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Chloe is trying hard….
I mean really trying….but she just can’t get the Christmas Spirit! Photo by Church Matthews
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Keeping up with the demand….
….until now, we’ve been content to buy 6 to 8 piglets every year and sell a little pork. But the demand has far outstripped our supply….so much that we don’t even announce when our pigs are nearing harvest. We think the exceptional flavor everyone raves about is due to the breeds we use—Tamworth and Gloucester Old Spot—but also to our insistence on using only non-GMO feed. The acorns we get in the fall certainly help, too. The problem has been that raising pigs properly is very expensive and we’ve just not been able to even break even. In fact, we lose $2.70 on every pound of pork we sell. (Clearly not…
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Don’t mess with Thistle Hill….
….we’ve posted a lookout. Photo by Duane Ard
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Now all they have is de Blasio…
….but there was a time when New York City had cows….cows grazing right next to Grand Central Station. Depends on your definition of progress. https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/when-cows-grazed-next-to-grand-central/
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You ain’t gonna get me (again)….
….last time I’d had no experience with humans and wound up with this sign in my ear. Why? My mother knows who I am! Photo by Duane Ard.
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Antibiotics….
….right up there with ISIS and maybe even climate change. This is only one of several reports in the past week on the menace of antibiotic resistant superbugs. And this article makes the point that you’re not really protected simply by refusing the drugs for yourself, except in dire emergencies. http://news.yahoo.com/dangerously-high-antibiotic-resistance-levels-worldwide-112717705.html Thistle Hill never uses antibiotics that will find its way into our meat, of course, but 70% of all the antibiotic consumption in the United States is used in agriculture.
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Thistle Hill alumni club….
….includes this truly international calf. The scene is Woolen, Ontario, Canada….the farm of Connie and John Moelker. The proud mom in the back is all American from Thistle Hill…from the old Lakota 48 line…one of the most noteworthy of the Devon breed. And the sire is from England…Traditional Devon’s Highwayman. Which brings us to this little guy….calved just two days ago. His mom was one of a shipment of heifers we made to Canada earlier this summer. Not the end of the story by any means. The Moelkers plan to enlarge their Devon herd and offer Devon seedstock in Canada.
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Alright, this is political….
….I try to keep this blog away from politics but, reading between the lines, you can certainly tell I believe “that government is best which governs least”. And particularly when it comes to the food we eat. Yes, even the safety of the food we eat is not well-served by big government…not the federal government…or the EU…or the UN. And not by Democrats or Republicans, either! The agenda of big government is mass production because it is simplest to control. And the money is there in large-enough amounts to enable world-class graft and corruption. World-class politicians need world-class perks. And Big Government decided long ago on a political agenda that was…
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A first time for everything….
….Traditional Devon’s™ Churchill presented us with a new problem the other day. He had been dehorned several years ago but for some reason the “stump” had splintered and we found him in the pasture this way…an ugly sight but he didn’t seem particularly disturbed. We first thought one of two younger bulls had gotten into a “head-to-head” with him, testing his strength. But they seemed properly differential. It was also possible he had been scratching his head on a tree, and broke what was left of his horn. In any event, the wound was too serious to leave untreated. So veterinarian Monica O’Brien clipped off the broken ends and then cauterized…
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End of an era….
….the Jackpot era. At Thistle Hill, anyway. Jackpot being sized up by Charles Blankenship of Day Spring Farm in Altamont, Tennessee. As Jackpot loomed up in the morning haze, I heard Charles exclaim to himself: Wow! About two minutes later, he owned him. Jackpot is a son of Rotokawa 243….Ken McDowall’s favorite bull. We ai-ed him to one of our cows that has a habit of producing great bull calves. And when Ken first saw him five years ago he said, “David, you’ve hit the Jackpot!” Charles and his wife Madeleine are developing quality grass fed meat operation near Nashville based on Red Angus, but friends convinced him crossing…