Minus the baggage

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By Dwain Duxson.

Minus the baggage -  I was listening to broadcasting legend Kerry Lonergan's The Weekly Grill podcast this morning, which featured Australian Wagyu Association CEO Matt McDonagh. You can listen here. It was a very interesting conversation, and I learnt a lot about the Wagyu Breed. The takeaways were:

The Wagyu industry is a new industry in Australia, and it doesn't carry the baggage or political carryover that a more traditional breed might. For instance, they never show their Cattle and have a commercial focus, not a ribbon and trophy one.

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The Japanese weren't real pleased that Wagyu genetics were released to Australia and the US, but it's turned out that the Australian industry was the one that turned Wagyu Beef into a global play. This has helped the Japanese with their premium option to ride on the coattails of what Australia has developed.

And whilst Australia fully adopted Wagyu, the Americans had the same opportunity but didn't take up the offer; this means we are streets ahead of them, and we are now in the box seat to help them develop the industry over there. Interestingly, they reach puberty really early and are known to get into calf at 6 months of age. Something similar has revolutionised the Sheep industry by joining Ewe Lambs. Another advantage they have is their smaller mature Cow size (500kg max); this is something the Beef and Sheep industry is grappling with oversized Cows and Ewes. We wrote an article a couple of years ago titled "Is Wagyu becoming a commodity?" we got some interesting replies from a couple of Wagyu Breeders denying it was happening, and they also covered the subject in the podcast. Do you have something to add about Wagyu? Do you like eating it? Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au

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