• The Thistle Hill Alumni club…

    …posted by Brooke Henley on Facebook today. Brooke says she watched the calving from her window while enjoying her morning coffee. The sire is Thistle Hill Equinox…with seven bull calves and four heifers so far this year. Two to go. Our relationship with Brooke and husband Tom and their Spring Pastures farm in Maryland goes back many years. They’ve built their herd around Thistle Hill genetics. Equinox is the son of our THF Churchill and the grandson of perhaps the finest cow in modern Devon history, Tilbrook Cashtiller. Not only did she win best of show every time she entered but her bull calves topped the English sales three consecutive…

  • The Thistle Hill Alumni Club…

    …and a recent graduate…Equinox.  He’s a combination of our top English lines. Equinox is not quite two years old and at 900 pounds has a lot of growth yet to come.  But he went right to work covering the herd at Spring Pastures farm in Maryland. The Equinox pedigree includes such top names as Falcon, Cashtiller, Buttercup…all the result of a ten year search we made through Devon country in their native England. That dark ruby red haircoat and the spotless muzzle are two guarantees of a pure traditional Devon! This is the second bull we sent to Spring Pastures Farm and owners Brooke Henley and Tom Garnett.  Reddi was…

  • The Thistle Hill Alumni Club…

    …features THF Magic…now 10 years old and still active in Louisiana. Magic is the son of Rotokawa 93…grandson of Rotokawa 688.  On the dam’s side he is out of one of the best bulls Lakota has produced, 48N, in turn traced back to the early Kinloch herd. Before leaving here, and it was not easy letting him go, Magic made a major impact not only on our herd but on our thinking.  In many ways, we still seek to replicate him. David

  • Thistle Hill Alumni Club….

    ….has opened a new branch at Franchesca’s Dawn Farm near Halifax, VA.  Not long ago Amie Herrara purchased one of herd bulls—U2—and here are the first results.  Amie was worried that one of her heifers was too small to successfully calve, but U2 handled the assignment. Amie writes:  “we’ve been pleased with them all!  The calves are growing so much better than our past calves.  I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate having the big guy in our herd.” For some reason, Wooz named U2 “Double Trouble” and it’s her one mistake.  He played a big role in the development of our herd and we’re pleased he’s…

  • Thistle Hill alumni club….

    ….in fact, a family reunion in Tennessee.  The cow, P1, performed beautifully for us here….went on to Tomina farm….and is pictured here at her fourth home with her latest daughter, Annie.  The young bull recently lost his mother but P1 has taken over.  The scene is Tim Morrison’s farm in Cookeville, Tennessee.

  • Thistle Hill alumni club….

    ….it was a good weekend for heifer calves.  This little one (and again not so little) was born at Linda Hendrix and son, John’s, farm in South Carolina.  We sold mom as a bred heifer…the “bred” by Thistle Hill U2, who has done great things for our herd, too. Mom incidentally is a line bred 688 daughter.