’s the smartest” with our pigs, trying to lure them into the trailer for the trip to the butcher.  So far, it’s no contest, which is why we’re still playing the game two weeks after it began. But in between, I’ve been reading a magazine I was unfamiliar with until I spotted…

….but when it’s the middle of January and the sun isn’t quite up and the temperature is 16 degrees and there’s a wind, it’s one of those moments you question your sanity.  But the timing says this is the precise moment to implant an embryo that was collected back in England six months ago, and so you wrap your scarf a little tighter and grit your chattering teeth. Wooz is holding a stick because many years ago she was run down by an Angus cow and the stick has become part of her dress code when working cows.  But she would never use it.  The meanest she is to a…

…but there’s still some truth in this.  There are still some “little guys” farming, in defiance of Big Ag and Big Government.  And this is for them: http://www.youtube.com/embed/QuzhwkaNC40?rel=0

Thanks to our friend Dr. Sue Beal who sent us this true story of an authentic hero from the Korean War.  It is the story of a horse, Sergeant Reckless, who in one battle for a contested hill made 51 trips to the fighting…carrying ammunition on the way up and wounded Marines on the way down.  And she made the trips into the fire without anyone leading him!  And she kept going back, though she was wounded….twice! Here is Sgt. Reckless, an incredibly brave horse!

To make it easier for both our meat and Devon customers, you can now look for this sign at the entrance to Thistle Hill Farm.  We’re on Crest Hill road (647), 2.2 miles west of Leeds Manor Road (688). The sign was fabricated by Quail Run Signs over in Hamilton and we think John Ralph and his crew did an excellent job.  They delivered our vision and made the job fun.  We can certainly recommend them.

Too late!  Good neighbor Ira McDowell clears away one of three trees that came down on Thistle Hill fences in the past few days.  It’s a combination of the heavy rains and the wind. We were lucky to find Ira at home.  This is deer season, after all! Actually it’s surprising the fence held up as well as it did.  This is a lot of weight.  Might as well give Gold Cup Fencing a plug.  They do good work! Because of the flu, I’ve leaned heavily on neighbors for the past week.  Some, like Jerry Hall, came all the way over from Delaplane.

This bouncing baby girl is minutes old and Mom is just setting to work cleaning her up.  She’s more messy than usual, because she wound up in a pile of leaves; but it makes a nice bed. Grandma has never had anything but heifers; and now this daughter has had her first calf, a heifer.  So much for the laws of probabilities. Even more remarkable is this proud mother, the sole remaining member of Wooz’ original Angus herd.  She is 15 years old and this is her 13th straight calf!  Unlike most of her original herdmates, she was able to transfer to an all grass diet and it probably prolonged her life…

…on a two-month old heifer with a cut on her leg.  Normally we’ve been waiting until she’s nursing and then she barely notices the slight sting of the medicine.  (It’s in the spray bottle Wooz is holding in her right hand.) But on this day she thought it would be fun to play tag and it took three attempts.  The calf would dodge away, but never go so far as to discourage Wooz from trying again. Fortunately, Wooz reports the wound is now completely healed and no further treatment will be necessary.  At least that’s what I think she said.  She was breathing pretty hard.

There’s not much question that humans, their teeth and digestive systems, have adapted over the years to eating meat.  Not much question either that eating natural meat is good for you.  Not even any question that eating natural fat is good for you, too. The argument vegetarians advance that many have trouble answering is the ethical one; that is, we’re using our power to kill another sentient life. Well now, wait a minute.  According to a study in Australia, producing grain for protein results in 25 times the number of animals killed per kilogram of meat. Forget the slaughter caused by a reaper in a field of wheat, that wheat also…