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Gotta get one of these….
….not. Here we have been spending all this time (and money) training Pokey to bring in the cattle and for $300 we could buy a drone to do the same thing. A few more bucks and it can be equipped with a camera that we could monitor on our iPhones! http://farmofthefuture.net/#/video/drone-range-0 Thanks to Dan Epps of Terra One for the link.
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Something else not added to Thistle Hill meat….
….another warning about the weed killer that is killing you: glyphosate. It’s everywhere….in fact, I see garden sprays actually bragging on the label in big letters that it’s in their mix. I think it is also important to mention in connection with those industry studies which “prove” that genetically-modified foods are safe”. One thing those studies never do is couple the testing of GM foods with the glyphosate that is almost always used in conjunction with genetically-modified farming. You just aren’t going to have one without the other. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/25/food-minerals-soil-health.aspx
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Who knew? Brad Pitt is a farmer?
Well maybe this is just a cheap ploy to get more “visits” for our website….but finally something good about one of the Hollywood types. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/05/30/brad-pitt-loves-farming-and-learning-about-land/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fentertainment+%28Internal+-+Entertainment+-+Mixed%29
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Speaking of microbes….
….as we were in the previous post: here’s a review of a new book that appears to be an interesting and comprehensive look at the damage being done to us by the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Just about all the meat you eat….in a restaurant or from a grocery store….has been laced with antibiotics and the damage is enormous before you even get to the question of drug-resistant diseases. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229701.000-why-antibiotics-are-wmds-to-our-bodies-microbes.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Chealth#.U4m4EIcU-cy Thistle Hill meat, of course, never contains antibiotics (or anything else).
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Trust me….it’s really there…
….billions and billions of little bugs….Mycorrhizal Fungi…we’ve been spraying on our pastures for the past few days (when the rain let up). If you click on the picture and look at about 2:30 you can make out the spray….or right around the jet nozzle. Or you can just ask for a copy of my invoice. Actually, it’s not that expensive; about $15 an acre. The microbes are said to do all sorts of things to the soil and grass: release minerals, balance pH, increase yield, thicken stands, etc, etc. This particular product is Terra One and we’ve used it before with good results. It’s really easy to mix and I…
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Talk about a “giant step for mankind”….
the largest grain producing company in the world is changing course….and converting to grass fed beef! They put a pencil to it and decided industrial ag just isn’t sustainable (as we’ve been saying”. http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23531 Thanks to Dr. Sue Beal for the link.
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More excitement at Thistle Hill….
…but nothing to do with calving. Grandson Church was graduated this weekend from Woodbury Forest high school. (All the graduates lit up cigars at the end of the ceremony.) Grandma Wooz managed not to go all blubbery and you know how grandmothers are about their first grandson! We’ve been fortunate that Church, a Texan, chose to attend a high school in Virginia. He’s not only great company, he’s a great help at the farm, spending holiday weekends and vacations with us. This weekend we put him right to work spraying microbes on our pastures. Unfortunately, we’ll lose him now to Dennison College in Ohio. Someday, though, this farm will be…
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Passing the early test….
….as we mentioned before we have used our first Traditional Devon America bulls in a limited way both here and at Walker Century Farms in South Carolina. We want to gather data on performance not only with other English cows but various American lines. This was the result in the early morning yesterday…a first calf heifer and her brand new bull calf. Again, this guy was born right at the change-over between the two bulls, Churchill and Wellington. We won’t know for sure who the sire is until we check the DNA. So far, we can say tentatively that the bulls seem to be excellent heifer sires. The deliveries have been…
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Nothing you don’t know but….
….Dr. Joseph Mercola has a good summary of “why” grass fed beef and dairy is the way to go over at his website. You may want to forward it to friends. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/21/grass-fed-beef-dairy.aspx
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Graduation day….
….two heifers with fairly new calves move from the “nursery” paddocks across the road to join the main herd. It turned out they just missed all the excitement. (See previous post.) These two little ones have been playmates since birth. One stuck around for awhile…..and after five minutes or so the other one came back….”bawled” him out….and then the two trotted off to their moms and the herd. All in all, it was the kind of day that makes raising Devon so rewarding!