Whitesell Farms Wagyu

Our Story

Whitesell Farms has been in continuous operations since 1999 in Cullman, Alabama, in the Appalachian foothills between Birmingham and Huntsville.

Our herd started with strictly commercial cattle and at times numbered over 350 'momma cows'. After several years of finishing beef on the side to supply our own needs (as well as some family and friends), we started seriously looking into specializing in supplying high quality beef to the direct consumer market.

After much research, as well as an intensely satisfying experience with sampling Kobe beef in Japan, we decided that working with Wagyu cattle was the way to go. In May of 2010 we used AI to breed some of our commercial stock to a Wagyu bull, and nine months later, we had our first half blood calf crop on the ground; 6 heifers and 3 bulls. As those first calves grew, on faith that it would work out, we re-bred cows to Wagyu bulls in May of 2011. By the time the second round of calves hit the ground in February of 2012, we were finally ready to sample the finished product.

We kept the heifers as replacement cows and butchered the steers. We kept two for ourselves with the other four sides going to lucky family friends. The steaks from these steers were highly marbled, tender, and tasty! Everyone who had the opportunity to sample the beef has raved about it and we are now moving full speed ahead in building a Wagyu influenced herd.

2014 saw a big step forward as we made the decision to plunge into raising full blood 100% Wagyu cattle in addition to our continued expansion of Wagyu cross production. We purchased fullblood embryos to transfer to our cows, and eventually bought some fullblood cows as well. In 2015 we replaced our commercial Hereford backup bulls with Wagyu and began producing an entire calf crop with Wagyu influence.

By 2022, we decided to join the movement to develop a polled Wagyu herd. Wagyu cattle have some of the most aggressive horn growth in an breed, and while they may not end up as "showy" as Longhorns, they are hard to work around in pretty much ever phase of the life cycle. We are actively incorporating polled genetics into our herd while still keeping our eyes on the finished product.

As the years have passed and our farm has expanded, we continue to develop genetic lines that work towards our goals. The end product is the key - we want an animal that will finish with a 1,000 lb carcass that grades at the top 20% of whatever measure of quality is being used. We attempt to custom breed every dam on our farm so that their offspring make relentless progress toward that goal.

Developing a specialized herd takes time, and is a labor of love. We enjoy working with cattle, seeing a field full of active calves in season, and raising a world class end product.