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No, not the stork…
We had nine new arrivals here at the farm late yesterday. They came by trailer from Ernie Reeves’ Mossy Creek Farm in the Shenandoah Valley….were dropped off at the Rose Hill Veterinary Clinic in Little Washington for processing (tags, tattoos, dna tests, de-horning)…and then loaded back up for the trip here. These are all embryo calves; embryos created here at Thistle Hill and then implanted in recipient cows at Mossy Creek. It’s what we do to capture genetics that aren’t otherwise available. In this case it was the all-time great Devon bull, Rotokawa 688. A friend—Bill Walker in South Carolina—donated the rare semen and we donated two cows. Five of the embryos were line…
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Dreams of Exmoor…
Mornings are best at Thistle Hill Farm. Particularly if there’s some fog. Easy then to imagine you’re back in southwest England, Exmoor, cradle of the Devon breed. Cows are herd animals, of course. Unusual to find one standing apart. Is she using this solitary moment to dream of Exmoor, too?
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Getting started…
Well, this should have a name of course. But the best one is already taken. A good friend and Devon breeder up in Massachusetts, Ridge Shinn, calls his blog: “ruminations”. Can’t beat that. Thought about stealing it. But he’ll check around some day and then I’ll have to use that old line about imitation being “the sincerest form of flattery”. Ridge is too smart to buy that. Thought for several days about calling this “Pudding”…from Churchill’s line: “That pudding has no theme.” Wooz hated it. Finally, comforted by Shakespeare: “A rose by any other name is still…etc”, I finally decided that this is a blog, no matter what I call…