-
Not in your wildest dreams…
….we don’t know for sure, but we think that this may be what a forage experts dream about at night. At least, Sarah Flack, a forage guru from Vermont who visited Thistle Hill the other day, seemed to be in her own personal vision of heaven. Sarah consults on forages for a number of farms. Also lectures. Also writes books. That’s what she was doing here: gathering material for her next book. Her working title is something like “Be Your Own Consultant”. Sarah couldn’t get over the plant diversity in our pastures and had a hard time believing it had all been achieved without over-seeding of any kind. Three years ago…
-
Out of season….
….the experts say this is the perfect time of year to calve, but we prefer fall calving at Thistle Hill to avoid the stress of Virginia’s hot summers. To prove the point, this little guy arrived just about noon when it was hotter in our area than anywhere in the country! Still the pair handled it effortlessly. Mom is a very young and quite small cow and this is her second calf. The young bull, C163, was sired by TDA Highwayman. U2a gave no sign she was that close to calving when Wooz checked her in the morning. A couple of hours later: there we was! We like it that way.…
-
All Brit…and American too….
….we’ve finally reached the “end game”….producing pure English Devon genetics here in the States. TDA Cutcombe was conceived and calved here at Thistle Hill eight months ago from an English embryo dam born here and a sire (Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon) whose semen had been shipped here. Cutcombe is the name of one of our partners’ farms in Devonshire….the name as well of one of their champion bulls. His dam is TDA Cashtiller II.
-
Thistle Hill Alumni Club….
….Rich and Linda Maurer sent this picture of a steer which is a combination of Thistle Hill and Rotokawa genetics. (Couldn’t go wrong!) He’s out of an old Thistle Hill cow….THF N48…and Rotokawa 982. The Maurers do all their breeding by AI. I hear someone out there wishing this is one they hadn’t steered for meat.
-
The GMO crossroads….
….at least that’s what nationally-renowned food blogger Dr. Joseph Mercola calls it. Vermont won it’s battle recently to require that Big Ag label all genetically modified products. The food giants…led by the grocers’ association…has been financing and campaign to block labeling and now is placing its money on politicians in Washington (always a safe bet). The House is considering a bill that would ban individual states from requiring the GMO label and Dr. Mercola thinks this is the fight that counts. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/05/11/gmo-labeling-pompeo-bill.aspx I’m somewhat less optimistic that Big Ag (and their buddies in the USDA) can be stopped. As the old saying goes….when it comes to government, there are too…
-
Spelled my name right….
…but not too many people have noticed my “Zen-like” serenity. http://www.leesburgtoday.com/more_a/middleburg_life/reporting-from-the-front-lines-of-buy-local-beef/article_a48716e8-f436-11e4-994b-eba584b20713.html
-
Sounds of spring…
….WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE IF YOU CLICK TO ENLARGE PICTURE. Spring weather causes teachers to come up with ways to get their rambunctious charges out of the classroom. Farm tours are high on the list of diversions…prompting the photos to the right. (Again, language warning)
-
Bacon Cheese biscuits….
….our son Church keeps track of these things. Directions: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Lightly flour your work surface if you don’t want any crescent roll stickage. Unroll one can of Crescent rolls (or 1/2 can of biscuits) on your work surface. Using your hands or a rolling pin, press the seams together and lightly press & stretch a little into a nice rectangle. Add a layer of cheese & then add your layer of bacon. Unroll the remaining can of crescent rolls on top & press all the seems together both on top and all around. Using a pizza cutter or…
-
Antibiotic use on pigs….
….skyrockets! This is from Minnesota Public Radio: Sorry, bacon lovers, we’ve got some sad news about your favorite meat. To get those sizzling strips of pork on your plate each morning takes more antibiotics than it does to make a steak burrito or a chicken sausage sandwich. Pig farmers around the world, on average, use nearly four times as much antibiotics as cattle ranchers do, per pound of meat. Poultry farmers fall somewhere between the two. That’s one of the conclusions of a study published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Needless to say, Thistle Hill farm never uses antibiotics on its pigs….or cows! Oh, we…
-
Lord of the manor….
….THF Jackpot, (below) winding up this year’s tour of duty. His calves from last fall are far enough along now that we can safely say they’re the best we’ve seen so far. It’s almost as though he was saying “don’t forget about me” in response to all the attention we’ve showered on the English bull, TDA Churchill. Jackpot was sired by Rotokawa 243. It’s going to be fun watching the competition play out! (Picture by Church Matthews)