Thistle Hill Farm is nestled along the banks of the Rappahanock River in Fauquier county with the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop.
We sell registered Devon seedstock as well as healthy and delicious grass fed beef.
Operating as usual
It’s like he already knows he’s a star at five weeks old! One of the Potheridge President offspring striking a pose today.
He’s the result of a strawof President semen in a tank from Don Minto’s farm, mixed with eggs from one of our English cows ( Essington Buttercup x Millenium Falcon).
-Carolyn
Just the latest…
…a summing up of a half dozen great lines combined just on the sires side here. A special delivery to Thistle Hill today.
Our natural service calves will be coming now that we’ve concluded with our artificial breeding portion of the herd. It’s been a memorable season for Church who concluded his second annual efforts with successes such as Potherridge President, Champson Defender and Tilbrook Sunset. Add in some bulls that have only recently passed their first birthday and Thistle Hill now is the repository of the most complete traditional pure English champion Devon’s available anywhere.
Why not treat yourself to a Thistle Hill Christmas.
David
From embryos under the microscope in January to live Potheridge President offspring!
The Traditional Devon gods smiled on us today. So far we have two Potheridge President heifers and one bull. Rounding out the four thus far delivered embryos is a heifer out of F21 and Champson Defender.
Potheridge President semen has been in short supply since he was imported to the United States in 1968 when he became the first Devon bull to become a certified Meat Sire and became one of the most influential bulls in North American Devon history. We were fortunate enough to find two ampules of his semen in an old tank purchased from Don Minto. We used one ampule this past year, split between two cows. The embryos can be seen in the top photo; the second shows yesterday’s bull calf and the third last night’s heifer.
Champson Defender was the champion bull among a group of 28 show bulls at the Devon Cattle Breeders Society spring show in 2008, declared “everything a Red Ruby Devon should be with total balance, tremendous presence, evenly distributed natural fleshing…and outstanding locomotion.”
The biological mothers’ bloodlines are impressive too, including Essington Buttercup 165th, Cashtiller, and Millenium Falcon in their forebears.
We are beyond thrilled to see these babies thriving!
-Carolyn and David
Watch that first step…
…frozen 70 years ago…tucked in an ampule…and speculated about ever since! Who dare risk cracking the seal?!
One of the very few samples of semen from the famed Potheridge President. Brought to the United States and put into closed-herd competition with the other great breed sires of the day!
Potheridge President emerged the clear winner and Devon beef became the industry standard for quality.
With all the other great names in our herd Thistle Hill is proud of its burgeoning reputation as home of pure traditional English Devon anywhere!
David
We were thrilled to find this sweet girl by her mama’s side yesterday afternoon …she’s the result of an AI with semen from Rotokawa great 688. Mom is out of Cashtiller, sired by Cutcombe Jaunty.
Can you find baby Jules?
My brother and I looked for an hour before we spotted her on the left. After I took her photo she hopped up and moved to a spot not far away…in the second photo. She was very difficult to spot…but is about halfway down on the right. Her mom must have told her to stay put!
We find that the first few days of life the newborns will spend much of their time curled up and sleeping, and are sometimes difficult to find.
Carolyn
Baby Jules!
Our first calf of the season is almost 1 week old, and she is a gorgeous heifer out of TDA4, out of Cashtiller sired by Cutcombe Jaunty. Jules’ father is Highwayman, out of Golding’s Norah and sired by Ashott Barton Millenium Falcon, so she has a terrific pedigree.
We are expecting great things out of this little heifer!
In the photo on the left, by Keith Kay, she is being weighed with her adoring mama looking on. 62 pounds. As Mary Poppins would say…perfect in every way!
Carolyn
In praise of Devon…
…it isn’t often a Devon develops a hoof problem. But if it happens a half-mile from the working chute, it sure is nice to take the portable chute to the middle of nowhere and know she’ll load without a fuss. Not even some portable panels were necessary.
Vet Tom Massey arrived just after the picture was taken and TDA 15 was cleaned right up.
David
We were delighted yesterday to have a visit from two thought leaders in the Devon world, Jeremy Engh and Dr. Jerry Engh. I didn’t hear everything thing said, but I did hear the word “spectacular!”
- Carolyn
President of the Devon Cattle Breeder’s Society Gavin Hunter and his wife Jane were recently thrilled to be invited to a garden party celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee. Gavin, owner of Tillbrook Grange, is the breeder of the prize-winning Cashtiller, who won all the major Devon shows and whose bull calves topped the sales three years in a row. We were lucky enough to persuade Gavin to allow Cash to become one of the foundational cows of our English herd. He continues to provide advice and friendship to Thistle Hill Farm.
-Carolyn
The Thistle Hill Alumni club…
…posted by Brooke Henley on Facebook today. Brooke says she watched the calving from her window while enjoying her morning coffee.
The sire is Thistle Hill Equinox…with seven bull calves and four heifers so far this year. Two to go.
Our relationship with Brooke and husband Tom and their Spring Pastures farm in Maryland goes back many years. They’ve built their herd around Thistle Hill genetics.
Equinox is the son of our THF Churchill and the grandson of perhaps the finest cow in modern Devon history, Tilbrook Cashtiller. Not only did she win best of show every time she entered but her bull calves topped the English sales three consecutive years.
David
Photo by Brooke Henley
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Summer camp…
…for our 1.5 year old heifers. They’ll eventually be bred here at Slainte Farm and return home to calve.
For now it’s a welcome break in their routine and fresh grass!
Video by Curt Humphreys.
And btw congratulations to our partners Mary and Mike on their recent marriage!
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Loving this pasture!!
Photo by Church Matthews
King of the hill…
…all English but made in the US! Our herd bull Essington…the result of a mating of Brian Drake’s Buttercup and Shiamala Comer’s Falcon…two leading English herds paired here thanks to embryo transplants. Essington is six years old.
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Update: Defender…
…who seems on track to become one of our key herd bulls.
Right now Defender is on lease to the Rohwer’s Sun Eats Farm in Maryland. Since he has taken charge Church has developed a thriving business supplying bulls to farms who can’t quite justify a full-time sire of their own.
And of course it helps us manage our large battery of bulls. It also develops progeny history and of course gives a bull more opportunity for what a bull does!
Defender is new to the US…Church imported his semen and AI-ed to a Cashtiller granddaughter to give us the first American Defender.
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
What’s for dinner…
…a juicy beyond organic hormone and antibiotic free sirloin steak.
Curt went overboard with his seasoning on this one:
avocado oil and then a rub of black pepper, yellow mustard, coriander, lemon peel, garlic, celery seed, dill, Chile, cardamom, and salt!
Lightly and quickly grilled.
In a word: delicious.
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Off to summer camp…
…go eight Thistle Hill yearling heifers. Once again Mary Perrine and Don Ferro have volunteered their adjoining pastures.
It’s a lovely setting at the base of Cobbler mountain and the girls and we appreciate the hospitality.
The two farms get lawnmowers and entertainment for the grandchildren and the heifers get loving care and civilizing and are well away from the bulls.
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
So glad spring is here!
The waiting game…
…seems to be a subtitle for much of the year at Thistle Hill. Right now we’ve confirmed the pregnancy of the cows we artificially inseminated(AI).
X2a is one of the AI recipients. She’s carrying a calf sired by Grantland Granite of John Forelle’s Folly Farm. That herd was dispersed several years ago.
Grantland was the name of Bob Grant’s herd and Bob was an important figure and treasurer of the American Devon Association. Gearld Fry bought his herd and Granite wound up with John Forelle.
I saw him at Folly Farm in about 2005 at the very first meeting of the North American Devon Association in Albany, New York. Welcome to Thistle Hill.
Other recipients have been confirmed in calf by the famed Rotokawa 688 who probably more than any other bull launched the resurgence of Devon. He was the grand sire of the outstanding English cow Cashtiller…perhaps the prettiest Devon ever. He also sired our Thistle Hill Hope…another beauty that was the dam of more Thistle Hill calves than any other thanks to many flushes.
We also have confirmed pregnancies by Rotokawa 663 and the superb English bull Cutcombe Jaunty who has been key in our herd’s development.
That rounds out the AI recipients who’ll be calving in October. But there are six calves coming from our companion embryo transfer work…calves by Champson Defender and the famous Potheridge President.
How will our pastures contain all these big egos!
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Tomorrow…
…the good stuff. Serious grazing has begun with the herd working the paddock on the left…the electric wire in the center keeping them from “the good stuff” on the right!
Look carefully and you’ll see the herd in the back of the paddock. And just beyond some hay for added fiber. Spring grass is very “washy”!
David
The spring green-up…
…is well underway at Thistle Hill! And Nala seems appreciative of the work we’ve done to improve the pastures.
The over-seeding we did a year ago has really taken hold. Perennial rye and and cereal rye and several clovers have all thickened our sward significantly.
Not apparent but a big contributing factor we feel certain was the conditioning of the soil with the work of turnips, radish and cow peas.
The cover in the area pictured here was very thin and the soil quite sandy. Our hope is that continued rotational grazing and the addition of more cover crops will put this pasture on a par with our very best.
David
One percenters….these pigs are in the one percent of pigs raised outside in pastures. They were out exploring and foraging today.
-Carolyn
A Star is born…
…we’ve seen unusual activity around the picture we posted recently of our guard donkey Jenny. She and her partner Jack have been faithful servants of the Thistle Hill herd for about 20 years…and all they ever get is a hug and a scratch. Well Jenny demands them and here Mackenzie Mason is happy to oblige.
David
Hi-tech preg check…
…Dr Kiel Hausler of Rose Hill Vets using ultrasound to preg check one of our young cows.
It’s a little more reliable predicting calving days and it has the added benefit of revealing the s*x of the embryo.
The wranglers are son Church to the left and son-in-law Curt to the right.
Putting more than 50 cows and calves through the chute can leave you pretty wiped out.
David Edward Schoumacher
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Three little maids are we…
…enjoying a snack while their Moms are being preg checked.
Actually they’re not entirely in the clear. They’ll also being getting their shots tho that’s not the trauma their male counterparts have to endure. This is also steering day!
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Two young bulls…
…pictured at just over a year old…that we held back to monitor development
H242 (nearer the camera) and H243 were chosen to grow out here at Thistle Hill…selected from a class of about a dozen bulls.
H242 in the foreground doing well in the early stages. We’re particularly pleased with his heart girth. He and his herdmate, H243, were both sired by a pure English bull in our inventory, Essington.
H243 is descended from the Champson Tulip line, one of the most renowned in England. Tulip has been a little elusive for us so we are keeping an eye on this young bull.
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Just friends…
…we hope. Our cover bull Prince…who is causing something of a stir in Devon circles…and is our cover bull this year.
Prince is on the left…sharing some unrolled hay with a cow we hope he doesn’t get to friendly with. WMD2 is the female…a cow we hope is carrying a Potheridge President embryo.
The job of the cover bull is to find any cow that is open…that is where the embryo hasn’t taken…and finish the job. By the calendar two cycles should have passed without heat…so we’re hoping this Tête-à-tête-is just a coincidence.; that she is indeed carrying the Potheridge embryo.
We won’t know for sure until there’s a pregnancy check…in fact, not until there’s a DNA reading.
Either way we have high hopes for the calf. President was probably the most famous bull of all time but his progeny have all but disappeared. Prince is an English bull from the Tulip line, almost as well-known.
In all we implanted a half dozen Potheridge President embryos this year. One recip definitely went into heat and was serviced by Prince. We’ll be sure to post the final results.
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
This weekend one of our bull-renters delivered a litter of six piglets to Thistle Hill Farm. It was cold and gusty, and I was glad their hay-filled pigloo didn’t blow away.
These four brothers and two sisters are Tamworth Berkshire crosses. Originally from central England, Tamworths are known for their red color and long abdomen, which makes for wonderful bacon. The Berkshires are black, sometimes with white spots, and produce meat that is not only full of flavor but tender as well.
Our pigs, unlike most pigs who when conventionally raised are in pens where there’s not even room to turn around, will be reared in a pasture and given a non-GMO feed to supplement the grass and acorns in the pasture.
- Carolyn
We had an exciting day yesterday. Son Church was home from his first year at Cornell veterinary school and we had one of our favorite vets out for a day of vaccinations, ultrasounds, weights and castrations. We’ve been waiting with baited breath to hear the results of our January AI’s and ET’s…and we are thrilled with the news: 3 Potheridge Presidents, 3 Champson Defenders, a Cutcombe Jaunty, a 663, a 688, and two Grantland Granites.
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA
Our guard donkeys…
…have asked for equal time with the farm dogs we featured awhile back.
Jenny, pictured here, and Jack are our miniature donkeys…a kind of early warning system protecting our herd from stray dogs and coyotes.
They stay with the herd year around no matter the weather. They’re incredibly low maintenance…and they survive on the grass alone…no supplements and never seem to get sick. They’re 20 years old now and still going strong!
David
From the kitchens of Thistle Hill…
…and yes while we have two kitchens…son Church continues his triumphs on the Kamado Joe grill.
This time it’s a pork belly smoked by that apple wood tree we harvested a few weeks ago.
Church recommends scoring the fat side diagonally and then rubbing all sides with Bone Suckin’ Seasoning and extra brown sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Place over indirect heat and smoke until the meat reaches 200 degrees.
My preference is to hold off and make a midnight sandwich. While pork belly isn’t very popular in the States, I have Asian friends who consider this the peak of American cuisine! It is also very popular in Scandinavia, Latin America and my native Alsace-Lorraine.
Red Devon Cattle Forum Red Devon USA reGenerative Grazing Group
Our cows…
…are built around the great English cow Tilbrook Cashtiller. She won three consecutive national grand championships and a host of ribbons and silver. And to top it off three of her sons were the top selling bulls in the annual Devon breeders sale. We’re indebted to Tibrook’s Gavin Hunter…who again today is serving as president of the British Society …for permitting us to flush Cash twice!
TDA 7 was out of that first flush 12 years ago and not showing her age. Her sire was another British champion, Cutcombe Jaunty. Cashtiller is gone now but we have several of her daughters and granddaughters and other descendants in our herd…and some embryos for the future.
TDA 20 is a special cow with Essington and Cutcombe genetics…and is a Cashtiller granddaughter as well. Brian Drake of Essington Park was a leader among English breeders for 50 years and a respected judge for the British Society. His herd was small compared to many but the quality was unmatched by any herd we’ve ever seen.
TDA 23 was an English pairing and an early use of Ashott Barton’s Falcon…a stunning bull we found on Ivan Rowe’s Goldings farm. We mated him to a cow from Brian Drake’s Essington Farm. There are no two more experienced Devon breeders in all of England than Ivan and Brian. Both lamented the dilution of the Devon breed with outside genetics and after 70 years in the business gracefully exited the Devon scene.
WMD 2 has joined us through a circuitous route. Her dam was the daughter of a beautiful cow, Lakota’s R6. Mom was sold to Bill Ketner’s farm in West Virginia and while hauling a bull one day Church spotted 2…and the rest is history. Her sire was the English bull Highwayman. The result is this cow who looks more traditional than some of her herdmates. Note the deep Ruby red hair coat!
F212 is another Highwayman son out of M180, a cow that deserves a webpage of her own. Before we began our English concentration, M180 was practically a bull machine! Many years the sale of her progeny paid the herd’s feed bill. Visitors think her name should be Thank God since we always related that we had about 10 bull calves before (thank God) a heifer, 212, came along!
TDA 18…another Cashtiller daughter. She’s out of 7 (see above) and sired by Thistle Hill Highwayman so she’s got all our great English lines in this one package. An obvious candidate for eventual flushing.
With more than 40 females of all ages this is by no means a complete inventory of the Thistle Hill herd…English and American…bred and open younger heifers.
To arrange a visit at this perfect time of year in Virginia contact Church:
(214) 802-1283
David
reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA
12345 Cresthill Road
Hume, VA
22639
Thistle Hill is nestled along the banks of the Rappahannock River. The Blue Ridge Mountains dominate the western horizon and, on our farm to the East, are the low ridges that have been in woodland for the past century. It is a pleasant scene that attracted our family many years ago when the roads were still gravel and not heavily traveled. And we have been here since, tending the pastures and trying to be good stewards of the land.
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Summer camp… …for our 1.5 year old heifers. They’ll eventually be bred here at Slainte Farm and return home to calve. For now it’s a welcome break in their routine and fresh grass! Video by Curt Humphreys. And btw congratulations to our partners Mary and Mike on their recent marriage! David reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Off to summer camp… …go eight Thistle Hill yearling heifers. Once again Mary Perrine and Don Ferro have volunteered their adjoining pastures. It’s a lovely setting at the base of Cobbler mountain and the girls and we appreciate the hospitality. The two farms get lawnmowers and entertainment for the grandchildren and the heifers get loving care and civilizing and are well away from the bulls. David reGenerative Grazing Group Red Devon USA Red Devon Cattle Forum
Are you my Mommy? Born 11/11/12
Our family has always believed that healthy soil, healthy grass, healthy animals result in healthy meat and healthy families. And our pastures are the source of our own healthy meat. We do not use petro-chemical fertilizers or sludge from the city or herbicides, pesticides of any kind. We do use foliar fish oil mixed with kelp or organically- certified sea minerals to constantly build up the soil to maintain the good microbes that promote a healthy stand of grass. Mostly, we use our cows as “four-legged fertilizer spreaders”, recycling 90% of the nutrients they consume right back into the soil. We are constantly testing our soils, our forages and water to come up with that remaining 10%.
We seek to maintain a low carbon footprint by staying in sync with what Nature has given us and encouraging the diversity that was meant to be. So when you purchase Thistle Hill Beef you are not only giving yourself and your family pasture perfect beef that is tender, flavorful and healthy, you are also making a responsible choice for the environment.
Once Upon A Time Herb and Flora Farm
Amissville 20106Britta Johnston at Mountain Vista Farm
Hackleys Mill Road, Amissville