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What we did on our summer vacation….
….visited Devon farms, of course. And there’s none prettier than John and Patsy Forelle’s “Folly Farm” near Pine Planes, New York. You may remember it as the scene of the glamorous closing banquet of the then-new North American Devon Association. John and I served on the NADA board for several years before finally deciding we could do more for Devon by concentrating on our own herds, and Traditional Devon America, a joint project importing pure English Devon genetics to this country. John has now sold his herd but retains three heifers, sired by the TDA herd bull, Cutcombe Jaunty. And those heifers are now calving. This…
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Driving a steak (sic) through the heart….
….of the fat and cholesterol nonsense. This week’s Dr. Joseph Mercola column sums up all the recent research on saturated fats and cholesterol and concludes we’ve been “had”. Natural saturated fats are great for you….and so are high cholesterol numbers! What? The real villain, of course, is sugar! So who sold us the bill of goods? To quote Mercola: With regard to heart health, nutrition policy has been derailed over the past half-century by corporate greed, political agendas, and bad science A new meta-analysis involving a half million people found that those eating more saturated fats do NOT have more heart disease than those eating less Cholesterol is critical for building…
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In case you were wondering (I wasn’t)….
….somebody was, though, and decided to find out what a cow would look like after a visit to the beauty parlor. Shampoo and blow dry, please.
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A piece of cake….
….the folks at North American Breeders wondered if this young English Devon bull had the experience to mount a bigger steer in the middle of a barn…no restraints for either. They needn’t have worried. Traditional Devon’s™ Highwayman acted like he could do it all day….but it only took several times to gather enough semen. And a billion per whatever and almost no malformed semen! It’s what grass fed bulls can produce. Corn fed bulls can’t match that performance. Highwayman is headed for South Carolina and our partners, the Walkers, after breeding several test cows here at Thistle Hill. Their calves are due in a few more months. We want to…
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As we were saying….
….we’ve been warning that you’re making a mistake if you buy pork or chicken these days at a restaurant or supermarket. Most likely it was “Made in China”…although it’s not required to carry a label. The Chinese simply don’t have the same health standards as our own (a pretty low bar) and Big Ag and our government care more about protecting Chinese imports than your well-being. Here’s only the latest story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-24/china-meat-scare-adds-foreign-suppliers-to-food-worries.html
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Testing….one…two…three…
….testing. We have bred three of our Traditional Devon™ America English bulls to American cows now….part of developing a track record on our imported genetics. Here are two by either TDA Churchill or TDA Wellington….we’re not sure which…the DNA people aren’t even sure. We hadn’t anticipated that problem dealing with flush mates. But we’re sure the lab will finally figure it out. One thing we notice in the bull calf at the left….he brings nice thickness all the way forward. American cows are notorious for weak shoulders. It will take a lot more calves to be sure but hopefully English genetics can help our American herds in several respects.
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Is the USDA sustainable….
….one of my favorite websites is the work of Paul and Gabe Brown…..holistic ranchers just outside Bismarck, North Dakota. Recently they linked to an article in a Yale publication that does the best job I’ve seen so far of explaining the way Big Ag and Big Government are chasing their tails….trying to get ahead of Nature. The problem is the darn weeds have unlimited research capability….not even Monsanto’s labs can keep up with them. Incredibly, it’s a New York Times editorial board member who lectures our “smart guys”. The article actually gives me some cause for hope! http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_folly_of_big_agriculture_why_nature_always_wins/2514/#.T4Rf8AnUGyo.mailto Incidentally, you can check out Brown’s Ranch at http://www.brownsranch.us/