The short answer: In Japan, most Wagyu calves are born on a breeding farm, sold at about nine months, then fattened on a grain-heavy diet in barn pens until about 29 months. Massage and beer are largely myth. At Takeda Farm, Ellie Takeda feeds Hokkaido-grown hay, visits her cows several times a day, and sends them off before maximum weight.
How are Wagyu cows raised in Japan?
A typical Japanese Wagyu lives on two farms. A breeding farm raises the calf for its first 8 to 10 months and sells it at a calf market. A fattening farm buys it and raises it for about 20 more months, until slaughter [1]. Calves start on weaning feed at one to three months old, then move to grass and rice straw over the following months. Farmers use this stage to build up the calf's four stomachs so it eats well later [2]. In 2017, calves sold at market averaged 9.1 months old [3].
Fattening is the long part. Japanese Black cattle, the breed behind more than 98% of Japanese Wagyu [2], are usually fed a high-concentrate diet from about 11 to 30 months of age [3], and the feed formula changes through early, middle and late stages [2]. In 2017 they were slaughtered at 29.2 months on average [3]. Most spend those months in group pens inside a barn [3].
| Stage | Typical in Japan | Takemitsu-chan, from her registry record [4] |
|---|---|---|
| Breeding farm | Birth to 8–10 months [1]; weaning feed, then grass and rice straw [2] | Born February 9, 2024, at a breeding farm in Nayoro, Hokkaido |
| Calf market | Sold at 9.1 months on average [3] | Sold at the livestock market in Asahikawa on March 20, 2024, at 40 days old, and moved to Takeda Farm that day |
| Fattening farm | High-concentrate diet from about 11 to 30 months [3] | Raised at Takeda Farm for nearly two years |
| Processing | 29.2 months on average [3] | Left the farm February 24, 2026; processed in Himeji, Hyogo, on February 27 at about 24 months; graded A4, BMS 6 [5] |
How was Takemitsu-chan raised?
She spent nearly all of her life at Takeda Farm in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, at the foot of the Daisetsuzan mountains. We know the dates because Japan's national registry records every move a cow makes under her 10-digit ID, 1493019197, and anyone can look it up [4]. How to tell if Wagyu is real shows you how.
The farm comes out of cattle genetics. Ellie Takeda's father, Tetsuo, researched Wagyu embryo transfer in America, then traveled Japan teaching it to farms. He started his own herd with six cows in Asahikawa, earning his veterinarian's license along the way. Ellie and her mother, Tomoko, now run the farm, and since 2022 they've raised their own cattle for beef.
Takemitsu-chan lived in a spacious barn with the mountains in view. Takeda keeps a small herd, so every cow gets individual attention. Ellie picks each cow's place in the barn to suit her personality, and visits the cows several times a day, at feeding and in between. "I want the cattle to be the main characters," Ellie told us, "a comfortable space, room to live with ease, and a place chosen to fit each cow's personality." Her rule is no growth hormones, and antibiotics only if a cow falls sick; Takemitsu-chan never was.
We met Takemitsu-chan at the farm in February 2026, the same month she left it. Her grading record, carcass number 3469, is on her page.
What do Wagyu cows eat?
During fattening, Wagyu cattle eat mostly concentrate, a grain-based feed. Between 11 and 18 months of age, concentrate typically rises from 36.8% to 86.4% of the diet, and the rest is roughage such as hay and rice straw [3]. More than 90% of the concentrate used to fatten Japanese Black cattle is imported [3].
Takeda Farm leans on its own region instead. About half of Ellie's ration is hay grown in Hokkaido, which has the space for hayfields and for roomy barns. The other half is a specialized Wagyu feed of grass and grains, along with oats and rice bran from Asahikawa-grown mochi barley. The cows bed down on Hokkaido barley straw and drink snowmelt from the Daisetsuzan range. Ellie calls the combination her "secret recipe."
Do Wagyu cows get massaged or drink beer?
Mostly no. A 2018 review of the Japanese Wagyu industry and Japan's export-promotion guide both describe how Wagyu is raised in detail, through feed, stages and timing, and neither mentions massage or beer [2][3].
When journalists ask, people who work with Wagyu say much the same. A Tokyo chef who cooks Wagyu told Time Out Tokyo that he had met one farmer who plays music for his cattle, but that the pampered-cow picture as a whole "is largely a misconception" [6]. In 2009 a culinary expert told The Jakarta Post that a Japanese fattening expert he had met said the massage and beer practices "have not been done for 30 years" [7].
Two things in the myth's neighborhood are real:
- Beer bran. Left over from brewing, it appears among the roughage in a typical fattening diet [3]. It's feed, not a drink.
- Brushes. A brush fixed to the pen lets cattle scratch and groom themselves. In a 2019 study on a farm in Miyagi, steers with brushes spent 3.34% of their time self-grooming against 0.89% without, and none of them had visceral disease found at slaughter, against four in the pens without brushes [8]. The study was small, and its author calls for more work.
Takeda Farm does neither: no massage and no beer. What Ellie does is the daily care above: her own visits, her own feed, and a barn arranged around each cow.
Are Wagyu cows treated well?
It depends on the farm, and the JMGA grade on a carcass doesn't record how the animal lived [5]. The 2018 industry review is direct about the standard system: Japanese Black cattle are "permanently housed in small pens," fed large amounts of concentrate and little roughage, and the authors say animal welfare "needs to be considered" [3]. Many farmers also keep vitamin A low during the middle of fattening to raise marbling, and low vitamin A can cause serious liver disease and swelling [3]. What makes Peak Wagyu special? covers how that chase for grade plays out.
Ellie raises toward a different goal. She sends her cows off before they reach maximum weight. "I try not to raise the cows to the very best, and fattest," she told us. "So they don't get to the maximum weight, where it can get hard for them to stand up or move around." Takemitsu-chan left at about 24 months, against the 29.2-month average [3][4], and still graded A4 with BMS 6 [5]. A5 Wagyu: what the grades mean explains why A4 is not a step down.
She says the difference shows in the animals. "My cows are so friendly. We are so close, and we have a bond with each of them," she told us. "When you go to other farms, you can tell the cows are not as friendly. They kick and headbutt more — when they don't have as much space, and don't have strong bonds."
How does Ellie feel about sending her cows to market?
She cries. "It's sad to think that your cow, that you are raising every day with love, is going to be shipped out; I always cry when the cow goes on the truck," she tells the elementary school students she visits in Asahikawa. "On the other hand, it's a baton. A baton of life from the cow."
Her first fattened cow, in 2023, developed urinary stones months before his planned harvest. Ellie carried feed and water to his side every day and refused to give up on him. After a month he began eating again. He recovered, was eventually harvested, and his meat went to her local community. She has donated Takeda Wagyu to Asahikawa's elementary school lunches every year since.
"I've stopped saying 'I'm sorry' and started saying 'thank you,'" she says. "Receiving a life means passing the baton of life."
Frequently asked questions
How long are Wagyu cows raised?
In Japan, Japanese Black cattle are usually fed a high-concentrate diet from about 11 to 30 months of age, and in 2017 they were slaughtered at 29.2 months on average. Takeda Farm sends its cows off earlier; Takemitsu-chan was about 24 months old.
Do Wagyu cows get massaged?
Not as a rule. Published descriptions of how Japanese Wagyu is raised talk about feed and fattening schedules, not massage. What some farms do provide is a fixed brush in the pen, which cattle use to groom themselves. Takeda Farm doesn't massage its cows.
Do Wagyu cows drink beer?
Not as standard practice. A Japanese fattening expert was quoted in 2009 saying the practice hadn't been done for 30 years. Beer bran, a brewing by-product, does appear in typical fattening feed. Takeda Farm gives its cows no beer.
Are Wagyu cows treated well?
It depends on the farm, and the grade doesn't record it. The standard system keeps cattle in small pens on a high-grain diet for over a year. At Takeda Farm, Ellie gives her cows a spacious barn, visits several times a day, uses no growth hormones, treats a cow with antibiotics only if she falls sick, and ships before maximum weight.
What do Wagyu cows eat?
Mostly a concentrated grain feed during fattening, with rice straw or hay as roughage. At Takeda Farm, about half the ration is Hokkaido-grown hay, with a specialized Wagyu feed, oats and rice bran from Asahikawa mochi barley.
Sources
- Kato, Nakahashi and Kuchida, "Effect of age of dam on the carcass performance of progeny in Japanese Black cattle," Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, EAAP annual meeting (2011)
- JFOODO / JETRO, "Increase Sales of Japanese Wagyu by Learning About It"
- Gotoh, Nishimura, Kuchida and Mannen, "The Japanese Wagyu beef industry: current situation and future prospects — A review," Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 31(7) (2018)
- National Livestock Breeding Center, individual cattle identification lookup (ID 1493019197)
- Japan Meat Grading Association, beef carcass grading standards
- Luck, "What makes wagyu the world's best beef?", Time Out Tokyo (2015)
- "All about Wagyu," The Jakarta Post (January 4, 2009)
- Ninomiya, "Grooming Device Effects on Behaviour and Welfare of Japanese Black Fattening Cattle," Animals 9(4) (2019)
