Bill’s Excellent Adventure – Day 3

By Bill Roberts

Day three of the Great English Excursion began with a wonderful hot shower, packing and an invigorating walk through the town of Kenilworth in Warickshire. I arrived back at the hotel to meet David Bell who lived only minutes away from the hotel. We partook of a delicious multiple course breakfast at the hotel breakfast nook. The breakfast came with the room. I proudly profess that my room was cheaper than the other guests based on volume of consumption at breakfast.

After breakfast, David took me on a tour of his farm. He raises some of the best Simmental cattle I have ever seen. His yearling bulls and heifers would make the folks at places like Monfort and Cactus Feeders shout hallelujah! He also has two Galloway bulls imported from Denmark that are outstanding. The UK appears to me to be a reservoir for genetic advancement for bos taurus in general.

After leaving David’s, we drove about 60 miles to Tilbrook Grange at Kimbolton in Huntingtonshire. Here, Gavin Hunter and his twin brother James greeted us along with two beautiful black labs. The labs encountered in my visit to the UK were smaller sized, extremely good conformation and temperament with the blocky head and box muzzle that set them apart as classic labs. The Brits appear to be as discriminating and calculated in the mating of their dogs as they were their Devon cattle. The quality of dogs encountered through the whole trip was first rate. There was an obvious absence of mutts or dogs without a planned purpose.

Gavin Hunter and his now deceased bull, Tilbrook Sunset, were the prime impetus in bringing me to England. Rob Wills had sent me a picture while the bull was still alive. I was fascinated by the structural correctness and gut capacity of the bull. He was phenomenal. Viewing his progeny proved that he was prepotent for his quality.

Gavin, who cares for the animals while brother James oversees the farm, had the largest herd we saw on this tour with 80 cows and over 200 head total. It is located in an area that has gone more to grain farming than livestock. The Hunter family farms close to 2000 acres and has about 200 more in grass. The winter barn lots and stone walled pens were amazing. About half the cattle were still in their winter barn lots. We toured an excellent pen of Devon bulls being fed for slaughter. Gavin leaves every bull intact and finds by doing so they finish in 18 months on nothing but dry hay. If he steers the bulls, they take another 6 months to finish.

One bull named Woodrow Atlas is termed old fashioned by Gavin. He would cause Teddy Gentry to do a back flip. He is massive in his muscling but on barely a 3 frame score. He typifies that “little bitty bull” Teddy refers to as what is needed to correct the scale of our way too tall national cow herd.

Rotokawa 688 produced some of the excellent bulls and cows at the Hunter farm. We saw several cows that had won the top competitions in the UK and were now exceptional brood cows. He also had an excellent bull by Rotokawa 688. They seemed to cross very well on Tilbrook Sunset daughters, producing thick deep bodies on correct feet and legs with very feminine heads.

Gavin had the broadest pool of genetic potential I have found in my limited exposure within the Devon breed. He had a variety of bulls that would fit anywhere. Tilbrook Kiwi is his top show bull currently. Future plans include embryos and semen from Gavin’s cattle when time and resources and exchange rates warrant the endeavor. He has much to offer breed improvement in the US.

After reviewing the cattle, Gavin had David and me in for a delicious lunch of fresh vegetables, heavenly fresh made bread and a unique currant-like jelly. When the jelly was spread on the bread with real grass-origin butter, it begged to have a franchise restaurant concept built around it in the yuppie rich Silicon Valley. Any health-conscious person with demanding taste buds would pay dearly for the experience.

I normally do not drink tap water anywhere these days. However, Gavin’s water was clear, clean, tasty and pristine. It spoke of artesian reserves unaffected by modern encroachment.

Once lunch was over, David headed back home after handing the baton (me) off to Gavin for the final leg of the marathon. Gavin drove me to the train station about 30 minutes away. There we shook hands and agreed it was a beginning and not an ending. He sped off to attend to family matters on a Sunday while I stumbled, bumbled and fumbled my way through the train station with two suitcases, my camera bag and business travel bag.

That evening, I dined well at a very nice restaurant across from Euston Station in London. The baked chicken, au gratin potatoes, vegetable and salad were accompanied by some fine Merlot and followed with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect complement to a fantastic day. It also fueled my fire as I worked into the wee hours of the morning, capturing the events of the trip on paper while they were fresh on my mind.

Early the next morning it was off to find the underground tramway to get to the above ground train that would take me to the airport to board the plane that would take me to Detroit to get to the plane that would take me to Nashville. But all worth it to find my wonderful wife Nancy, who would drive me home probably mystified that her husband passed out and had so little to share after such a long journey! God bless the woman who has been instrumental in allowing this journey to happen and takes no offense when I crash like a rag doll when I get home.

Next time, I will wrap up this series with my summary thoughts and impressions from – Bill’s Most Excellent Adventure.