What we do at Thistle Hill…..
….is help people create quality Devon herds. And this two-month old heifer, at Tomina Farms in Kentucky, is an example. She’s by a bull we sold Regina and Tom Tesnow just over a year ago and we get frequent updates. They’re not only happy with the results but with the bull’s temperament and role in their pasture; so happy that they’re thinking of collecting semen from him.
Best, of course, is to create your own bull on your own pasture but that takes a little skill and a lot of patience and luck. The greatest impact ever on our herd took place about four years ago when we spotted and bought a bull from Watson farm in Rhode Island. His daughters and sons are now producing their own great calves here and they’re often the first to go when “shoppers” come by.
Certainly artificial insemination and embryo transplants can have a major role in a breeding program and we do a lot of that here. But we’ve found that calves produced that way sometimes lack the vitality of a natural calf. In our experience it takes at least two and more often three generations to get the results you’re hoping for from that “calf in the canister”.
4 Comments
Sylvie in Rappahannock
That’s an interesting insight about breeding. We get so wrapped up in technology that we often forget that the natural way (which has been around for millions of years) works exceptionally.
Regina Tesnow
Hey Dave, Tomina Farm is in Tennessee not Kentucky.
David
Tennessee, Kentucky…those states that were slow to follow Virginia into the War of Northern Agression are all the same to me. Besides we can’t have Thistle Hill customers finding your meat!
Regina Tesnow
Very sly, we yankee transplants have much to learn. Thank you teacher!