Workshop with a Master Breeder

After a couple of fairly dull days, I woke up this morning before 5:30 and drove up toward DC to attend a breeding workshop.

Master breeder Ken McDowall of New Zealand developed a particular line of Devon beef cows over 35 years. You can see some of his bulls here. Many of them look like a rectangle with tiny little supporting legs. Amazing animals.

When we wanted to retire a few years back, he sold the entire herd to Ridge Shinn of Massachusetts, who just happened to develop the American Milking Devon Association in the late 1970s (yay for us!), and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, which seeks to preserve American animal breeds that aren't currently in favor. That's pretty smart, I think: although Devons were disliked because they gained too much weight in feedlots, they are perfect for the resurgence of grass-fed beef today.

Devons thrive on rough forage (as opposed to nice pasture). Ken said that, when he first went to manage his farm, he had nothing but ferns growing, and ferns are supposed to be poisonous to cattle. But his original animals had to make do. The neighbor's fence gave out shortly thereafter (I think there was a bull and some cows in heat involved), and the neighbor's animals came to join the Devons. Sadly, five of those 13 escapees died of fern ingestion!

I found the workshop helpful in answering some basic questions I have had, like should I be concerned about the rougher hair coats on my Vermont cows, compared to the Tennessee cows? (No: rough coats traditionally are more hardy animals.)

How close is too close in breeding? (Ken dislikes actual inbreeding. We skips two generations, and waits until the third generation out to rebreed a great-granddaughter to her great-grandfather.)

Does "100% grass-fed actually mean NO grain, even if a little oats happen to be growing in the field? (NO GRAIN means none for enticing, none for feed, but if a small bit happens to grow in a field, that will probably be okay.)

I came away feeling encouraged and excited: there is plenty of potential for a Milking Devon herd! I can figure out how to breed my babies well!

After the 2 1/2 hour drive, I arrived home to find Phil laid up with a migraine (he ate a burger at our church's swim party, and we think the burger had a seasoning on it. I'm frustrated because I noticed that, but didn't mention it right then, and forgot. I hate that Phil loses entire days of his life to the MSG allergy. Days that never return).

He had managed to unload our sawmill, which arrived today. I'm fairly certain he won't get it together for the next several days, but simply unloading the 1800 pound machine is a good effort for an ill man.