….and here they are from the main herd. A big week at Thistle Hill as we implant embryos from the two heifers we purchased in England. There are four more waiting in another pasture….young cows who’ve had just one or two calves. Again, we’re congratulating ourselves for choosing Red Devon some years ago….they are calm and […]
…..Q48…was our first female when we switched to Devon in 2002. We made the short trip down to Madison, VA recently and Rich and Linda Maurer’s Springhaven farm, where 48 is still producing outstanding calves at 13 years of age. Actually, we have double reason to be proud. The Maurers brought 48 back home to […]
His name is Augustine and he’s packed with Rotokawa 667 genetics. He’s also the son of one of our favorite cows. With all the attention we’ve been devoting to our English project, we didn’t want to give the impression we’ve been ignoring our breeding of Rotokawa offspring. At Thistle Hill, under the watchful eye of […]
….at Thistle Hill. In the background, an English Traditional Devon™ heifer just brought up from the recip farm in Georgia. She’s a Cashtiller/Jaunty 8-month old beauty. In the foreground, a ™bull calf born here a few weeks ago to TDA 4. And the sire was Ashott-Barton Falcon. Here’s where it gets complicated, so pay attention: […]
….Traditional Devon America™ reached another milestone with the birth of this little bull calf. TDA is a partnership of three American breeders focused on importing traditional English Red Devon genetics to the United States. The dam of this calf….one of the first English embryos conceived at a clinic in Oxford and the daughter of two […]
….by coincidence, the same day of our South Africans visit, (see Global Part One below) we received an email from all the way around the globe in New Zealand. We’re always surprised at the readership this blog receives in far-away places….and gratified when we hear from afar. Frankly, it makes me a bit ashamed that […]
….I assume that cattle breeders who read this blog, are also regulars at the Kit Pharo website. If not, I suggest you should be. This week Kit links to an article in Beef Magazine that should resonate with all pure bred breeders…though it was aimed at the commercial cattleman. http://beefmagazine.com/blog/do-you-want-progress-or-change-cattle-breeding
….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 […]
….hasn’t quite been the proverbial “piece of cake”. Wooz has done pretty well and of course I’m inside the tractor. Here she checks our first-calf heifers to see how they withstood below zero temperatures the night before. When it gets this cold we do relent and give the young ladies some grain….not only to stay […]
….well, to coin a phrase, “start at the beginning”. Posting has been non-existent for almost a month, but not because there’s been nothing to report. It’s breeding season and Wooz here discusses strategy with our vet, Dr. Monica O’Brien. AI comes first, and we’re using two sires across some of our best cows: Traditional Devon’s […]