The line-breeding experiment....

It's a controversial topic in breeding circles, mating fathers and daughters.  You're trying to concentrate the genetics to multiply the effect of the good characteristics of your best animals.  This young heifer, the result of breeding a Rotokawa 688 daughter back to 688, would seem to be the beneficiary of  the desired effect.

And here at Thistle Hill, we now have eight outstanding young calves as the result of the pairing:  two bulls and six heifers.  This three-month old heifer is still down in South Carolina with her recipient mother.  She has a sister there but the rest of the siblings are here in Hume.  Not only does line breeding the best appear to achieve excellent results, there's also a uniformity in our calves that is particularly noteworthy.

The practice of line breeding, though, is controversial, as we said.  You not only concentrate the good genes, but you also can strengthen bad characteristics.  That's why it's important to have a really good bull to start with and, just important, be ready to cull any calf that turns out
less than the best.  There's a chance that something will yet show up, but right now all our 688 calves seem just about perfect.  However, before offering any for sale, we'll want to watch them develop for awhile.  And down the road, we also have to answer a key question:  do we double down?

That is, do we breed these 688 daughter/grand daughters back to 688 again?

Scenes from Thistle Hill Farm….

We’ve started our preparations for winter at Thistle Hill.  The last two have been a real challenge and we’ve spent a good deal of time making sure water and hay will be available.  Meanwhile, our experiment with mob grazing has left us with more stockpiled grass than ever and we’re hopeful that we’ll get through January before its time to  start unrolling bales.  

1. A week-old heifer, our newest calf, seeks shelter from the first chills winds in a hillside depression.  She is a first calf by one of our fine new heifers, T64. 
2. In the foreground, two of the five line bred daughters of Rotokawa 688 born this year..  One has already been talen; sorry, the rest we’re keeping as an important element in our herd.
3. Some young calves playing around Vulture Rock in our western pasture.  Moms come running if they see those ominous black birds circling in the sky.
4. Thistle Hill two-year olds savoring the grass on Lindsay Sagstuen and John Dibble's farm before heading home for breeding.

We are fortunate to have access to pastures at four neighbors' homes during the grazing season.  Our thanks to Lindsay and John, and Don and Sue Ferro, Frank Wickersham and Kirk and Jo James.  This has been an exciting year at Thistle Hill, capped by a complete sell-out of our heifer crop.  And the line is already forming for next year.  We now have 30 producing Devon cows with four of the best heifers we’ve ever seen going “on-line”  next season.  If you’ve been thinking of putting Red Ruby Devon in your herd, now’s the time.  We invite you to drop in any time to see what we’re doing.   And we haven’t forgotten our meat customers.  Seven steers have been set aside for Thistle Hill’s beef fans in the coming year.  If you’d like to be on our mailing list to be notified when beef is available, just send us an email us at devon@thistlehill.net.   Speaking of new arrivals,  please check our new blog from time to time for the latest news. 

Thistle Hill Farm….at the grass fed cross-roads….

We try not to toot our own horn too much but sometimes we can’t resist.   So we’re pleased to report that Thistle Hill Farm IS one of 10 farms selected for a pilot project by Holistic Management International.  The organization is the world leader is all-natural, sustainable agriculture and as step one in the Pilot Project, HMI’s grazing expert, Ian Mitchell-Innes of South Africa, visited our farm recently as we established a base line for the improvements we plan to make.

Others in the Pilot Project, as well as HMI headquarters training personnel, trooped along to hear all Mitchell-Innes had to say.  The forms and reports we’re preparing are enough to fill a thick notebook and we’re anxious to get started.  For more pictures of Ian’s visit click here

It’s too early to be sure, but this brand new bull calf seems to be an exciting herd bull prospect.  We call him THF 688-1, recognition that he is the son of the great Rotokawa sire, 688.  More than that,  he is the result of an experiment: line-breeding 688 to his own daughter.  In this instance, at least, the controversial technique appears to be a success.  We have four more embryo bull calves…and four females…due in several months.
Our plan is to hold them all and give them plenty of time to develop.  We think it takes about two years to be really certain about a young bull.

This year’s auspicious start comes on the heels of last year’s wonderful calf crop: bulls and heifers by a Rotokawa 974 son (Watson) here at Thistle Hill and by AI, Rotokawa 93. For pictures of our bulls just click here.

Visitors to our local community fair emptied Thistle Hill’s shelves recently (alright,  be technical, they emptied our five coolers and we even went back at noon to re-stock).  The big appeal was a sample box weighing 13 pounds that was half burger plus a couple of NY Strips as well as pork chops and sausage.  All for about $60.  When those sold out, and we actually had customers fighting over the last ones, we switched to selling individual cuts of both our Devon grass fed beef and our pastured Tamworth pork. 

When it was over, our freezers back at the farm were totally stripped of hamburger.  How often does that happen?

The whole idea was to introduce local people to the fact there was a farm in their midst producing the quality product they had heard about but never sampled.  (And yes, we gave rain checks to the disappointed customers)  A good draw was a raffle of a cured ham.  No purchase required and you didn’t have to wait to be there to win.  We urge you to keep your eye open for similar events….people would rather buy food than “knick knacks”, particularly in this economy!