…Right as our open house wrapped up the other day, one of our cows gave birth to a bull calf and that provided wonder (as always) but also a bit of amusement. Within minutes of the birth, another cow with her own calf at side came up to inspect the newcomer.  Understandably, one big red cow looks pretty much like another to a newborn concentrating on standing up, and so junior tried to nurse the wrong one.  It took quite a few strong, but gentle nudges to straighten him out. After a while our son Church realized that we were witnessing a game of “calf ping pong” and got a bit…

….our newest calf and his proud mother.  This is one of six heifers that enter our production herd this year.  She’s a Rotokawa 93 daughter. We schedule our heifers to calf at three years of age because we feel that’s better for both mom and her calf.  Other breeders like to push calving earlier, believing they get more calves over the life of the cow by starting at two.  Our experience is that by being patient we extend the productive life of the cow.  But more than that we find they are calmer, better mothers when we wait. Incidentally, the sire in this case was our Rotokawa 974 herd bull,…

Gearld Fry, founder of the North American Devon Association, is reported to have successfully undergone six-hour surgery for a triple bypass  yesterday and is resting comfortably.  We wish him a speedy recovery.  Gearld is not the kind of person to take it easy so the recovery will undoubtedly be just that…speedy. Gearld was hunting elk in Colorado when he felt chest pains.  Doctors couldn’t believe he walked out of the mountains without suffering a heart attack.  They first though a stint would solve the problem but then discovered a 90% blockage.

….and Wales looked just as it’s supposed to.  We spent five leisurely days sight-seeing, eating and mostly de-compressing after a hectic year.  The quality of the food was a particular surprise and each evening we debated salmon vs. lamb and wished we could have both. As for cattle, we were introduced to the Welsh black and Wooz liked them enough to buy a painting. But as much as we enjoyed Wales, we were anxious to move on to Devon.  And cresting the hill and seeing Exmoor laid out before us, felt like coming home.  For the next week we stayed with good friends….and looked at beautiful animals.  In coming days we’ll share each…

Well-known cattle expert Gearld Fry was scheduled to undergo heart surgery Friday morning, October 19th after experiencing heart pains on a hunting trip.  Fry, who has been the guiding force in the North American Devon Association, will have a triple by-pass operation. The new president of NADA, Greg Hickl, has emailed the following: Gearld was elk hunting in Colorado with a relative and starting feeling severe pain in his chest while trekking the mountain. He said it would go away if he rested awhile, but it continued as he exerted himself. He knew something was wrong with his heart, and they decided to come home early. The doctor told him…

 Well, we couldn’t.  So here’s our new puppy.  Another English Shepherd from Oklahoma. We still tear up over “Pokey” but we thought this little girl might help.  She’s from the same breeder and in fact has some of the same bloodlines.  We expect the stork (aka: American Airlines) to deliver her to us about the first of October, right after we get back from our next trip to Devon. No name yet and perhaps you would like to help with that.  The family survey has Bonnie, Jasmine (Jazz), Misty, Cimmarron, Okey-Dokey pretty much tied for first place.  At the family cookout yesterday, great-grandson Rowan had so many cookies in his…

….you may say they’re alfalfa pellets but they sure look like grain and Mommy told us to stay away from grain. At least that’s what these two heifers seem to be saying to Wooz.  Some of our animals never do try them….coming into the pen when we treat the herd to alfalfa pellets but just standing to the side and watching. It can be a problem, when you’re raising grass fed beef, rounding up the cows.  But, particularly with mob grazing, they get caught up in the excitement of running and are carried along.  Sometimes, as with these heifers in a satellite pasture, it can take coaxing and patience.  It…

….right here at Thistle Hill….he’s one of Rotokawa 243’s sons…. …as good a young bull as we’ve ever seen.  We do believe we’ve found next year’s herd sire.  W18 has an equally promising brother in a nearby pasture and you’re always welcome to drop in and check them out. We think 243 has never gotten the credit he deserves.  His career was interrupted by the sale of Rotokawa as Ken McDowell cut back his active schedule.  Right now, he’s serving in a commercial herd in New Zealand but Ken maintains semen rights.