Veterinary student Cameron Gibson has just completed a week?s placement at Highland Wagyu.
The University of Glasgow student has just finished his first year and contacted Martine after seeing the company on Landward to ask about an on-farm placement.
He said: ?I?d also read about the company and thought it would be a brilliant place due to its scale to get some experience, which we have to do as part of the course.?
Following a comprehensive tour of the estate, Cameron was on hand to watch the HW team conduct the whole process of flushing for embryos from the Fullblood Wagyu girls and recipient implantation. He also assisted with the Angus team at Netherton Farm.
Cameron said: ?It was great to see the embryo work. It?s something I?m particularly interested in and will hopefully be a field I'll move into when I'm qualified. It was amazing to see how they're using it to grow and improve the herd.?
Martine said: ?We?ve loved having Cameron here and we don?t just open our doors to anyone. We get a lot of requests and have to be selective so we?re always looking for the stand-out people, like Cameron, who share our passion.?
It was great to meet Ida and Lars Bjelvin from Norway last week. They raise pigs and Limousin cattle from their family farm and are interested in breeding Wagyu. We were delighted to show them the cattle and estate and enjoyed a good chat with the like-minded couple about our set up and ethos.
Don't they make excellent models for our branded caps? You visit HW, you get branded!
Highland Wagyu said "Willkommen!" to?Andrea & Ruediger Marquardt from Holstein Wagyu in Germany who came to see our Scottish operation yesterday.
As the biggest Wagyu breeders in Germany, it was great to spend the day with like-minded people. We didn't stop talking for eight hours straight!
George and Martine showed them around the Wagyu and the couple also got to see our Shorthorns and Angus before Mohsin joined us for dinner and more Wagyu chat at Sherrifmuir Inn.
We're looking forward to visiting them in Germany to see their set up soon.
The "King of Angus", ?John Elliot of Rawburn Angus, spent a day with us at Highland Wagyu looking at all our cattle, although we believe he was really here to check on?Double-O-Seven!
Pictured are George McCulloch, Mohsin Altajir, John Elliot and Martine Chapman.
Members of the Scottish Dexter Group visited Highland Wagyu as part of their AGM yesterday (Sunday, March 2nd, 2014).
Martine (pictured centre) hosted the 15-strong group at Blackford, Perthshire, where the group learned the story of Highland Wagyu and toured the Fullblood Wagyu and Wagyu crossed with Aberdeen Angus steers and compared the variation between the three different strains of Wagyu bloodlines.
Members spent the 90-minute visit asking about marketing, feeding and breeding before returning to Dunblane for their group AGM.
They were particularly interested to learn that full blood Wagyu calves are a similar weight at birth as Dexter calves. They described the trip as ?a most informative visit, especially as they sell such a unique product,? and a write-up will be in the next newsletter.
Our ambitious plans for Wagyu beef and Highland Wagyu are featured on pp14-15 of Sheep & Beef Producer?Winter 2013/2014.
We're always delighted to welcome chefs interested in our Wagyu beef to visit our operation in Perthshire and see the quality of our Wagyu cattle for themselves.
This week we met three chefs from international private members' club The Eden Club in St Andrews (pictured) while last week we were delighted to host the head chefs from Michelin-starred chef Martin Wishart's establishments, ?Restaurant Martin Wishart in Port of Leith and Martin Wishart at Loch Lomond.
(l-r) Martine Chapman & George McCulloch of Highland Wagyu with The Eden Club chef Russell Robertson and Mohsin Altajir of Highland Wagyu.