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DNA confirms it…
THF 1 is indeed an off-spring of the great English bull Champson Defender. He’s the second bull in partially obscured by an American herdmate. Again note the difference in coloring of a pure traditional English animal versus the American variety! This was Church’s first try at artificial insemination and it’s a great success for the farm! We now have three very separate English bull blood lines to work with. Wooz and I saw Defender on our very first trip to England in 2010. Breeder Robert James had purchased him for what was then a record price of 14,000 guineas! When we started we had no idea how difficult it would…
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It’s maybe not the Riviera…
…our pigs don’t know the difference. Here they’re soaking up the rays on an unseasonable winter day at Thistle Hill. Actually pigs do have to worry about sunburn. That’s one of the reason they wallow in the mud! David
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This just in…and I’m bursting with grandfatherly pride…
…Church had just been accepted into the veterinary school at Cornell University! For the past two years, he’s been running Thistle Hill Farm and its herd of purebred Devon. All the while he’s pursed a graduate degree in biology at George Mason University. Before that he was graduated from Denison University in Ohio. If that wasn’t enough, Church also wrangled a few pigs and worked for our local vet at Rose Hill veterinary service. And somehow he’s managed the time to help his uncle at Tolsons Appliance, a longtime family store. Church’s achievements more than justify his grandmother’s belief in him. She was always his biggest booster! And a key…
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Neither rain, nor snow…
…not dark of night…can upset the timetable for embryo transplants once the clock is running. So under miserable cold and wet and muddy conditions, Veterinarian Tom Massey and grandson Church managed to successfully cut out and bring in eight cows that had been prepped. Eventually embryos went in six by bulls including Lakota’s P60 and Rotokawa 663 and 93. We’ll now turn in our English bull Essington from Brian Drake’s old herd…and our own Churchill…to finish the job. Sometimes I feel our slogan should be: What’s Old is New Again. David
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The scorecard…
…for artificial insemination this year. And it’s a year where we seem to be focused on up-grading our regular herd. The first step is to get the cows in of course….and a new unrolled tasty bale of hay is a good appetizer. Over several days Church has ai-ed about 10 cows. The bulls he used included Tilbrook Sunset and Rotokawa 982. We’ve had excellent results with both perhaps 10 years ago but the progeny somehow got away from us. Our English friend Gavin Hunter was the breeder of Sunset…and he was also the source of embryos from Cashtiller, our favorite all-time cow. Rotokawa, of course, was developed by the legendary…
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Thistle Hill ham…
..using Curt’s go-to recipe with thanks to “everydaymaven.com”. It starts with scoring the ham than patting on a mixture of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and kosher salt. Have to punch cloves in, of course. After 1:15 in an oven, baste with a sixth of a cup of maple syrup. Cook 15 minutes more and baste with more maple syrup. Bake another 15 to 30 minutes and after your family has at it, it will look something like this! Call me a traitor, but no traditional Virginia ham ever tasted this good!
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Christmas morning treats…
…at a customers home. Reserve you bacon now by contacting Church. Thistle Hill bacon is above the rest…he said modestly. …and a Christmas morning treat for the venerable Highwayman. He gets a year off and his very own bale of hay while we test his younger full brother in this year’s heifers! David
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Christmas gift…
A Christmas gift for TDA 35… …his very own set of two-year old heifers! We start breeding our heifers about one month ahead of the main herd. That, and holding off until they’re 2+, makes it a little easier on young, still growing females. It also increases the percentage of successful rebreeding. TDA 35 is a full brother of our wonderful English bull Highwayman. His sire was Ashott Barton’s Millennium Falcon and his dam, Goldings Norah. David
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Pigs first snowfall…
..and they got a kick out of it. Mackenzie got in the spirit, too! David
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Who needs toys…