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Grandpa knows best….
It’s interesting to watch our old friend Kit Pharo move in the direction of becoming a “healthy eating” advocate. For those of you who don’t know him, Kit is a very successful Colorado rancher who raised himself from rodeo vagabond to head what may be the largest bull stud operation in the country. We’re not sure whether it’s becoming a grandfather, or just age, but Kit now regularly writes about eating right. Until recently, he’s been far more into raising cattle at the lowest cost than he was about the quality of the meat they produced. Here’s the latest from his on-line blog: Carbage – Several people said our pre-sale…
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Grazing with the Stars….
Thistle Hill went Hollywood this afternoon; well not really. But we were taped for a video being prepared by Holistic Management International. As you probably know, about a year ago we were fortunate to be selected for an HMI pilot project in Rappahannock county (the river was low then and we snuck over from Fauquier county). Our cows had no problem “hitting their mark”, even when we switched the point for their grand entrance. Cameraman Steven Schwartz of Madison specializes in videos about sustainable agriculture. All I had to do was brag about Thistle Hill. Steve’s only comment afterwards was that I had gone “a little long”. I reminded him…
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One more thing to worry about….
…rabid bear. They shot one near Charlottesville, about an hour from here. We haven’t heard of a rabid bear, not even a rabid animal of any kind in our neighborhood for many years. We actually do have a big mama bear on the property. She has a den just beyond the pond and in a hillside near the Rappahannock river. It’s a treat to watch her play with her cubs near the water every year. There are generally two babies but just a year ago she had four. We had never heard of that, either. http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2012/apr/19/rabid-bear-attacks-albemarle-shot-dead-victim-ar-1855598/>
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Where’s that old saxophone….
OK…time for a little culture. Maybe past time. A Brigham Young University professor, who has a Dixieland jazz band called the Hot 5, was in France with his group and was taken with the beauty of the cows in a pasture along the road. He broke out his horn…his friends joined in…someone had a camera…and the result is a video which has, as they say, “gone viral” on the internet. http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/lXKDu6cdXLI?rel=0 Thanks to Terry Wildrick of Detroit, who provided the link. (He’s Wooz’ cousin) And to answer your question, Terry, yes Devon love music though they prefer my Johnny Cash imitation.
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A peek behind the curtain….
If you feel the meat you’re eating isn’t as tasty as it was when you were little, you’re right. Studies show that the percentage of meat qualifying for “Choice” and “Prime” has dropped way down. It’s the result of hurrying the cattle with hormones and grain. But time is money, and Industrial Ag, and their handmaidens in university research, keep coming up with ways to grow beef faster if not better. Dr. Sue Beal sent us this story on the latest wonder drug in your supermarket beef. http://chronicle.com/article/As-Beef-Cattle-Become/131480/?sid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en Dr. Allen Williams, the university professor who blows the whistle on the conflict of interest in “scholarly research” in this article is…
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You gotta love her….
Wooz and I spent an enjoyable few hours with son, Church, today photographing much of our herd. We wanted new photos to “freshen” the website. We also wanted to grade our younger cows…such as X64 here with her mom. 64 seems to turn out “A’s” year in and year out and her calves are always among the first to be singled out by potential buyers. We, in turn, make sure that we always keep two 64 females in our herd for protection. In the main pasture right in front of the house is part of that “protection”, U64. She’s the granddaughter of one great Rotokawa bull, 974, and just bred to…
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I’m from the government and I’m here to help you….
We try to keep politics out of our blogging….we really try. But the #&*@! pointy-headed bureaucrats are doing it again. They’re about to promulgate a regulation which would make it illegal for us to have our grandchildren join us in working on the farm. From the time they’re able, some of our grandkids love to help out; others aren’t interested. They all want to drive the 4-wheeler, of course, and will do any chore that involves that. Sorry kids….the Obama Administration says Grandpa is trying to kill you. Please watch the following. I know it’s crazy Fox News and all that…and the comments go “off the wall”….but still watch, please.…
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Blizzard in Maryland….
…not that kind. This kind. Our young bull, THF Blizzard W180, was delivered to Claggett Farm near Upper Marlboro, Maryland yesterday. His new owner, Michael Heller, is getting one of the nicest bulls we’ve raised here at Thistle Hill. Blizzard was off the trailer and calling his new herd before we could get our camera ready. Michael is the manager of the farm, which is owned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. A nice coincidence since Thistle Hill a few years back won an award for its protection of streams which are a part of the Chesapeake basin. The farm serves as an educational laboratory not only for area farmers but…
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We’re off to the races….
Once again this year we were one of the sponsors of the Old Dominion Hunt’s point-to-point races. This time though we had something else on the menu besides food, drink and run. Thanks to great friends we raffled off some prizes to benefit the Wounded Warriors Project. Wooz and I and Church and Barbara are pleased to report we raised $3,534 for this good cause. We particularly want to thank the owners of the Black Horse Inn, who contributed a stay at their fine inn. The other prizes were a massage from Renata Shields of Orlean, spice packages from Tolsons Appliance Center and, of course, meat from Thistle Hill. Among the guests…
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Just because…
…we like to look at pictures of cows, particularly our alumni…..or should it be alumnae? Ann Merryman, who has a beautiful farm near Sparks, Maryland, just sent us a picture of two heifers she purchased from Thistle Hill last fall. As we expected, they’ve thrived under Ann’s care and appear to be in perfect body condition for breeding. Both heifers are daughters of Rotokawa 93 and their sister was retained here at Thistle Hill. Incidentally, we knew that Ann had been a horse trainer of note, but not until more recently had we discovered she had trained the horses in one of our favorite movies, “Seabiscuit”.