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They’re trying to kill us…
…a new study offers something of a surprise: you’re more likely to wind up with food poisoning by eating leafy green vegetables than anything else. We’re assuming that’s because so much of the greens we eat are imported from countries where oversight is not as stringent as here. Not surprising is that, while food poisoning due to vegetables is certainly serious, food poisoning that kills you most often comes from chicken. That we knew. All the negative publicity centers on beef recalls but more people die from eating contaminated chicken. Twenty per cent of the deaths are blamed on chicken; just four per cent on beef. And, of course, grass…
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Fourth time the charm?
Our English colleague, Gavin Hunter of Tilbrook Grange, has just sent along a picture of his next entrant in the annual Devon sale. He’s Tilbrook Jubilee, a 2-year old, whose dam was sired by Gavin’s wonderful Tilbrook Sunset. Dad is a Stonegrove bull. Gavin’s bulls have topped the sales three years running. The previous three years were all out of his great Tilbrook Cashtiller. Cashtiller wasn’t in the game this time. She had been busy at breeding time giving us 26 embryos for America. It’s right about there, where Jubilee is standing in the Tilbrook yard, that we first saw Cashtiller. Like a lovesick teenager, right? This must be the…
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Sign up for Thistle Hill beef….
This note from a neighbor and customer reminds me that we haven’t invited you to try Thistle Hill beef for yourself: We had DELICIOUS (Thistle Hill) t-bone steaks last night…cooked rare! Emphasis is the writer’s. In the past few years, we’ve been unable to keep up with the demand but we have been setting aside some animals to remedy the problem. Right now we expect to double our production in late Spring. Meanwhile, we have just put another Devon in for processing. And if you’d like to add your name to our mailing list so you can place an order, just send an email to info@thistlehill.net. For those of you impatient…
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The chemical arms race…
…. was going to call this post “GMO Roundup” (pun intended). But it really is chemical warfare right on the farmlands of the United States. It all started with Monsanto developing a powerful herbicide, “Roundup”. The trouble was, Roundup not only killed weeds, it killed the corn. Not to worry, then Monsanto developed Roundup-resistant seeds and today most of the major crops come from those seeds—corn, soybeans, sugar beets—in all, about 165-million acres of GMO crops. But then a new crop developed: weeds; weeds that were resistant to Roundup. Again, Monsanto was ready with the answer: more powerful Roundup. And of course, what happened was the weeds kept up with…
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Don’t cut back….
…on the minerals. We’ve noticed in the past week or two that the cows have suddenly increased their intake of minerals. We’re assuming the bitterly cold temperatures have finally done-in the fescue grass, which is pretty good feed in the winter. But the cows (or in this case, the young bulls) know best. We’ve also begun to put a bale of hay in front of our growing animals—the bulls and heifers—and it is interesting that they know how to balance their intake between the alfalfa and regular hay. As the old saying goes, God taught the cow all it needs to know to be a perfect cow! Incidentally, our main herd…
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A Cornwall kind of a mood….
…don’t know whether it’s Juliet Cleave’s video below or that I’ve been working on the Traditional Devon photo albums over at www.traditionaldevon.com … but I was feeling a little “homesick” this morning. But nope, this isn’t Cornwall. Fortunately, our farm manager Duane Ard sent a long a picture he took on his way home past our pastures on a recent evening. This will do, until the next trip!
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Why can’t the English….
…learn to speak English? To quote Henry Higgins. If you’ve watched the video from Juliet Cleave of Kew Herd just below you may have been puzzled, as we were, by her statement that Devon eliminated poaching. We never consider our Devon fierce enough to discourage thieves so we wondered what Juliet was feeding hers’. Poaching has nothing to do with rustlers, she explained. Or with hunters shooting at her herd. Poaching is a term used in Cornwall to describe the damage cows do to muddy ground. And if you haven’t watched Juliet’s video, we urge you to watch now. It’s a real treat.
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It’s show time!
One of our English friends, a partner in the Traditional Devon project, has just produced a YouTube video that we think is wonderful. Juliet Cleave, of Kew Herd in Cornwall, comes from a long line of Devon breeders, and in her video she combines great archival pictures with her current herd. Make sure your sound is up: http://youtu.be/S_kKoeRcmwM
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The apocalyptic threat….
It’s already happening, of course; that is, antibiotic-resistant diseases. And it is a major reason why Thistle Hill never feeds its animals, cows or pigs, antibiotics. But it’s routinely added to the feed most people use with their herds….that and the fact that most of the grains used in animal feed are genetically-modified. In England, their chief public health officer is warning that there’s a perfect storm brewing: not only are the bugs getting tougher, research on newer, stronger antibiotics has just about stopped. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/23/antibiotic-resistant-diseases-apocalyptic-threat A side note, growing out of the recent series here on labeling: many meat suppliers claim that they do not use antibiotics or drugs on…
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But is it the final “final rule”?
For years, the government has been trying to lay down animal identification and transport rules that would have imposed a particular burden on the small farmer and favoring Big Ag. But now it does appear that most of the burdensome regulations have been stripped out of the final rule thanks to the work of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Farm. What’s left is a requirement that animals shipped across state lines must be accompanied by identification and health papers…something we already do….but no longer is the government demanding premises registration and a report every time we move a cow from one pasture to another. They really wanted to do that! Being…