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No place quite like this place….
….our farm manager Duane Ard captures the magic of a day’s end at Thistle Hill farm!
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Getting to know you….
….we’ve mentioned before that nothing is more fun than starting another new farm in Devon. And we’ve just delivered two cow-calf pairs to Bill and Cindy Ketner at Summit Point, West Virginia. Bill and his family have returned to his father’s home and he has one more year of commuting to his position at NIH before he can retire fulltime to the farm (his heart is clearly already there. We think the Ketners made the right decision beginning with two experienced mama cows. As someone once said, God gave the cow all the information she needs to be a successful cow! And now they can teach the Ketners. Plenty of time…
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Ma, our baby boy is all growed up!
His name is Augustine and he’s packed with Rotokawa 667 genetics. He’s also the son of one of our favorite cows. With all the attention we’ve been devoting to our English project, we didn’t want to give the impression we’ve been ignoring our breeding of Rotokawa offspring. At Thistle Hill, under the watchful eye of Ken McDowall, we’ve been interweaving our three favorite lines: 688, 974 and 667. Augustine is still shy of 2-years….imagine what he’ll be like “fully growed”!
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Thistle Hill as laboratory….
….we’re fortunate to be considered something of a “place to see” if you’re studying this business (profession? trade? art?) of raising grass fed cattle. Not long ago, we were visited by Sarah Flack who is in the very early stages of her career in forages,though she got quite a head start as a member of the Flack family, one of the important names in Milking Devon. And now at the very other end (my end) of the career time-line, we were pleased to welcome Martha Holdridge who writes an important blog with the address: www.grasspower.org. Martha (seen here with Waniqing Zhou…a young Chinese woman with World Watch and a story…
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What could possibly go wrong…..
….we keep coming up with new ways of killing ourselves. Genetically modified organisms again. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-sound-alarm-over-supercharged-gm-organisms-which-could-spread-in-the-wild-and-cause-environmental-disasters-10434010.html
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Cooling it on the Mason-Dixon line….
….some of the cows we’ve sold write back to tell us things are better than they ever were at Thistle Hill. Here’s THF Red Lad for instance getting a cooling shower out in the pasture at Spring Pastures Farm in Maryland. Brooke Henley tells us her farm in now ready to start offering meat. If you live near the Sharpsburg/Harpers Ferry area you may want to make a note. Brooke’s email is springpasturesfarm@gmail.com When people come to check out our cows they don’t realize that Wooz is checking them out, too. Wooz’ instincts were clearly on target with Brooke and husband, Tom Garnett. (yes, she has refused some sales) BTW: I’m…
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Another bacon recipe…
…but first a confession. Growing up I had potatoes at every meal….including breakfast. That’s because Grandpa was “the potato king” of Market street in Chicago although after The Crash he was the exiled potato king. Still his devotion to potatoes held firm and now that he was out of work, he came to our house for his meals. And his daughter, my mother, knew what was required. Strangely, instead of having my fill, I still love potatoes and still need my carb fix. This recipe, then, contains two of my favorite foods: potatoes and bacon. It’s a potato-bacon-cheddar cheese tart! http://theshrug.com/he-lines-an-entire-pan-with-bacon-then-fills-it-with-this-i-cant-stop-drooling/ Thanks to SB for the tip!
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Here comes the judge….
….our good friend from Cornwall, Ivan Rowe, was out on the show circuit again this week…judging the Launceston show. And our Cornwall lass Juliet Cleave was there, too, and snapped this picture. We would guess Ivan has judged more cattle and more breeds than just about anyone. And for the story of his own herd, read “Recharging our batteries – 5” just below. Both Ivan and Juliet are also cooperating breeders in Traditional Devon America™. Actually, three more of our partners are also certified judges in England: Gavin Hunter, Brian Drake and Margaret Elliott.
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Recharging our batteries – 5
….and if this won’t do it, you need a new one. We usually wind up our English tours at the tip of Cornwall…not only because of the cows and the scenery but because this is where our search for pure traditional English Devon first began five years ago. I used to say this was “Doc Martin country”…but now I guess I should say “Poldark country”. And the lovely thing is the people aren’t much changed from those times. My mate, Ivan Rowe of Goldings herd, is a case in point. But all the attention we’ve paid him has made Ivan something of a celebrity. One of the days we were there…
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What could possibly go wrong?
Call me a cynic, but I think we could write up the results of the study right now. http://news.yahoo.com/monsanto-says-expert-panel-review-finding-cancer-herbicide-184600564.html