• Happy great-grandparents day…

    …after swearing “no more pigs”, Church has surrendered to my wearing down and come up with some excellent piglets in nearby Lynchburg. You can’t always be sure from a photo of course, but these look like exceptionally healthy, well cared-for youngsters.  Some are Berkshire and the rest are a Berkshire-Tamworth cross. I’ve always been partial to the Tamworth, particularly for their bacon, but “pig pros” seem to tilt to the Berks.  So here we have on the way the best of both worlds! Believe it or not, it’s not too early to put your name in for one of these guys! David

  • Still in his prime…

    …Highwayman was one of our first pure traditional English bulls.  And he’s now pushing 10 years of age. His sire was the famed Falcon and the dam Ivan Rowe’s Norah. We did the pairing in England and it was our most successful flush ever…26 embryos! You can see one of his progeny by scrolling down to “Chip off the old block…”. Like his dam, Highwayman is a smallish animal beautifully proportioned. We’ve found him ideal for keeping the herd to the moderate size we prefer. David

  • Fighting the Coronavirus…

    …not. Perhaps the safest spot in the world…a Thistle Hill pasture miles from anywhere. Unfortunately, this is a picture out of the file. Daughter Carolyn is back in Dallas seeing patients at Baylor Medical Center. And they’ve got me locked up in an Assisted Living Home in nearby Falls Church. That leaves grandson Church to keep the home fires burning. But if you promise to leave the virus at home you’re welcome to visit. We want to add we’re particularly proud of our new granddaughter in law—Courtney Gentry— a care-giver at a nursing home in the Shenandoah Valley. I know from firsthand experience what a dedicated bunch these caregivers are.…

  • Essington Park…

    …makes its mark on Thistle Hill. A brother and sister from a famous English herd now are full contributors to our herd! The culmination of a lifetime dedicated to the Devon breed, famed English herdsman Brian Drake volunteered his Buttercup cow…dam of this young cow now maturing in America. The sire is Millennium Falcon. Now that she’s bred, she can reunite with the main herd…passing her full brother on the way. Son-in-law Curt Humphreys escorts four-year old Essington to a pen for return to the bull pasture. For the past 45 days he has served as the cover bull for almost 30 AI candidates. And that’s our most ambitious artificial…