A Normande Invasion In A Virginia Field

A Normande Invasion In A Virginia Field

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On a brisk spring afternoon, an adorable young boy named Ian completed feeding rounds for a herd of sienna and umber brown speckled Normande cattle, looking like a living, dripping, breathing work by late abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock. Inspired by a family connection to the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France of June, 1944, the herd began in 2005 on a Loudoun County hillside. “They’re beautiful animals,” said owner Susan Wallace, Ian’s grandmother. “Good foragers, superb mothers, delicious meat and, I am told, fantastic milkers--as in Camembert cheese.”

It’s tough tending to these cows but someone has to do it

Ian and his grandmother Susan Wallace share a moment

It's petting time

Meet number 90

“They are totally grass-fed,” Susan Wallace tells ZEST, “we do not inoculate them with anything including antibiotics or hormones - just grass and water - both from the farm.”

It's feeding time

And a few have names like Cleopatra