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King of the hill…
…all English but made in the US! Our herd bull Essington…the result of a mating of Brian Drake’s Buttercup and Shiamala Comer’s Falcon…two leading English herds paired here thanks to embryo transplants. Essington is six years old. David
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Our bulls…
…have become an increasingly important part of our operation…not only joining herds from Canada to Louisiana but as leased sires to smaller farms that can’t justify a full-time bull. Right now we have eight bulls at work for Thistle Hill…and a dozen more in the development stage. Our bull pen is still headed by Highwayman, sired by the English bull Millennium Falcon. The dam was from the Goldings herd of the legendary cattleman Ivan Rowe. Ivan gave us the pick of his herd and smiled a rare smile when we selected Norah. It was the only pedigree that he had carried in his pocket. Ivan judged many breeds in his…
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Making history…
…is something of a habit at Thistle Hill. We’re always trying new ideas…ways to improve the quality of our operation and the cows we produce. In that pursuit we were particularly excited when Church was able to negotiate the purchase of a canister of scores of straws of semen from longtime Devon breeders Don and Heather Minto in Jamestown, Rhode Island. Among the straws were collections from almost all the top Rotokawa bulls plus some of the legendary sires in Devon history. Church planned the first major use from the cache to take place during his Christmas break from Cornell Veterinary school. Because our vet’s clinic is close to Thistle…
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Waiting in the bullpen…
…one of our herd bulls, THF Essington. He’s five years old now and has served as our primary sire for the past two years. Essington’s dam was the daughter Brian Drake’s great English cow, Buttercup. The sire was our THF Falcon, who traces back to the Ashott Barton herd in Devon. Thanks to the mating of these two great lines in Essington, his progeny will be the mainstay of our herd for years to come. A commercial cattleman in Virginia compares Essington favorably to Rotokawa 688! Since 688 in our view is one of the top bulls in Devon history, we appreciate the compliment. Here’s a picture so you can…
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A bunch of hams…
…is what we’re raising…not baby beeves! I’d swear whenever Church unlimbers his iPhone our calves “assume the position” and proud mama poses in the background! THF 3 is a young heifer combining four of our pure traditional English Devon bloodlines: Tilbrook Cashtiller, Cutcombe Jaunty, Essington Buttercup and Ashott Barton Falcon. I’ve said before that I think this year’s calf crop may be our finest…and I place this five-month old heifer at the top of the list. My guess is she’s destined for our own herd but we encourage you to talk to Church about the entire group. After all you get to check out our new 4-wheeler! David
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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…
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Parade of (baby) bulls…
…features three of the yearling bulls we’re holding back to see how they develop. The first is the final pairing Wooz selected on her last trip to England. His dam comes from the famous Tulip line. The breeder resisted collecting her and after some to and fro, we bought her outright! Then we had to figure out the complexities of owning a single cow…both physically and legally. We are greatly indebted to Tilbrook’s Gavin Hunter for providing the umbrella and eventually the transport to the clinic where Tulip was flushed to Cutcombe Jaunty. Gavin also arranged a permanent home for Mom. Too bad we couldn’t have arranged a Thistle Hill…
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Parade of bulls…
…features a relative newcomer who is pure traditional English on both sides. He’s F65; one month past his first birthday. F65’s dam is Essington Buttercup, from one of England’s oldest and finest Devon herds…one that sadly was dispersed a few years ago with the retirement of owner Brian Drake. The sire was our major herd bull Thistle Hill Churchill. He in turn is the son of Tilbrook Cashtiller…the award “winningest” Devon cow in recent English history. In fact four of her sons topped successive sales and our Churchill is their half brother. F65 has quite a lot to live up to! David
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Traditional Devon update….
…..the principals of Traditional Devon™ got together this past week to review progress…and here’s an example: TDA 23. She’s an Essington Park Buttercup embryo daughter by Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon. She’s just five months old but this is what we’ve been working for. English breeders Brian Drake (who provided the dam) and Shiamala Comer (who provided the bull) deserve the the credit. But we think the picture demonstates another thing: the importance of the recip. Awhile back we decided that we were going to select our very best cows to serve as recipients. In our opinion that is just about as important as the genetics. Incidentally, veteran cattlemen Jerry and Jeremy Engh of…
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Warning: do not try this at home….
….unless Mom is a Devon. Grandson Church Humphreys fortunately was on Thanksgiving break from college this morning to “bulldog” two newborn English calves. This one is a heifer out of Essington Park Buttercup by Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon. Just slightly up the hill her full brother was also born overnight. In both cases the dams put their noses right into the action…mooing softly to the calves that Church wouldn’t hurt them. Of course, David with his tag applicator and pliers to pull tail hairs was another matter. Note that we use our best cows as recips. We feel they’re every bit as important as the actual donor cow and sire.…