-
So far, so good…..
….our Traditional Devon America™ bull, Churchill, has a second calf to his credit. She’s a day-old in this picture, the daughter of a Senepol/Devon cross heifer. The birth was easy (easy for me to say)….we saw the heifer go into labor…drove back across the street to get a tag…and the calf was actually already on its feet by the time we got back. We’ve used Churchill over several more pure Devon and this weekend he heads to our partner Bill Walker’s farm in South Carolina. His full brother, Wellington, will be in the trailer on the return trip, along with a half-dozen other English Devon.
-
Testing….one…two…three…
….testing. We have bred three of our Traditional Devon™ America English bulls to American cows now….part of developing a track record on our imported genetics. Here are two by either TDA Churchill or TDA Wellington….we’re not sure which…the DNA people aren’t even sure. We hadn’t anticipated that problem dealing with flush mates. But we’re sure the lab will finally figure it out. One thing we notice in the bull calf at the left….he brings nice thickness all the way forward. American cows are notorious for weak shoulders. It will take a lot more calves to be sure but hopefully English genetics can help our American herds in several respects.
-
Another milestone….
…another successful experiment. We decided to try our English traditional Devon bulls on a few of our heifers…here at Thistle Hill and in South Carolina. And yesterday afternoon, without any warning, came the result: a heifer calf by a fairly small heifer. Delivered without problem. The problem is we’re not sure which bull is the sire: Churchill or Wellington. Both were with her right at the conception date. We’ll let DNA sort that out. Meanwhile, Mom was busy holding court all afternoon….introducing the curiosity to the other heifers who are waiting their turn. We liked that the dark ruby red coloring of the English animals prevailed. This was a thoroughly photographed…
-
Mission accomplished….
Traditional Devon’s English bull, Churchill, returns to his Thistle Hill pasture after an extremely successful stay at North American Breeders for collection. The tech there called him “fantastic”…and we agree. In fact, grass fed bulls generally are far more fertile than grain fed. With all the news reports about declining sperm counts in western males, we’ve wondered whether the high level of corn fructose in young diets is partly to blame. Churchill is not yet two. He’s been used in a limited way here at Thistle Hill. His brother, Wellington, will be traveling to South Carolina in another month to be tried on our partners’ Walker Century Farms herd. And…