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Catching up is hard to do…. |
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….and so is getting back to work after a long vacation! But here is a brief recap of ED’s travels of late with more details to come in the near future (unless more travel intervenes).
Gearld Fry manned the NADA booth at the annual meeting of the American Forage and Grasslands Council in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A number of area farmers skipped the meeting and just stopped by the booth for counseling. ED, with only about 20 years in this business of grass farming, discovered that AFGC is at least as much about chemicals as it is grass. Not surprising, we supposed, since the major sponsor was Dow chemical.
The tour of several regional farms also revealed the power of phrases such as “grass fed” and “natural”. Every place we visited emphasized its dedication to “natural”. One farmer stated flatly: “All my cows get is grass and water.” He then led us to the pen where he was grain-finishing a bunch of steers…..passing a concrete feed lot filled with bunks used for winter “supplement”.
Our tour also passed one of those organic chicken farms….thousands of chickens under one roof…a hole about a foot square at one end…and a chain link pen about 10-feet on a side…enough to fulfill the government’s requirement for access to pasture. ED asked if we could stop the bus so he could get a picture. You laugh?
It was a great relief (release?) then to do a quick turn-around at NADA headquarters and head for the seminar Ridge Shinn had planned at the Rotokawa Cattle Company in Massachusetts. Several in attendance commented that it was the single best seminar they had ever attended.
The star of the show was Ken McDowall, the New Zealand breeder who developed the Rotokawa line of Devon that was largely responsible for the resurgence of the breed in this country. His herd is now in Massachusetts and further development is in the hands of Ridge Shinn and partner Chuck Lacy, although Ken clearly will be involved as a consultant.
In three separate and lengthy sessions, Ken imparted the wisdom he gained in 35 years of selecting and breeding Devon. As important as the formal lectures, were the many hours of informal discussions with small groups of breeders anxious to improve their herds. If the enthusiasm reached home pastures, there will be a number of exciting Devon farms in the years to come.
For those taking their beef all the way to the consumer, Michael Gourlay of Hardwick Beef also provided an invaluable seminar. Michael coordinates the product of 20 farms and brings the finished grass fed beef to stores and restaurants throughout New England. For those of us who pack up the cooler and head to the near-by farmers market, the record-keeping and detail-work in running a successful meat company was an eye opener.
But of course the “stars” of the three-day meeting were the cattle. The Rotokawa herd appears to have weathered the difficult days of moving from winter in New Zealand to summer in California to winter in Massachusetts. Ridge Shinn has segregated the herd by age groups and it was hard to tell whether “93” or the new group of heifers made the biggest hit.
Incidentally, the entire program was video-taped so hopefully Rotokawa will be able to make the event available to anyone dedicated to breeding the very best Devon possible.
After the event, Ken and Pru McDowall traveled down to Thistle Hill farm in Virginia. NADA board member Steve Campbell finally accepted a long-standing invitation and joined us for long bull-and-cow sessions in the pasture and at the dinner table. Ken also made a side-trip to nearby Lakota Ranch to visit with an old friend, Dr. Jerry Engh and his son Jeremy. Ken has further stops planned at Jeff Moore’s Dixie Devon and with Greg and Lavonne Hickl in Arkansas and Ted and Pat Stevens in Texas. That part of the McDowall tour will be handled by Gearld and Margie Fry.
What follows is a photo album of the stops in Michigan, Massachusetts and Virginia.
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In the Devon spotlight…. |
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….nature provided her own fireworks this 4th of July weekend at Steve Campbell’s Trinity-C Ranch. Our home page photo seems more like an Italian-master’s painting of sunrise…and Steve says this picture a rare occurrence: sunrise with a rainbow. |
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Mark your calendar…. |
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….for two upcoming events.
There’ll be a grass fed beef cook off again this year in Pennsylvania. Devon won top honors in 2008 so we hope you’ll enter your beef for the August 2nd event at the Glasburn Inn, Fogelsburg, PA. Get the details by clicking here.
And Devon will be the featured breed August 11th in a cattle series premiering the week before on RFD-TV. NADA supplied a number of the pictures of members’ farms for the video. |
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Well, it’s natural anyway…. |
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….and we thank Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Farm in Tennessee for supplying this film of the “dark side” of nature in the wilds of Africa. Seems there’s a certain time of year that a particular fruit takes on peculiar properties….and all the animals join in the annual bacchanalia. (click here, WMV - 5.7 megs) |
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Blogging will be light… |
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...as we head out to carry the Devon story to the American Forage and Grasslands Council meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s at the Amway Grand Plaza from Sunday, June 21st through Tuesday the 23rd. Drop by and talk about your farm with NADA President Gearld Fry. We’ll also be able to put you in touch with top breeders if you’ve decided it’s time for Devon genetics in your herd.
In just the past week, we’ve matched up about a dozen prospects with NADA members and what is significant, we think, is the demand for Devon bulls. Clearly people with established herds have been getting the word that they can improve the quality of their beef pretty quickly with a prepotent Devon bull. Interestingly, two of the farmers we’ve talked with have been Angus breeders for many years and now want to totally transition into Devon. If you’re going to be attending the AFGC meeting, or are in the area, this would be a good opportunity to talk with Gearld about Devon genetics.
Right after Grand Rapids, ED heads for Massachusetts and the seminar NADA’s Ridge Shinn has set up at Rotokawa Cattle Company. The featured attraction is New Zealand’s Ken McDowall, who developed the famed Rotokawa strain of Devon. But Michael Gourlay of Hardwick Beef is on the program, too, and he’s had more experience than probably anyone in selling gourmet Devon beef, both retail and to restaurants. You might want to call Ridge and see if he can still fit you in. (413) 657-7709 |
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