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Magic semen available…
If you come direct to this blog and skip the home page, we’d like to suggest you go back. Featured is Thistle Hill Magic, a bull we sold awhile back to Tomina Farms in Tennessee. Now Regina and Tom Tesnow have collected his semen and it’s available for sale both at Tomina Farms and here at Thistle Hill. Magic is the “meatiest” bull we’ve ever seen and couple with his Frame Score 1, he can make a big impact on your herd. Straws are $25 and there’s a 10 straw minimum. You can email david@thistlehill.net or phone (540) 364-2090 for more information or to place your order.
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Read it…it’s good for you!
From time to time, we’ve gone off message a bit to warn that the serious threat to stability in the world is not energy but food. And just as we’ve discovered that the United States is better-positioned for the long term in energy, we are fortunate that we have the arable land to support our population. Much of the world does not, starting with China and that’s both the good news and the bad news. Here’s a lengthy article but one that is worth your time. So draw up a cup of coffee and click on the link. You’ll have to scroll down a bit to get to the article.…
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In cased you missed ESPN coverage….
….we held the annual family football game Thanksgiving weekend. Turkey Bowl VII was the best game yet. Son-in-law Paul, in the red shirt, captained the visitors again. But it was his wife, in blue to the right, (daughter Janet) who designed and executed the play that was the highlight of the game: a fake draw followed by a double-reverse and pass for a touchdown. You don’t get to see that kind of razzle-dazzle in your average professional game. Play probably stepped up a notch because of the friends our grandsons are now introducing to the tradition. This is grandson Alex with Annie from, of all places, Devon, England. What are the…
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Better than nothing….
….at least that was my reaction to a report Fox News carried on grass fed beef. Never mind that the report was buried on Thanksgiving day when no one is watching television except football fans. About the only positive notes were that grass fed beef is leaner….and that consumption is growing. Not a word about the poisons that are poured into, onto and injected inside conventional cattle. Nothing about the diseases (cancer, heart, diabetes, etc) that have been linked to the consumption of corn…in boxes and in cows. No mention of the destruction of land and water in ordinary cattle production. Nothing about the huge consumption of energy required to…
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We’ll never learn….
…or at least the so-called experts never learn. We continue to be surprised by the number of people who tell us they’ve stopped eating meat for health reasons. Wooz still tries to set the record straight; I’ve given up. And these same people, and for health reasons, will go vegetarian, vegan or eat diet foods containing chemicals guaranteed to poison! We’re reminded of that by a blurb in Kit Pharo’s recent newsletter. Imagine you’ve got a group of men who’ve survived a heart attack. They agree to participate in a four-year-long experiment where they’re placed onto one of two diets: Diet One is a “Mediterranean Diet” high in fruits, vegetables,…
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The fox guarding the hen house….
….that would be the USDA, of course. The Department of Agriculture has been untiring (despite the image of bureaucrats) in pushing genetically-modified food onto an unsuspecting public. Wordlwide, we’re in the forefront in the production of GM food-stuffs, largely because the rest of the world has reservations about its safety. But in the US, the government using selected experts and cooked research studies, has conspired with Big Ag to flood our fields and supermarkets with what may be a ticking time-bomb. The organic people, and food safety experts, have tried to push back, but it’s a feeble effort. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/organic-farmers-condemn-u-report-claim-favors-gmo-191139293.html The rationale, of course, is lower cost-greater production-higher profits. And until recently…
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With a lotta help from our friends….
….we were delayed in sharing the credit for the success of our Open House by computer problems but it turns out Thanksgiving is a particularly appropriate day to thank friends like Ken McDowall. Ken, the man whose Rotokawa herd put Devon back on the map, is a frequent visitor to Thistle Hill and his breeding and management advice has been invaluable. The Rotokawa herd, which has endured a lot in its journey from New Zealand, is now safe in the capable care of Henry Hauptman in Massachusetts, a responsibility Henry admits he would not have embraced without Ken’s promise to stay involved. Ken’s unselfish devotion to the breed puts the…
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Sunset at Thistle Hill….
When Wooz and our co-worker Duane Ard were out checking for new babies the other evening, they spotted this cow following her young bull calf to the water trough. Is it just my imagination or do bull calves always lead their mothers around while heifers know to follow? Duane took the picture. He’s available for weddings, as long as it’s not his.
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Now what do we do?
The buying was fast and furious at our Open House and, not wanting to disappoint a potential customer, I promised the next heifer calf from one of our favorite young cows. And now T2 has delivered. The promise was only half-joking but I think I made a commitment. Trouble is, I never actually sell an animal until Wooz says “OK”. I’m taking this indirect way of telling her and now I’m going out to check the herd for a couple of hours.
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Our alumni club….
….a young bull from Thistle Hill that is developing nicely at the Linda Hendrix Misty Ridge farm in South Carolina. He’s named for his grandfather, the Lenoir Creek sire Guardsman. Thistle Hill Guardsman W31 is not quite two-years old. Linda and her son, Dr. John Hendrix, have just bought five more females from us so Thistle Hill Guardsman has his work cut out for him.