The butcher’s breed…

…was the name the English gave to the Devon.  That was because of the quality of Devon meat.  It was about that time that the leading English agriculturalist Robert Bakewell pronounced Devon the perfect cow…in no further need of refinement by crossing with other breeds.

At Thistle Hill we have devoted our time and resources duplicating that early English Devon…and by coincidence the other day some of cows lined up demonstrating what we are trying to achieve.

I guess the larger one in the center helps demonstrate the uniformity of the rest of the herd.  She’s part Senepol bred to a Devon bull, an experiment we tried to demonstrate the prepotency of Devon genetics. And an independent study at Clemson university demonstrated meat from the Devon-cross was indistinguishable from pure Devon.

Of course, while some traits like tenderness are genetic, flavor is largely the result of the diet the animal is raised on.  Stress-free management is important, too.

Devon cattle are easy on the farmer and on the land as well.  A quarter century raising Devon has confirmed for us that Robert Bakewell had it right 150 years ago!

David