• Hi-tech preg check…

    …Dr Kiel Hausler of Rose Hill Vets using ultrasound to preg check one of our young cows. It’s a little more reliable predicting calving days and it has the added benefit of revealing the sex of the embryo. The wranglers are son Church to the left and son-in-law Curt to the right. Putting more than 50 cows and calves through the chute can leave you pretty wiped out. David

  • Ready to start…

    …the main herd reporting for their preg check. The calves have been separated to be worked separately…vaccinations, dehorning, steering. Curt is the chief wrangler today…waiting for the signal to start bringing them in. David

  • We had an exciting day yesterday

    Son Church was home from his first year at Cornell veterinary school and we had one of our favorite vets out for a day of vaccinations, ultrasounds, weights and castrations. We’ve been waiting with baited breath to hear the results of our January AI’s and ET’s…and we are thrilled with the news: 3 Potheridge Presidents, 3 Champson Defenders, a Cutcombe Jaunty, a 663, a 688, and two Grantland Granites. Carolyn Matthews

  • From the kitchens of Thistle Hill…

    …and yes while we have two kitchens…son Church continues his triumphs on the Kamado Joe grill. This time it’s a pork belly smoked by that apple wood tree we harvested a few weeks ago. Church recommends scoring the fat side diagonally and then rubbing all sides with Bone Suckin’ Seasoning and extra brown sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Place over indirect heat and smoke until the meat reaches 200 degrees.  My preference is to hold off and make a midnight sandwich.  While pork belly isn’t very popular in the States, I have Asian  friends who consider this the peak of American cuisine!  It is also very popular in Scandinavia, Latin…

  • 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…

  • A Thistle Hill special weekend treat…

    …applewood smoked pork ribs. Son Church got the recipe for the rub from a trucker…a mix of paprika, salt and pepper and chili, garlic and onion powder. Still a long way to go with the 3-2-1 method of wrapping, unwrapping and mopping.  The secret of course is the apple wood smoke and we’re using our very own apple tree as the source! Are we sustainable now or what? David

  • 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…

  • The one that got away…

    …almost.  Some years ago we were very pleased with our Sunset bulls from Gavin Hunter ‘s Tilbrook Herd in England.  So were others and one day we realized we had sold the last of the blood line. Thanks to AI tanks we have just solved the problem.  Church found some Sunset semen in an old Folly Farm tank and Sunset is back on our pastures…in the form of this three-month old bull calf. Making this an all the more exciting mating…we AI-ed Sunset to our new young Tulip cow.  She’s from the Ashott Barton herd in England. We’ve barely finished this year’s calving and it’s already time to start planning…

  • The future…

    …is in good hands!  Two yearling bulls we have high hopes for. In the background is one of the first calves from our herd bull Essington.  He’s from a premier English herd that was the work for many decades of Brian Drake…a herd that now sadly belongs to history. In the foreground is the first American descendant of another historic English line, Champson.  He’s by Champson Defender. Grandson Church came up with some Champson semen at UK Sires that, frankly, didn’t look very promising but decided to try it.  He hit on the very first attempt and so we now have three pure, traditional English bloodlines on our Virginia pastures.…

  • Sad to report…

    …the passing of legendary Devon breeder Ken McDowall of New Zealand.  Ken’s Rotokawa bulls were at the center of the great Devon resurgence at the turn of the century.  While there is some dispute over just who “discovered” Ken, there is no doubt it was Gearld Fry and Ridge Shinn who popularized the great Rotokawa bulls in America like 688, 982, 667 and many more. Eventually Fry, Shinn and a partner brought the entire Rotokawa herd here to the States where they’ve settled in Hardwick, Massachusetts. Ken was a great friend to Thistle Hill and he spent many days here freely dispensing his breeding wisdom.  I treasure those conversations as…