The ‘Badass Bitches of Beef’ Help Run Virginia’s Most In-Demand Wagyu Farm | Eater DC

"On a bucolic, 700-acre farm in Paris, Virginia that traces its roots to a 1731 land grant (its name loosely translating to “ever-running water”), Karen Way and her team raise mostly F-1 wagyu and a few full-blood wagyu, supplying area chefs with a rare, local source of the famously marbled, luxury beef. After buying the property in 2008 and importing wagyu embryos from Japan, they settled on F-1 animals (50/50 Angus-wagyu) to achieve what Way calls the perfect amount of marbling while retaining a bolder Angus flavor; crossing wagyu with Angus also makes previously tough cuts noticeably more tender. The operation emphasizes transparency and clean inputs — non-GMO, all-natural feed — and raises cattle to roughly 1,500–1,600 pounds before processing so they can control every stage of production. Day-to-day care remains hands-on (the team still hand-feeds cattle), and farm manager Roy Lambert has added pasture rotation and other systems to improve efficiency without sacrificing that care. Ovoka expanded from direct-to-consumer to wholesale and retail, selling at farmers markets (Eastern Market, Western Loudoun, Historic Manassas) and to restaurants across the region, and the owners have embraced agritourism — offering tours, private dinners, kids’ farm visits, scenic picnics, and whiskey-and-wagyu tastings — as an essential revenue stream. The founders’ playful grit shows up in small details, too: Way and her COO Jessica Morton nicknamed themselves “The Badass Bitches of Beef” (BABS) and display the acronym on their truck plates." - Stephanie Ganz