{"id":2727,"date":"2013-10-20T06:40:21","date_gmt":"2013-10-20T10:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/?p=2727"},"modified":"2013-10-20T07:03:35","modified_gmt":"2013-10-20T11:03:35","slug":"foundation-cow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/foundation-cow\/","title":{"rendered":"A ‘foundation cow”…."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"R2\"<\/a>….is not a designation we use in the “Devon world”.\u00a0 But if we did, R2<\/em> would certainly merit the honor.\u00a0 Purchased almost as an afterthought from Lakota Ranch<\/em> seven years ago, she has been a steady star performer.<\/p>\n

R2<\/em> comes from the same Lakota<\/em>\u00a0family that sired a top Devon bull, “Bud”, who became a star performer for Bill Roberts.\u00a0 That line is almost as prevalent in our herd as Rotokawa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"20111023_8\"<\/a>R2<\/em>‘s daughter, T2<\/em>, by Rotokawa 93<\/em>,\u00a0has maintained the momentum.\u00a0 Visitors often ask to reserve a future calf by her or pay for a flush, which we politely decline.\u00a0 T2<\/em>‘s latest is this heifer, X2a<\/em>, pictured at birth.\u00a0 But the next is due any day and may have arrived by the time you read this.<\/p>\n

It’s interesting that our “2s” tend to stay together in the herd…as does another Lakota line, the “3s” and they all continue to calve at the same time and immediately bond.\u00a0 Find one, and you’ve found them all!<\/p>\n

\"X2A<\/a>\u00a0X2a<\/em> is now just over two and has just been bred to a promising English bull, TDA Churchill<\/em>.\u00a0 Not to count our calves before they’re hatched, but the results of that breeding will have to remain in our herd until the Traditional Devon America<\/em> partners agree to start releasing those genetics.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0An important point in all this is how indebted Devon breeders are to each other.<\/p>\n

\"20130917_4<\/a>Incidentally, R2<\/em> produces bulls every bit as good as she does\u00a0\u00a0 females.\u00a0 U2<\/em> gave us more good calves than any bull we’ve ever used.\u00a0 Descended from Rotokawa 974<\/em>, there’s no doubt that he brought us to “the next level.\u00a0 Our plan is to use him one more time this Fall and then make him available to other breeders.\u00a0 There’s a younger half-brother coming along who deserves the opportunity to make his mark.<\/p>\n

But the “2’s” have firmly put their stamp on the Thistle Hill herd and will always have a special place in our hearts.\u00a0 Of course there are some other great cow families in our herd as well—31, R6, R3, 64, 180—and we’ll be profiling them in coming days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

….is not a designation we use in the “Devon world”.\u00a0 But if we did, R2 would certainly merit the honor.\u00a0 Purchased almost as an afterthought from Lakota Ranch seven years ago, she has been a steady star performer. R2 comes from the same Lakota\u00a0family that sired a top Devon bull, “Bud”, who became a star performer for Bill Roberts.\u00a0 That line is almost as prevalent in our herd as Rotokawa. R2‘s daughter, T2, by Rotokawa 93,\u00a0has maintained the momentum.\u00a0 Visitors often ask to reserve a future calf by her or pay for a flush, which we politely decline.\u00a0 T2‘s latest is this heifer, X2a, pictured at birth.\u00a0 But the next is due any day and may have arrived by the time you read this. It’s interesting that our “2s” tend to stay together in the herd…as does another Lakota line, the “3s” and they all continue to calve at the same time and immediately bond.\u00a0 Find one, and you’ve found them all! \u00a0X2a is now just over two and has just been bred to a promising English bull, TDA Churchill.\u00a0 Not to count our calves before they’re hatched, but the results of that breeding will have to remain in our herd until the Traditional Devon America partners agree to start releasing those genetics.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0An important point in all this is how indebted Devon breeders are to each other. Incidentally, R2 produces bulls every bit as good as she does\u00a0\u00a0 females.\u00a0 U2 gave us more good calves than any bull we’ve ever used.\u00a0 Descended from Rotokawa 974, there’s no doubt that he brought us to “the next level.\u00a0 Our plan is to use him one more time this Fall and then make him available to other breeders.\u00a0 There’s a younger half-brother coming along who deserves the opportunity to make his mark. But the “2’s” have firmly put their stamp on the Thistle Hill herd and will always have a special place in our hearts.\u00a0 Of course there are some other great cow families in our herd as well—31, R6, R3, 64, 180—and we’ll be profiling them in coming days.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,66,19,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulls","category-churchill","category-cows","category-r2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2727"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2756,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727\/revisions\/2756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}