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An early morning stroll…
…with her new baby boy. THF 18 is 13 years old now and still performing beautifully. She is out of the Guardsman line that the Enghs brought into the breed to improve milking. Technically he was a Milking Devon and so also brought long legs into the breed. Guardsman later went on to Leonor Creek. This bull calf weighed 75 pounds and Church uses a hook on our pickup to hold up the newborns. (Why back in my day we lifted the scale head high to see the dial without any new-fangled gimmicks!) 😀 The sire was TDA Cutcombe…one of our traditional English Devon bulls. Again note the deep ruby…
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The perfect steak…
..ok, begins at Thistle Hill. But Church found a way to gild the lily. Apparently these cookers have been around quite awhile but pricey. (Now, Amazon has them for $160-180). Basically you put the steak in a plastic bag…remove the air…and slow cook in water at a temp of 135 degrees. He deployed one of his Christmas presents: a Sous vide cooker. He selected a Delmonico steak for his first try just in case it didn’t turn out. In fact he reports it was as tender and flavorful as a filet mignon. Apparently it’s a no-brainer; a gourmet steak every time! Church finished his steak off in a skillet with…
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Let’s call this before….
Christmas weekend opened splendidly with sunrise reflected off the Blue Ridge..captured by our designated early riser, daughter Carolyn. But if there’s a before there must be an after. At the moment Carolyn took the before picture a passing motorist was also admiring the sunrise over Thistle Hill. At least that’s what he told the investigating state trooper. In any event the motorist lost control and we lost four sections of four-board fence. Fortunately a neighbor saw the accident and moved our cows to a nearby pasture with intact fencing. Thank you Kathy Hartz! Rebuilding fencing wasn’t the way we planned to spend Christmas but the job is done! Thanks to…
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Suspicions confirmed…
…for some time I’ve felt we as an industry have been harvesting our beef at too young an age. First let me say I am skeptical of the results of the Mad Cow scare of some years back. Even more skeptical of the cure…permitting bone-in cuts only for animals under 30 months. Whatever triggers Mad Cow may simply not be apparent in younger animals. No matter…30-months has been the trigger for slaughter dictated by the USDA and the industrial beef people love it because that supports their rush to harvest. Finally along comes a cattleman to speak out…and let us know what we’ve been missing. He’s been taste-testing some of…
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Let the real test begin…
…in the final analysis it’s not the bull…nor the pedigree…but the calves. Cutcombe represents one of the first second generation all English animals born in America. Sired by Ashott Barton Millennium falcon and out of TDA 4. We hope to see his deep ruby red coat show up in his upcoming calves. And Cutcombe’s first calves are due any day now.
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This just in…
…all natural grass fed, grass finished beef! Now there’s a delicious mouthful…and nutritious, too! Thistle Hill Farm is back in full operation now under the direction of grandson Church Humphreys. Our focus remains the marketing of the very best Devon seedstock but that doesn’t mean we can’t set aside a limited number of animals for personal consumption. Again we’re offering whole carcasses, halves and quarters. Bulk Prices range from $7 to $7.50 a pound…and that’s packaged weight in individual cuts. We’ll also endeavor to provide special packages of our mouth-watering hamburgers. You’ve never tasted anything this good..and a bulk buy at just $6 a pound is a family bargain. To…
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More about Buttercup…
…see below “All we could have hoped for…”. The dam of our Buttercup was Essington Park 136, photographed the day we first saw her at Essington Park in 2010. She was standing a bit apart from her herd. And she was always that way particularly with a calf at her side. Did she know her pedigree stretched back more than 100 years? She was Brian Drake’s favorite too. He liked her trouble free performance..a calf every year right on schedule. Mobile; she was always first to the best new grass. And a solid mother. Her babies did not wander…where she put them is where they stayed, even if a stranger…