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Put your heart in your mouth….
….was the name of a book written some time back by Russian-born neurologist and nutritionist, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. She now lives in England, practices at Cambridge, and is a fairly well-known authority on food as medicine. That is, known to Wooz but not to me. She developed the interest in nutrition when she had a son who was autistic. She was able to cure him just with the proper diet. This wasn’t what I intended as the first post coming back from a break, but Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grasslands Beef had it waiting in my email box. Like Bill I find this the best summary of why natural…
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September morn….
….a young cow greets the day atop one of Thistle Hill’s hills. She’s U31 out of one of the first females we bought from the Trantham’s Lenoir Creek farm. Sired by Watson, a Rotokawa 974 bull from Don and Heather Minto that was a major influence on our herd. We leave now for the joint meeting in North Carolina of the two Devon associations recently joined as one. Thistle Hill will have a “joint booth” in honor of the occasion with Tomina Farms. We hope you’ll stop by and say hello.
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Parade of bulls….about “Tail-End Charlie”….
“Charlie” isn’t his name, of course. He’s Thistle Hill Falcon, an English bull, and smaller than the other bulls in the parade because he’s half their age. Actually, we think he would rank in front among a group of his contemporaries. When we were selecting animals for our Traditional Devon project, Wooz decided to free-lance by selecting a cow of her own from Ivan Rowe’s Cornwall herd…Goldings Snowdrop. We bred her to the great English bull, Millennium Falcon…from Shiamala Comer’s herd. The embryos were brought here and Falcon calved at Thistle Hill almost exactly a year ago. He is de-horned.
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Parade of bulls….Triple 8….
Triple 8….688-8….is another line bred bull. He’s exactly two years old, the son of Rotokawa 688 of course as well as 688’s daughter, Thistle Hill Hope (R6). If you’re interested in a powerful concentration of the best Devon genetics, look no further than 688-8. He can upgrade your herd in a generation. For the argument for line breeding, here’s a quote from Gearld Fry’s recent newsletter: “There is no faster way that I know of to make genetic progress and fix traits in a herd. What happens is, a son from that particular mating will have the genetic quality traits from the mother and the quality and prepotency contained in…
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Parade of bulls….Esprit….
Esprit….aka 180-6…is the result of a mating between our “wow cow”, as one cattleman called her, and the famed Rotokawa 688. Frankly, he was slow to mature but now we’re glad we waited. He’s not quite two he has a lot of growing still to do. We like the combination of Rotokawa genetics with some of our best cows. They seem to do best in the Virginia heat. His dam, Lakota 180, consistently produces our top bulls. Esprit is polled and was bon in October 2011.
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Parade of bulls….Red Lad….
Red Lad….known as X3 in the registry…is another descendant of Rotokawa’s 974. “Lad” is six months to a year or more younger than the other bulls you’ve seen so far in the parade. But we think he is in line to take over the job when U2 moves on. The dam is one of our top 5 cows….R3….who I saw being calved years ago while visiting Lakota Farms. I claimed her on the spot and Jeremy Engh made good on his promise and delivered her six months later despite Dad’s opposition. Year in and year out, R3 produces outstanding animals and two of her daughters are in our main herd. From…
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Parade of bulls….Oh My….
At least this name makes sense! “Oh My“….actually 688-6….is an impressive 30-month old line bred bull. Son of the famed Rotokawa 688 out of a 688 daughter, R6, the star of our herd. R6 has produced more calves, and more winning calves, than any other at Thistle Hill. And she has some stiff competition. Oh My may look massive in this picture, but like all Thistle Hill animals, he’s actually moderate-sized. And he has been de-horned.
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Parade of bulls – Double Trouble
First of all, don’t ask me about the name, entirely inappropriate for this gentle four-year old. Wooz named him and says “no reason, I just called him that”. Are you married? Anyway, Double Trouble….formally U2….is a grandson of Rotokawa 974 and he’s given us a string of wonderful calves, male and female. With as many daughters as he has in our herd, this is probably his last breeding season. And that decision is made easier, knowing that he has a son coming along. Mom is an excellent Lakota cow that I stole from the Enghs when they were distracted. If I was forced to sell all but five of our cows,…
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Parade of the bulls….”Jackpot”
“Jackpot“…or W18…is approaching three and the Crown Prince of Thistle Hill. We’d anoint him number one but it seems more fitting that we should, at least, see the kind of calves he sires. The first ones are due in October. The sire is Rotokawa 243, who Ken McDowall describes as his “final and best bull”. And who are we to argue? The dam—Q18—has consistently produced our top bulls and heifers. She was selected as one of four cows to serve as recips for our English embryos and at Thistle Hill being chosen as a recip is our top honor, particularly for those expensive English embryos. She didn’t let us down and…
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Parade of the bulls….
For the next few days we thought we’d highlight some of the bulls in our Thistle Hill inventory. The three bulls at the front of the parade here are just about two years old. “Tail end Charlie” is not a runt. He’s not even a year old and knows his place in the pecking order. We’re indebted to Ken McDowell not only for his Rotokawa bulls but for the counsel he has provided on his many visits to Thistle Hill. We’ve combined Rotokawa genetics with our best females to produce animals that we think are particularly suited for American pastures. All Thistle Hill bulls come with a money back guarantee…a…