• Passing the early test….

    ….as we mentioned before we have used our first Traditional Devon America bulls in a limited way both here and at Walker Century Farms in South Carolina.  We want to gather data on performance not only with other English cows but various American lines. This was the result in the early morning yesterday…a first calf heifer and her brand new bull calf.  Again, this guy was born right at the change-over between the two bulls, Churchill and Wellington.  We won’t know for sure who the sire is until we check the DNA. So far, we can say tentatively that the bulls seem to be excellent heifer sires.  The deliveries have been…

  • Nothing you don’t know but….

    ….Dr. Joseph Mercola has a good summary of “why” grass fed beef and dairy is the way to go over at his website.  You may want to forward it to friends. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/21/grass-fed-beef-dairy.aspx

  • Graduation day….

    ….two heifers with fairly new calves move from the “nursery” paddocks across the road to join the main herd.  It turned out they just missed all the excitement.  (See previous post.) These two little ones have been playmates since birth.  One stuck around for awhile…..and after five minutes or so the other one came back….”bawled” him out….and then the two trotted off to their moms and the herd. All in all, it was the kind of day that makes raising Devon so rewarding!

  • Another milestone….

    …another successful experiment. We decided to try our English traditional Devon bulls on a few of our heifers…here at Thistle Hill and in South Carolina.  And yesterday afternoon, without any warning, came the result:  a heifer calf by a fairly small heifer.  Delivered without problem. The problem is we’re not sure which bull is the sire:  Churchill or Wellington.  Both were with her right at the conception date.  We’ll let DNA sort that out.  Meanwhile, Mom was busy holding court all afternoon….introducing the curiosity to the other heifers who are waiting their turn. We liked that the dark ruby red coloring of the English animals prevailed.  This was a thoroughly photographed…

  • Still sold out but….

    ….here’s one of our pure English bulls: TDA Ransom.  Our partners, Bill and Nancy Walker, have been raising him in South Carolina.  But it’s time to bring him up to Thistle Hill.  He also has a full younger brother…same flush but implanted a year later…in Georgia and he’ll soon be here, too. Ransom is out of Goldings Snowdrop in Cornwall…we saw his mother on our last trip…by Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon.  (Saw him too!)

  • Lift a glass….

    ….to Philip Carter Winery.  Well, at the winery. The Hume, Virginia vineyards is hosting a “welcome Springtime” party tomorrow, May 17th, from noon to 7.  And the day of fine wine, good music and special foods is made even more special with the featured attraction:  12 local farmers have been invited to set up tents and highlight their products. We’re honored to be one of the “lucky dozen” and it was a close call.  We’ve been out of meat since last Fall but we arranged a quick harvest of one of our animals and Blue Ridge Butchers got us some hamburger right at deadline.  So whether you’re an old customer…or…

  • Blogging for dummies….

    ….sorry, the links on the previous four posts have now been fixed.  WordPress instituted a “new and improved” system for linking and it took a while for me to notice….and even longer to fix. Sorry for the inconvenience.

  • What difference does it make?

    No, not switching subjects.  But the New York Times food columnist, Mark Bittman, makes some interesting points about organic farming, GMOs, and eating healthfully. There is a lot of hysteria among the “foodies” and Bittman makes the point that the alarm over GMO would better be focused on antibiotics which are demonstrably a real threat….and sail along untouched in Big Ag. You have to wade through some typical New York Times biases but it’s worth reading. www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/opinion/bittman-leave-organic-out-of-it.html?action=click&contentCollection=Africa&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article&_r=0

  • Organic vegetables may not be safe either….

    ….leave it to Dr. Joseph Mercola to give us something else to worry about:  organic vegetables may well be a major carrier of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  Organic farmers are the ones most likely to use “natural” fertilizers….but do they know where that cow manure comes from? Probably the regular factory-raised cows….who are routinely fed huge doses of antibiotics.  So far, no one has focused on the threat. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/07/antibiotic-resistance-genes.aspx

  • Dog bites man….

    ….this is getting to be old news.  One more report on how Americans have been “conned” by our betters to eat all the wrong things. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303678404579533760760481486?mod=trending_now_1