Welcome to Lake Wagyu .... part of the WWW (World Wide Wagyu)

GENESTAR 

The biotech company Genetic Solutions have developed “GeneStar”, a scientific method of testing for gene markers that contribute to marbling, tenderness and feed efficiency of your beast.  DNA samples (tail hairs) are supplied and analysed to provide a GeneStar rating. 

New markers are being discovered all the time, and the current maximum rating of 24 stars is an indication of a pretty wonderful animal!  For each single marker it is possible to obtain a result of O, 1 or 2 (or 3 or 4, depending on the marker) stars as one allele (or half of the marker) is inherited from the sire and one from the dam.  An animal can inherit a 0 star for both the sire and the dam (thus that animal would also be O) or inherit a 1 star from one parent and a O star from the other (making it a 1 star for that marker), or best of all, a 1 star from both parents (making it 2 stars for that marker).

Thus the number of stars for each marker indicate the presence (or not) of the desirable traits of marbling, tenderness and feed efficiency and naturally, the more stars the better.  Certificates are provided indicating the results and are a useful tool for herd selection. 

Naturally, Wagyu cattle consistently show outstanding results for marbling and tenderness, far outscoring other breeds, but even within Wagyu the results can vary.  All our bulls and heifers are tested for GeneStar ratings and the results are used to select the future direction of the herd and flushing programmes.