• A year end report….

    ….not from us, but from our English colleague and Cornwall correspondent, Juliet Cleave.  Juliet and husband Chris are partners in our Traditional Devon™ project and in recent years their hard work has vaulted their Kew herd to the very top of Devon farms…anywhere. This year-end video doesn’t begin to do Kew Devons justice….but will give you an idea.  Turn up the sound!  

  • Recharging our batteries – 4….

    ….took us next on our annual sabbatical deep into Cornwall….land of Doc Martin…and Poldark…and Juliet Cleave.  Juliet’s infectious high spirits captivated us on our very first bus ride in the area.  (she was the local tour director) So it was pre-ordained that we’d invite her and her husband, Chris, to join our Traditional Devon™ group. Speaking of Poldark, the Cleaves relationship is straight out of a BBC romance.  For years they cast longing glances across the stone walls separating their two family farms.  Finally, after too many years of delay, Juliet got up enough nerve to embolden Chris to propose. Their Kew Herd has blossomed, too, and is now one of the premier…

  • All too brief….

    ….we’ve just returned from a trip to England to visit our friends and partners in Traditional English Devon™.  As always, the friendship was warm and (progress of sorts) the beer was cold! Then the icing on the cake: we found two cows and a bull that fit perfectly in our program.  There’s all sorts of bureaucratic red tape and multiple health tests to go, but it is exciting to be planning (and dreaming) again. It was also sad to see that three of our cooperating herds have or will soon be closing down.  But it underscores our belief in the importance of Traditional Devon; to save the purist genetics possible.…

  • Ladies in Beef….

    ….is an organization in England  which promotes beef consumption…and our very own Juliet Cleave is right in the center of things (as usual).  Right now they’re doing a television campaign plugging roasts as an easy mid-week meal. What could be better than a roast in the crockpot….toss in whatever you find in the refrigerator and bins and…voila!

  • Stop 3….

    ….Juliet and Chris Cleave continue to make great strides with their beautiful herd.  Juliet has joined the British Devon Society’s Council (Board) and is now hard at work planning next year’s world Devon conference in England. As we mentioned in our previous post, Bywood Jasper has several sons “assigned” to Traditional Devon’s English partners. Bywood Cracker is one of those and we got to see him with his young son.  

  • A sure sign of Spring….

    ….in England, our Cornwall Correspondent and her husband, Chris, have just turned out their heifers after wintering in their shed.  A beautiful set of animals! Can’t wait to get over there to walk in all that green grass.  Just one more month to wait! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=423305741149258&set=vb.231333727013128&type=2&theater