…just in time for your family cookout: Thistle Hill steaks, ribs and burgers. For the first time we’re offering individual packages…no longer only bulk sales! You owe it to your family to try delicious, healthful grass fed Devon beef. Our animals are raised and finished without supplements, pesticides, herbicides or antibiotics. Hamburger is wrapped in […]
As if grandson Church didn’t have enough to do running the farm and studying for an advance degree in biology…he recently took a week to attend the Frank B. Graham Cattleman’s School in Kansas. The week-long program covered every aspect of herd fertility and calving, including artificial insemination, preg checking and delivering a calf. Church, […]
…after a 45-day rest period, we’re bringing the main herd to where we started six weeks ago. The clover stand predominates…probably 60-70%. Church took the phrase “overseeding” too literally last winter. We may adjust paddock size this time around. We could use more trampling effect. Again trampled grass is particularly beneficial in the hot weather […]
……in the previous post “Introducing TDA 35” (see below)I talked about a moment 10 years ago when I first saw the young bull’s dam. Moments after posting I recalled Wooz was handling the camera at that moment. So I dug into the archives and sure enough there it was. Ivan Rowe, my Cornish mate, pretty […]
It was 10 years ago that I walked out in a pasture Cornwall, England with a grizzled old farmer named Ivan Rowe. Ivan was introducing me to the best herd of cows I had ever seen! More than that he was offering me my pick to breed…flush the embryos…and ship back to the States. It […]
…and a picture of the result of mating our oldest American cow with a young British bull. The dam is 17 years old and still producing. But Church has decided it’s time to work in her replacement. This 16-month old heifer will be filling some mighty big hooves. Mom produced a string of outstanding bull […]
It was a moment of celebration…the day pigs made their renewed appearance on Thistle Hill pastures. Nothing tops the flavor of fresh, naturally raised pork. I put it right up there with fresh off the vine tomatoes and off the stalk corn! Meat from these pigs will be available in the fall but you can […]
The question of foreign ownership of agricultural land has been simmering just below the surface for some years now. The US is fortunate that it has the resources to feed its population for the foreseeable future. But some countries already are being forced to plan against starvation and increasingly are buying farmland here. The Saudis […]
…sometimes a 12-point buck crosses the path but usually there’s not that much traffic. I can only shake my head when people ask if I ever get bored on the farm. David
…there are cows in there somewhere! The wet weather this past year forced a late start on grazing. We’re now finally allocating a half acre every day to 35 cow/calf pars. And with this perfect growing weather they’ll be back in four weeks.