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Let’s call this before….
Christmas weekend opened splendidly with sunrise reflected off the Blue Ridge..captured by our designated early riser, daughter Carolyn. But if there’s a before there must be an after. At the moment Carolyn took the before picture a passing motorist was also admiring the sunrise over Thistle Hill. At least that’s what he told the investigating state trooper. In any event the motorist lost control and we lost four sections of four-board fence. Fortunately a neighbor saw the accident and moved our cows to a nearby pasture with intact fencing. Thank you Kathy Hartz! Rebuilding fencing wasn’t the way we planned to spend Christmas but the job is done! Thanks to…
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Suspicions confirmed…
…for some time I’ve felt we as an industry have been harvesting our beef at too young an age. First let me say I am skeptical of the results of the Mad Cow scare of some years back. Even more skeptical of the cure…permitting bone-in cuts only for animals under 30 months. Whatever triggers Mad Cow may simply not be apparent in younger animals. No matter…30-months has been the trigger for slaughter dictated by the USDA and the industrial beef people love it because that supports their rush to harvest. Finally along comes a cattleman to speak out…and let us know what we’ve been missing. He’s been taste-testing some of…
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Let the real test begin…
…in the final analysis it’s not the bull…nor the pedigree…but the calves. Cutcombe represents one of the first second generation all English animals born in America. Sired by Ashott Barton Millennium falcon and out of TDA 4. We hope to see his deep ruby red coat show up in his upcoming calves. And Cutcombe’s first calves are due any day now.
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This just in…
…all natural grass fed, grass finished beef! Now there’s a delicious mouthful…and nutritious, too! Thistle Hill Farm is back in full operation now under the direction of grandson Church Humphreys. Our focus remains the marketing of the very best Devon seedstock but that doesn’t mean we can’t set aside a limited number of animals for personal consumption. Again we’re offering whole carcasses, halves and quarters. Bulk Prices range from $7 to $7.50 a pound…and that’s packaged weight in individual cuts. We’ll also endeavor to provide special packages of our mouth-watering hamburgers. You’ve never tasted anything this good..and a bulk buy at just $6 a pound is a family bargain. To…
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More about Buttercup…
…see below “All we could have hoped for…”. The dam of our Buttercup was Essington Park 136, photographed the day we first saw her at Essington Park in 2010. She was standing a bit apart from her herd. And she was always that way particularly with a calf at her side. Did she know her pedigree stretched back more than 100 years? She was Brian Drake’s favorite too. He liked her trouble free performance..a calf every year right on schedule. Mobile; she was always first to the best new grass. And a solid mother. Her babies did not wander…where she put them is where they stayed, even if a stranger…
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All we could have hoped for…
…when we began our English project. Entirely new pure traditional Devon bloodlines. And here is one: Buttercup from Brian Drake’s Essington Park herd. Bred there…born here…and now with her first calf. Brian has since retired and his herd, one of England’s oldest, has been dispersed. The sire of this month old well-mannered bull calf is our Churchill…out of Gavin Hunter’s great cow Tilbrook Cashtiller. The shortage of pure, traditional Devon bloodlines has become so critical in England that one breeder we know has thrown up her hands and is using an Angus bull this year, hoping for better luck next year. We’ll never forget spotting Buttercup’s dam on her pasture…
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Did you know that grass-fed beef is one of the top ten sources of tryptophan?
I have to confess that I didn’t know that grass fed beef is on the top ten list for sources of tryptophan…I always think of turkey. Tryptophan is the amino acid that goes on to become serotonin, the “feel-good” hormone which is low in depression, and melatonin, which helps us sleep at night. Other sources besides grass fed beef and turkey: lamb, chicken, tuna, pumpkin seeds, eggs, crab, cheese, and spirulina. In addition to getting enough tryptophan in your diet, it is important to pursue lifestyle strategies to minimize inflammation, because when inflammatory pathways are turned on, the tryptophan gets hijacked down an inflammatory pathway to make kynurenine and quinolinic…
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The next generations review…
..the next generation. It was front and center for this year’s crop of yearling-plus heifers. Not quite ready to breed and that’s the problem. Breed now and calve in the fall with the attendant problems plus rebreeding difficulty? Or wait until they’re ready which could mean calving in the equally difficult winter months. Church on the right voted to go ahead and he’s the one who gets up in the dark and will have to deal with the problem either way. Grandpa on the left voted to wait but of course he’s in Assisted Living where he can do nothing but express an opinion. Curt and Carolyn in the middle…
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Another profit center…
…this one for the gentlemen to go along with the spa for the ladies. (See below) While the ladies cuddle up with the cows in one pasture, the men could enjoy soccer in another pasture. Let’s go to the tape! David
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An update from the science desk….
Nothing really new here but it summarizes where science is and where it’s going. Will the government eventually mandate that we must follow? https://apnews.com/f628e7c65c794995b19977b7c1cdc10c David