Specialty Breed

Three plates of Wagyu beef graced the table where Caroland Farms owner Bob Jordan sat with his son, Aaron Jordan and farm manager, Matt Rainey, along with two other business partners at the time. One plate held beef from a homegrown 50% Wagyu, 50% Angus-cross steer. One selection came from a friend’s farm and was 75% Wagyu. The third had been four years in the making: a sample of Caroland Farms’ first 100% full-blood Wagyu beef.

None of the men knew which beef was which as they tasted, but there were no questions about the one they favored: the full-blood Wagyu beef.

In the beginning

Four years prior, in 2012, Bob bought a farm in Landrum, South Carolina. Bob grew up on a farm in Virginia and, after a 40-year career in the engineering and construction business, decided to retire and return to his roots.

Bob hired Rainey as farm manager right away. Rainey had also grown up on a farm. He loved the agricultural life but did not see how farming could make a livelihood, so he pursued a college degree in horticulture and worked as a landscaper. He never expected to return to the farm until he received Bob’s offer.

Rainey knew cattle. He had worked with them with his grandfather when he was younger, but he had a lot to learn, especially about Wagyu.

When Bob purchased the farm, it came with three Angus cows and one bull. They purchased more Angus cows in 2013 and grew corn, soybeans and wheat on the existing cropland. The farm was not so different from others in the area, except that Bob had set out to produce Wagyu, the beef he had enjoyed on business travels to Japan.

About Wagyu

Wagyu in Japanese means (“Wa”) cow (“gyu”) and refers to Japanese beef cattle breeds. Wagyu were originally draft animals used to help cultivate rice paddies. Centuries of selecting for physical endurance resulted in an animal with more intramuscular fat, or, in meat terms, marbling.

While Wagyu beef is characterized by high marbling, creating a distinctly “melt-in-your-mouth” taste, studies have shown Wagyu’s fat profile contains higher proportions of monounsaturated fatty acids, the heart-healthy kind found in olive oil.

The cattle themselves are also unique, Rainey says. They don’t seem to mind 95-degree weather or snow. They are known for their gentle natures.

“They’re just really cool cows,” Rainey says. “And the health benefits are there.”

Building the herd

At first, Caroland Farms purchased Wagyu embryos and, with the help of an embryologist, transferred those potential progenies into their Angus cows. Rainey connected with other producers through the Australian and American Wagyu associations, including a Japanese farmer in Ontario, Canada, who raised the first full-blood female Wagyu born in North America in 1994. With the knowledge they shared and the internet, Rainey began building a Wagyu herd in South Carolina.

By 2016, Caroland Farms had its first full-blood Wagyu. They knew they were on the right path after a blind taste test. A restaurant to which they were selling beef believed so, too. By 2021, 60% of the herd was full-blood Wagyu. The rest, Wagyu-Angus crosses, were sold.

“We figured if we’re going to spend all our money and time, all the effort we put into raising and taking care of our cattle, we might as well produce the absolute best beef we can,” says Aaron who retired early in February 2024 to take a more active role on the family farm. “That’s 100% full-blood Wagyu.”

According to the American Wagyu Association, less than 5,000 of the estimated 40,000 Wagyu-influenced cattle in the U.S. are full-blood. To be eligible for Wagyu-influence certified beef programs, often labeled “American Wagyu,” cattle need only one registered parent with at least 15/16 Wagyu blood.

Today, the Caroland Farms 450-cow herd is 100% full-blood Wagyu DNA-registered with the American Wagyu Association.

Raising the best beef

In 2021, around the time any remaining cross-bred cattle were sold from the herd, Bob purchased a second property in Roaring River, North Carolina, close to their processor.

“That farm was pretty attractive to us because of the feeding part of the Wagyu cattle,” Rainey says. According to his mentor in Canada, genetics play a 70% role in the final beef product with feeding contributing 30%.

Calves are born at the farm in Landrum, South Carolina. To achieve calves with the best possible genetics, the farm uses artificial insemination and embryo transfer technology in about a quarter to a half of the cow herd each year. Sometimes, eggs come from their own best cows and sometimes from other trusted sources. Since embryo transplant does not always work– a 50-60% success rate is considered phenomenal – the cows are turned out with genetically superior cleanup Wagyu bulls.

Calves are raised alongside their mothers on pasture and are introduced to a grain supplement at about three months of age. Caroland Farms has worked closely with researchers at Clemson University and North Carolina State University to ensure best practices.

Weaned steers make the 2½ hour trip to Roaring River, where they are divided into 5- to 10-acre pastures with fence-line bunks. They continue grazing and eating supplemental grain and, in their final months, consume a proprietary 20-component grain blend that the Caroland Farm team spent eight years developing.

“We put a lot of effort into making sure the cattle get what they need,” Rainey says.

The Wagyu finishing diet is similar to that of other cattle. The major difference is time. Caroland Farms’ Wagyu are finished out at 30 to 36 months after being given some amount of grain since their third month. In comparison, most cattle are finished out at 18 to 22 months after spending about four to six months at a feedyard.

“It’s like aging wine,” Rainey says. “The more patient you are, the better.”

A valued partner

When pastures go dormant in the winter, the cattle are fed hay and silage, much of which is grown on-farm using New Holland equipment. One bale of dry hay is combined with one bale of silage in a TMR mixer, which breaks the materials down, making them easier for cattle to digest. 

The dry hay is a mixture of fescue and orchard grass, which grows well in the region. It’s harvested when moisture content is in the 16-18% range. Silage bales are primarily barley, chopped by the bale processor system in their Roll-Belt™ 450 Silage Special round baler. Rainey says he greatly appreciates this feature, which makes mixing easy in the winter.

“We’re extremely pleased with the Roll-Belt 450 balers,” Bob adds. “Bale quality itself is the best we have ever had. The bales are consistently tight and uniform. The chopping option within the Roll-Belt 450 is amazing and what we are looking for. Hay is more palatable in the end to our cattle, and I truly believe the bales are dense and heavier.”

Bob and Rainey agree their New Holland equipment is reliable and easy to use. The T6.160 tractor is an “absolute workhorse,” and the T5.120 and PowerStar™ 120 tractors “are extremely versatile for any attachment we need to use,” Bob says.

Customer service from their New Holland dealer can’t be beat. Rainey recalls representatives coming to the farm to help them set up and learn how to use and maintain their round balers and Discbine® disc mower-conditioner.

“We’ve got a service partner out of our New Holland dealer who really takes care of their customers,” Bob says. “If we get in a bind and need help, they’re there to help us. I can’t say how much I appreciate that.”

More ahead

Most of Caroland Farms’ Wagyu beef is purchased through its online store at CFwagyu.com and shipped across the U.S., though it also supplies local customers and several restaurants. The farm also sells genetics via semen and embryos to other Wagyu producers through relationships built over the years.

The business has been strong, and Rainey expects good things for the Wagyu industry’s future in the U.S. Finally, within the last couple of years, breeders have now had access to quality genetic data, including EPDs, and the robustness of that data will only grow as more data is recorded. Consumer demand is also expanding.

“The last five years, the Wagyu breed has blown up,” Rainey says. “When we first started the farm and said ‘Wagyu,’ people were like ‘What?’ Now, I’d say at least 90% of people at least know what it is.