John Wood
A lifetime in livestock.
John has spent his life around livestock. Born and raised in rural Dorset, farming wasn't a job. It was just how life worked.
The farm
Merley Hall Farm, Wimborne. By appointment.
After school, John went straight into the trade alongside his father, a respected cattle trader. Hard work, honesty, good stockmanship, and treating people properly. Those four principles still run the business today.
In 2003, John and his wife Karen moved to Merley Hall Farm: 250 acres on the edge of Wimborne Minster, with riverside fields and rolling Dorset countryside. Room to build a business and a family in the same place.
It started modestly. Today the farm runs over 600 acres, the flock is more than 1,500 strong, with around 350 head of cattle. Built one early morning at a time.
"Reputation, trust, and doing what you said you'd do still count."
— John Wood
The trading business.
Alongside the farm, John kept buying and selling livestock across the South West and beyond. Honest, fair, and quality stock. What started with his first lorry grew into a livestock trading business that moves sheep and cattle the length of the country.
The fleet runs a Scania S Series and a high welfare Houghton livestock trailer. Animals travel safely, calmly, and properly looked after. A second lorry joins the fleet through the busy breeding season.
A family business.
Karen runs the office: records, admin, paperwork, the lot. John handles buying, selling, logistics, deliveries. Karen keeps the business in order. John keeps the wheels turning.
Their two children, Honey and Joe, grew up around the farm. Joe now works alongside John on the farm and in the business: the next generation carrying it on.
In 2016, John started trading wool in his operation. It sits naturally next to the sheep, and it's grown every year since.
The farm sits twenty minutes from Bournemouth and Sandbanks but feels a world away. Family, farming, and livestock come first. The sheep still get the most attention.
When you deal with us, you deal with John.
Decades of hands-on experience, the relationships across the trade to back it up, and a straight answer when you ask for one. Often the first time a customer meets John in person is when he pulls into their farm with the load.
By the numbers