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

HISTORY OF WAGYU

Just what is this Wagyu breed that everyone is talking about?  It seems that lately every single Paddock to Plate competition is won by Wagyu beef – every time.  By huge margins.  Supreme Beef Award in Casino, in Adelaide, and Grand Champion Beef Grand Final in Brisbane.  Year after year after year.  Taste, tenderness and a very special fat and fine muscle fibre – Wagyu has it all over the others.  Restaurants are discovering this unique breed, acknowledging the Wagyu hallmark of consistency – every Wagyu steak is as tender as the last.  It’s just not possible to have a tough Wagyu steak.    How did this happen?  Why is Wagyu in a class all of its own?

The story goes back as much as 35,000 years.  Japanese Wagyu derived from native Asian cattle and there is evidence that the Wagyu strain evolved as long as all that time ago. The history of  Wagyu cattle is far removed from the near mystical status the animals have obtained in recent years. Even the name of the breed, Wagyu, has assumed mythic connotations, when it fact the word means "Japanese cattle." The breed made its way from China, across the Korean Peninsula and into Japan during the second century, where Wagyu were used as draft animals to plough Japanese fields. Once the Japanese found that the animals were better on the plate than pulling a plough, the breed flourished.  However, along the way, especially in the late 1800s, the Wagyu breed was infused with other British and European breeds, but after 1910 the breed was finally closed to outside “contamination”.  Then, each of the various Japanese Prefectures, or provinces, bred these sacred cattle to enhance qualities they each perceived as desirable.  Some prefectures bred for excellence of meat and finely marbled beef, but with smaller frame and lower growth rates.  Others bred for good growth rate, quiet temperament and good fertility.  Others bred the red strain of cattle still popular today, however 90% of Japanese Wagyu are black cattle. 

Today in Japan the production of Wagyu beef is highly regulated and progeny testing is mandatory.  The breed was declared a National Treasure by the government and export of the genetics was banned.  However, in 1976, four bulls were exported to the USA and a crossbred Wagyu herd established in the USA.  Since 1993, seeing that the horse had bolted, so to speak, import of Wagyu genetics have been allowed into the USA and thence to Australia, Canada and so on.

Some of the early pioneers in Australian Wagyu have been importing the breed at great expense since the early 1990s and some say their contribution to the Australian cattle industry is as important as that of John McArthur’s importing of the first Merino sheep was to the Australian sheep industry.  The first Wagyu imported into Australia in 1990 was a female, soon followed by frozen semen and embryos and a shipment of five fullblood animals from Japan to USA in 1993.  There were three other costly and long term importations of Wagyu genetics into Australia during the past twelve years, made difficult because there were no protocols for direct imports from Japan to Australia. 

However, Australia has the best accumulation of Wagyu genetics outside of Japan, in a country free of those diseases which restrict exports from other countries.  Australia is a clean, green supplier of Wagyu for the world, and the Australian Wagyu Association  keeps it that way with mandatory DNA parent verification of all seedstock submitted for registration.

Next on the agenda is Wagyu Group Breedplan, an objective system of genetic evaluation.

And to answer the original question, Why Wagyu?

  • Wagyu steak is fatty or "marbled." It is the marbling that gives the steak its tender, juicy flavour. Although  highly marbled, the fat in a Wagyu steak is actually lower in saturated fat (the bad fat) and higher in unsaturated fat (the good fat).  In a nutshell, Wagyu have high marbling, softer fats, higher ratio of unsaturated fats and above all, flavour.
  • Wagyu meat texture is fine.
  • Wagyu carcases have high yield.
  • Wagyu are renowned for their outstanding ease of calving, especially when across other breeds.
  • Wagyu are very fertile and at a young age.
  • Wagyu adapt to a wide range of environments, from Tasmania to Northern Queensland.
  • Wagyu are generally quiet and very responsive to quiet handling.  They are, after all, used to the Japanese way of handling cattle - with beer massage a favourite!  Or so the story goes.

MARKETS

Live Export to Japan:  Live cattle trade with Japan is now almost 100% Wagyu and Wagyu infused animals.  Huge markets exist for F1, F2 up to full blood live trade at prices considerably higher than offered in domestic markets.  Cattle are shipped to Japan where they undergo long term lot feeding for up to a year or more before slaughter.  There are several agencies throughout Australia offering contracts for supply of cattle for shipment overseas.  Criteria for acceptance are usually specific weight range and age, health and configuration of cattle, but nothing unusual or onerous. (eg weight range of between 280 -320 kg, no white markings, etc)

Sale to Australian Feedlots: The Australian feedlot industry now feeds more Wagyu cattle in Australia than are exported live to Japan.  Australian Wagyu beef is exported to Japan, Korea, USA, EU and other countries.  Australia is the biggest producer of Wagyu beef in the world outside of Japan.

To see the AusMeat Grading system click here.