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Recent arrivals…
….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: The heifer is a full sister to the little bull’s mother. Do they know they’re related? Talk about a family reunion! Then there’s this late arrival…just a few hours old. (Hang on now.) His sire is Churchill, who is a brother to the heifer above and uncle to the little bull above. Got it? The…
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Made in the USA….
….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 British Devon champions….was Tilbrook Castiller. Cashtiller was particularly note-worthy for the great bulls she produced. The AI sire of this little guy was Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon, but we’ll do him a favor and call him Falcon, for short. He’s just over 12 hours old in these photos but we’re hopeful. We calve our heifers…
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A Traditional Devon update….
….just back from a trip to South Carolina and Georgia, looking at the latest British imports. This heifer is two weeks old, a product of Essington’s Buttercup and our herd bull, Millennium Falcon. Essington has been closed down now so we’re fortunate to have saved genetics from that grand old herd developed by Brian Drake. She and five sisters and brothers will be raised at Doyle Unruh’s farm in Georgia and will play an important role in our project to save British Devon genetics here in America. For this one, you’ll have to click on the picture. Some of our older British animals were gracing the pastures of our partners Bill…
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Ready to take on the world….
This little English bull calf only looks like he’s getting ready to charge. He’s really just getting up for one of the first times in his first day in America….and trying to figure out if he can risk moving those front legs. TDA 11 is a Millennium Falcon son out of Goldings Norah….an embryo calf we bred in England and imported as part of our Traditional Devon America project. Right now he is in the capable hands of Doyle Unruh in Georgia but eventually he’ll join the Virginia or South Carolina TDA herds…..and probably make a few commutes up and down Interstate 81.
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Where to begin….
….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 Falcon (our English bull) and Rotokawa 243, who has given us some wonderful calves in the past. After that, came sorting the herd into groups….getting the right bulls with the right females. In all, we’ll be using four bulls this time: Jackpot and U2 plus limited use of two Traditional Devon bulls, a son of…
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Milestone (continued)….
….we mentioned in the previous post that there are two English heifers being bred in South Carolina (at Walkers Century Farms). This is one, TDA 03. Her dam, Tilbrook Cashtiller….who recently passed away….swept all the English competitions. Her equally outstanding sire, Cutcombe Jaunty, is also no longer with us. So we have, indeed, accomplished a small part of our goal in saving pure, traditional English genetics. It wasn’t so much death we have been concerned with as the increasing practice on both sides of the Atlantic to dilute the purity of the Devon breed, in the search for some elusive “super Devon”. We think they’re super enough and are content to…