At Philippus Farm Worcestershire, we specialize in breeding pedigree full blood Wagyu and Dexter cattle. We believe that good food starts with happy, healthy animals. Our cattle are grass fed and slow-grazed amongst ancient woodland and spring in a stress free environment where our animals are treated with respect and care.
In addition to our cattle, we also have a passion for Valais Blacknose sheep where we are constantly improving our bloodlines and increasing our foundation flock to produce the friendliest and cutest sheep you'll ever meet.
We're excited to share our farm with you and invite you to join us on this journey.
If you'd like to keep in touch please join our mailing list.
JJ and Karen
Well this year went quickly. When you do the little things over and over it sometimes feels you're not making enough progress until you stand back to look. All the animals, Valais and cattle lambed/calved successfully without intervention. The sheep have some wonderful new living accommodation and can come and go as they please and is allowing us to manage their welfare and foot care so much easier. They also seem to really love their new winter fields. The cows are healthy and settled in their herd with some exciting births due in 2025 and also recruited more hands on support on their day to day management which is helping enormously. Our main work is incredibly busy with our eldest son joining us this year with the software after spending a few years away in Australia (and now also manages the sheep, bonding with them well) and the day to day running of the farm is at a steady pace. While we look forward to our first holiday this year, the hard slog of running and trying to grow two businesses has at times been mentally stressful as well as physically demanding. But remembering we each have each others back seems to get us through.
Illness has been the destabiliser the latter part of the year which has proved frustrating and having to rely on family to carry the farm and school runs at times reminds me how much we need our support network. Grateful for all the help.
As I write this we have celebrated on Christmas Eve with the boys with food taking centre stage. Our own Dexter 1.8 kilo ribeye roast reverse seared in the oven served with the usual. A true delight that feels like a win.
We have lots of new things happening starting January which I hope you stick around for which will start our year off on a fast pace. You can find us on instagram/tiktok - Philippus Farm/Worcestershire Wagyu for behind the scenes nitty gritty real life happenings not just pretty grid posts.
Which leads me to wish you all a Merry Christmas however you wish to spend it and for us quietly remembering loved ones no longer with us.
See you in January.
Full blood Wagyu calf Dixie is the first calf of 2024. Born a week early, she is doing fantastic and feeding well. Dixie will join our foundation herd and we are especially excited with her ebv ratings. Although she isn't used to the camera yet, with time we're sure she will find her 'posing' look. You will find more photos of Dixie on all our socials 😊
Our Philippus Valais Blacknose sheep have strong breeding lines, enhanced by regularly changing the ram to improve genetic diversity and flock health. We emphasize quality over quantity, aiming for well-bred, robust sheep. While showing isn't our focus (it's just not for us, sorry!) we will participate in the new future grading events to assess and maintain our flock's standards. Although we usually keep most of our sheep, who doesn't want to see them every morning out of their window, we do occasionally have some for sale so feel free to contact us. We currently have our ram Icarus for sale. Although we're not really pushing his sale as he can live on the farm with the boys, it would be nice to see him have new girlfriends and lots more lambs.
We had promised ourselves we must visit Switzerland to see where Valais Blacknose sheep originate from. See the landscape and terrain and identify what they forage on in the hope we can replicate it at home and to take any 'pointers' from Swiss farmers.
I don't know about you but it doesn't feel like spring to me. With the incessant rain, bridge closures and flooding, it feels like January. Not helped by memories popping up on the phone of sunnier past years 😩
Really does come round quickly!!
All of us here at Philippus Farm wishes you all a relaxed, restful Christmas.
We had a very late lambing here (Valais Blacknose sheep can lamb all year round) with two perfect lambs (sire: Highland Icarus from Raymond Irvine & Jenni McCallister' show stopping flock.) Introducing our new ram has really shown the quality that comes through to the lambs and highlights the importance of having great genetics. Wool, markings and long woolly legs already evident. Luckily for us, we will be adding them into our flock to live here at the farm. Missing lambing already, we look forward to 2024 lambing.
Calving 2023 is done!
A conservation project we have been working on for several years, introducing Dexter Cattle to help manage a traditional orchard on a hilly terrain. Our experience so far:
Here at Philippus Farm we are really looking forward to be attending The Hanbury Countryside Show on the 1st July. A one day event, showcasing the very best of farming with shows and entertainment. We are sponsoring the very first Valais Blacknose show and would like anyone thinking of showing to be brave, turn up and meet other owners. It's a fun day with (hopefully) sunny but not too sunny aday. We have been asked to bring along Taro our full blood Wagyu bull and it would be lovely to meet all of you. Hope to see you there!
Here she is! Kiko is our first full blood Wagyu to be born on the farm. She is an absolute beauty. one minute she wasn't in the field and the next she was. 5 days early and caught us slightly off guard. If it wasn't for Mum separating herself away from the herd we wouldn't have been able to tell. Like nothing has happened to her and completely well.Â
True (ish). While the old folk law of allowing your Wagyu to drink ale to aid good results might be an old wives tale? We have introduced brewers grain to supplement their diet.
The health and well-being of our cattle is of the upmost importance. We work closely with our vet on our Dexter and Valais planning and have integrated our software to help monitor our animals.
As hobby farmers we have time.. Time to allow our cows time to roam the fields and use the barn as much as they like. There is no time restraint for them to grow. They are grass fed and supplemented with hay during the winter months.
Tags Valais Blacknose sheep. Buy Valais sheep. How much do they cost? How to care for your sheep. Breeding. Wagyu pedigree cows and sheep
