Thriplow Farms Annual Report 2015: Goodbye cultivators, tractors and Wagyu

I suppose the biggest thing to happen this year has been a rather fundamental change in the Wagyu situation. This is what I wrote almost exactly 12 months ago: “The Wagyu herd continues to grow, and I continue to have no real plan what I am doing with them. The total herd is up to about 60 now (doubled from 2013), and my first animals will visit the abattoir at some point in the coming spring.”Unfortunately I had reached a point where it was no longer a hobby, but neither was it a business. The truth is that I am no stockman, and was not enjoying my task, especially one which was complicated by embryo transfers and calvings spaced out randomly throughout the year. The options, as I saw them, were to go big, or go home. After months of agonising, I decided on the latter. Most of the animals left that spring, but the last remaining ones are scheduled to move down to Somerset any day now. It was fun (in parts) whilst it lasted. And as a bonus I have three chest freezers full of this:Read the full report