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The three little pigs…
…who went to market the other day averaged 230 pounds hanging weight. Exactly what we were aiming for! And Church reports the spread was only five pounds…227, 230, 232. Can’t wait for our share! There is no matching fresh farm-raised pork. It’s akin to corn or tomatoes right out of the garden. And Thistle Hill pigs have the advantage of browsing for acorns…producing pork like the Spaniards do (and charge so much for!). By coincidence, my daughters and their mother are in Spain right now…where raising pork is an art form. Every region has its own special taste…and pigs raised on truffles can bring as much as $300 a pound.…
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The parade of bulls…
…this time features a young bull exactly one year old, F100. He’s a combination of English genetics. The sire is the great English champion Cutcombe Jaunty. The dam was selected by Wooz on what turned out to be her final visit to England. She choose an Ashott Barton Tulip heifer which in turn we mated to Jaunty. All this in a clinic outside Oxford. The resultant embryo was shipped to Virginia where we implanted it in a top Thistle Hill cow…in our Rotokawa line, in turn from New Zealand. That recip is a vital part of the whole process. So there you have F100…a citizen of the world! When we…
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The nonsense about meat…
…which mostly we ignore because, like politics, it’s an argument you can’t win. Vegans who first based their belief on animal cruelty, eventually branched out to make health claims which weren’t substantiated by any evidence. Now, though, comes the results of another massive research project which cannot find any link between red meat and cancer, heart disease or diabetes. In fact, the researchers also gave a pass to processed meats. There’s also an interesting side note: the scientists say it was hard to come up with any conclusions because all the basic research that has fueled the opposition to red meat is flawed. David
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To be honest…
…we weren’t planning on becoming a unique source for pure traditional English genetics. That came later when we realized pure Devon genetics were becoming a rarity, even in England. Originally, we just wanted to see whether infusing those English bloodlines into our herd of American Devon would be worth the trouble. King David provides the answer. This two-year old bull out of THF X2a by the Traditional English Devon bull Victory has already produced his first calf crop…and they’re winners! And he’s still got a lot of growing to do. If you’ve bred your herd into a box we recommend considering a bull like Victory. We have several to choose…
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Spoken for…
…the three larger pigs anyway. If you want all or part of the remaining two, contact us now. They should be ready by the holidays but we won’t rush them. It takes time not only to fatten properly but to cure and smoke. You choose the curing you want along with the size of the hams and pork chops…and of course the kind of sausage you want. We guarantee not only a healthy product but the most delicious pork you’ve ever tasted! (Unless you’ve ordered from us before) Contact Church atchurchhh@gmail.com(214) 802-1283 David
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Reddi for action…
Not a misprint; that’s his name! He was Red Lad when he left Thistle Hill several years ago for Spring Pastures Farm near Middleton, Maryland. There, Brooke Henley immediately dubbed him Reddi. He was a well-mannered young man…one of Wooz’ favorites. Now with 19 progeny on the ground and more to come, Brooke and her husband Tom Garnett have regretfully decided he should move on. In fact since this picture was taken, Reddi has already been sold to Keystone Farms in Pennsylvania. The nice things Brooke says, coupled with “gushing” reviews of Thistle Hill bulls from Clark Farms, a commercial Angus operation in southwestern Virginia, prompts us to launch a…
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The system circles the wagons…
..for 20 years I’ve been railing against glysophate…a chemical herbicide that Monsanto has been selling worldwide under the trade name “Round-up”. A number of studies have identified it as a carcinogen and a few farmers have successfully sued Monsanto for damages. Now however the EPA has declared glysophate entirely safe, putting millions of dollars in court awards in jeopardy. And more than that our health in jeopardy…particularly because glysophate/Round-up is invariably used in growing GMO foods. In short, glysophate is spread on almost all the vegetables we eat folks and the government, Big Chemicals and Big Ag are going to keep it that way. Joel Saladin is a natural grower…
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Everybody outta the pool…
…a momma black bear checks out our swimming pool! She almost certainly has a cub or two safely behind her but out of sight. For at least 17 years this bear has been raising her family in a den just below what is now Church’s house. More often she is content to splash around in the two-acre pond, again just down the hill. The cubs often think it’s great sport to slap the row boat oars and watch them spin in the oar locks. They’re no danger unless surprised or accidentally cornered. She also is clearly well fed with her very own 200 acres of vegetation and fruit and berries…
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This little piggy…
…went to the freezer. Two of the pigs we’ll be harvesting between now and the holidays. They’ve passed 250 pounds and the closer they are to 300, the better we like them. These are mulefoot pigs…descendants of pigs brought here by the early Spanish explorers. Their diet now should be adding some acorns from trees in this pasture. And that’s the combination that made the flavor of Spanish ham famous worldwide….at $60/pound the imported price today! I’ve already ordered my holiday pig! Have you? Spanish pork at American prices. Call Church at (214) 802-1283 or churchhh@gmail.com David
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Grass update….
We’ve never gone into the fall and winter with this much reserve grass. It’s called stockpiling and Church is stockpiling about 70 acres which is just over half our total acreage. The best I ever managed was about 40 acres. This field was underwater the first part of the year. We think it’s switchgrass…a native grass that does particularly well with “wet feet”. An adjacent pasture with reed canary grass handled the flooding but not this well. The trick now is to get it consumed while it’s in this nutritious stage. Eventually it will probably grow to about 8 feet and be unpalatable. But for now it takes the pressure…