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Getting to know you….
There’s a great chance coming up for Devon breeders and would-be Devon breeders to get to know each other. It’s a meeting in South Carolina not affiliated with either of the breed associations…just people getting together to talk about and look at Devon. The get-together will be June 16th at the Wagner Ranch in Rock Hall, South Carolina. There will be a program, though, featuring Jeremy Engh of Lakota Ranch and Gearld Fry of Artisan Beef and they’ll be talking about improving the quality and marketability of your herd. Dr. Randall Hinshaw, an embryologist, will detail the ins and outs of embryo work. The day wraps up with a tour of…
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Jolly good show!
It certainly was for our English friends and partners, Joy and Angus Cottey. Their young cow, Garradon Fuschia, won top honors at the British Society’s recent national show. Not only was Fuschia the champion cow, but grand champion as well, besting all the bulls in the competition. That doesn’t happen very often. Angus and Joy are a wonderful couple and great fun to be around. She’s a midwife and he is a “copper”. An earlier bull of theirs, Cutcombe Jaunty, a champion in his own right, plays a key role in our breeding plans and his calves are already here at Thistle Hill. Fuschia, by the way, was sired by…
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What is truly rewarding….
….is helping people getting started in Devon. Here, Linda Hendrix of Pacolet, South Carolina welcomes a young Thistle Hill bull to her farm. THF W31 was accompanied by four pregnant cows, two with calves, on the 10 hour trailer ride from Virginia. Most of the time was spent in the Friday afternoon, Memorial Day weekend rush hour around Charlotte. But now Linda and her son, Dr. John Hendrix, are on their way with what we might call a “Thistle Hill starter herd”. This is the view from the breakfast room window as, from this moment forward, Linda starts her day. A perfect Carolina morning. The Hendrix had not really planned…
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Just in case….
We’ve always been skeptical of the “global warming” scenario though our recent un-winter and early spring has moved us closer to the agnostic column. Still we’ve always managed Thistle Hill as though the environmental alarmists are right. There’s no question, based on our own observations, that clean water and chemical-free land is better for our animals and for us. And the cost savings in not spraying pesticides, not spreading fertilizer and not mowing fields is considerable. Managing your land that way not only cuts way back on energy consumption, it also keeps carbon out of the atmosphere and in the ground where it does the most good. This is why Thistle…
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If you can’t beat them, buy them….
We’ve made the point before that the organic label has been seriously corrupted. Big agriculture industry giants (Big Ag) have infiltrated the organic field and, with their accomplices in government, are doing all they can to blur the differences between our contaminated supermarket food supply and safe food. Again, Democrats and Republicans alike in Washington are the culprits in this story. You would think, of course, that “organic” means entirely natural; it grows and we eat it unadulterated except for what we may add as we prepare it. Well, that’s not true. Something like 300 additives, some carcinogenic, have already been cleared by the “watchdog” government agency for use in organic food…
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“I’m so big….
….you don’t even want to think about it. (I hope) That’s the message Carolina Hobo is sending to two younger bulls as they return to the bull pasture after being gone for a few months “on assignment”. He is displaying his massive side view in hopes it will discourage any thoughts in the youngsters of trying to challenge his dominance. If you click on the picture to enlarge, you’ll see Double Trouble looking suitably impressed. Animal behavior expert Temple Grandin first pointed out just what was going on here. Both bulls and cows establish a pecking order, and whenever a new animal joins the herd, even if they’ve been there before, it’s…
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Heart-breaking news….
…from our dear friends in New Zealand, Ken and Prue McDowall. Ken is the famous Rotokawa breeder. But just a few minutes ago he called with the news that he and Prue had lost their daughter, a young woman, talented artist and sculptor with a brilliant future. What do you say to the McDowalls…what can you think? What a terrible agony they are going through. Wooz and I owe so much to this absolutely lovely couple….the most decent people you could ever know in this world. They have been key in the development of Thistle Hill…the impact of Rotokawa is everywhere. But that pales in comparison to the impact of…
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A gamble pays off….
The smile stayed on Dr. Monica O’Brien’s face all afternoon, despite the heat. We were checking pregnancies, and again and again she reported: “Three months!” That was particularly gratifying since we had gambled this year, selling our herd bull Watson and banking on his son, 2-year old U2 or Double Trouble. Because of the uncertainty of putting a young bull with 24 grown cows, we kept him in an extra month. But it wasn’t necessary. He settled 75% of his charges in the first 22 days. All but two in the next month for a total of 94%. All in all, a performance that earned Double Trouble bragging rights with…
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Better living through chemistry (cont’d)….
It’s a problem that apparently is growing: the wholesale use of antibiotics is causing drug resistant immunities to build-up in humans as well as animals. We just can’t depend on drugs to battle disease as we once did. E.coli is one of them. Industrial agriculture is based on antibiotics. All commercial animals…cattle, chicken and pigs…are fed them routinely as a preventative. They have to, because in the way they are raised, they’d die otherwise. So you get them too, whether you’re buying meat at the supermarket, a restaurant or McDonald’s. More than that, those cows you see gracing lovely landscapes (unless you’re looking at Thistle Hill and similar farms), are…
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Sad news….
…for those of us who covered the Viet Nam war. Horst Faas, who headed the Associated Press photo team through most of the war, has died in his native Germany after a long illness. Horst was a talented, indestructible man who dominated the Saigon scene while many of the rest of us just “dabbled”. As a CBS News correspondent, I was one of those who passed through Viet Nam for a year and went home. Horst stayed and was a mentor for all of us. Confined to a wheelchair in his later years, Horst remained an indomitable, irascible, forceful, hard-living spirit who refused to yield to his affliction. Here’s an…