Burren Wagyu

The Company

Burren Wagyu is a family-run, craft-focused agricultural business based in Boston, Co. Clare, that integrates premium full-blood Wagyu genetics with traditional Irish farming heritage.The Burren Wagyu focuses on a slow-growth cycle (up to 38 months), their initial supply is being carefully directed to select partners before opening up to the wider market. The immediate priority is supplying local high-end chefs and hotels in the Burren and Clare region. This allows the brand to showcase the premium quality of the beef in the Geopark area.

The geological story

Frank McCormack’s farm is located on the eastern margin of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark. Thegeology of Frank’s farm is dominated by the Carboniferous Burren Limestone Formation which formed 330 million years agoand the more recent Pleistocene glacial period, the last Ice Age, which was at its maximum extent around 21,000 years ago.The large ice sheets melted away 17,000 years ago. The soils in the Burren have been evolving since then.

The limestone is a very pure limestone composed almost entirely of calcium carbonate with only minor thin shale layers. Theexposed limestone is karstified and has very thin soil which together with the presence of deep fractures allows for very rapiddrainage. Most of the rainfall flows rapidly underground, although some emerges on the hillsides where the shale layers directgroundwater horizontally, which emerges as springs, an important water source for cattle and wildlife. Due to the rapiddrainage the cattle can remain out on the landscape through the winter, as the bare limestone rock is warmed daily by theweak winter sun.

Elsewhere the limestone is covered with a thick layer of glacial till, which is composed of ground-up bedrock transported bythe ice sheets 21,000 years ago. This material is also predominantly limestone but in addition contains more exotic rockssuch as granite and sandstone which were transported by ice from Galway. There is growing evidence that wind-blown loessdeposits contributed large amounts quartz to the Burren soils in the period after the ice age ended.

All these geological factors have combined to shape the landscape and produce unique soils to grow grass and provide theideal conditions for cattle-rearing. The first cattle farmers arrived here almost 6,000 years ago and Frank is continuing that tradition and adding his own unique fingerprint to that legacy today.

The product

Burren Wagyu is a premium Irish beef product that marries world-class Japanese genetics with the ancient, sustainable farming traditions of the Burren’s limestone landscape.Burren Wagyu’s environmental model is built on resource circularity and protecting the local landscape. The farm utilises spring wells located on their mountain land. Because the Burren is a “karst” landscape where surface water is scarce, they relyon these natural rising springs and bespoke rainwater. To minimise their carbon footprint, they supplement the cattle’s dietwith grain from local producers when finishing the beef. This keeps “food miles” for the feed exceptionally low and supports the local agricultural economy.