Drillham cattle (hereford, angus, wagyu pics)

[townfarmer]

I spent the long weekend out at my Uncle's and Cousin's 19000 acre cattle and cultivation property to get a little bit of cattle tuition. Their main herd is about 350 angus cows which they use Wagyu bulls over. They sell the 12 month old steers direct export to a Japanese feedlot where they are fed for another 400 days. They sell the heifers direct to local feedlots and buy all replacement angus heifers.

This is a 9 year old Wagyu bull. He was one of the first Fullblood embryos brought into the country from Japan

A much younger bull almost 2 year old. He's not much to look at but he has an impressive workload. He covers 90 cows by himself.

A sample of the angus cow herd

They also have a small herd of commercial horned herefords. The cow herd is predominantly devoncourt and wallan creek breeding. The herd bull is co owned by Wallan Creek herefords who are their neighbor.

Andrew

 

[KNERSIE]

Love the angus cows, the herefords isn't the type I like, but they are a decent looking bunch. The young wagyu bull isn't really uglier than the old wagyu bull

 

[townfarmer]

Love the angus cows, the herefords isn't the type I like, but they are a decent looking bunch.

The angus cows were much more moderate in size. They've had some good rain out there lately but before that they had a pretty long drought. From what i was told the angus cows held up better through the drought.

The young wagyu bull isn't really uglier than the old wagyu bull

Maybe but he certainly isn't prettier . Eye apeal certainly isn't their strong point. They looked extra ordinary compared to that big hereford bull.

Andrew

 

[Sean M]

Agree about the Wagyus being ugly, but they'll sell well in Japan so I guess it doesn't matter. Their rump is almost non-existant.
Do you know how much they improve the marbling by?

 

[KNERSIE]

Love the angus cows, the herefords isn't the type I like, but they are a decent looking bunch.

The angus cows were much more moderate in size. They've had some good rain out there lately but before that they had a pretty long drought. From what i was told the angus cows held up better through the drought.

That doesn't surprise me at all.

The young wagyu bull isn't really uglier than the old wagyu bull

Maybe but he certainly isn't prettier .

I have to agree on that as well.

Eye apeal certainly isn't their strong point. They looked extra ordinary compared to that big hereford bull.

Andrew

 

[Keren]

Do you know how much they improve the marbling by?

A bucketload

Pity they are so painful to look at, and painful to handle.

 

[alacattleman]

maybe they should advertize some of these sorry looking angus as wagyu... i really like that angus herd

 

[3waycross]

Do you know how much they improve the marbling by?

A bucketload

Pity they are so painful to look at, and painful to handle.

Why are they painful to handle

 

[TexasBred]

maybe they should advertize some of these sorry looking angus as wagyu... i really like that angus herd

bammy they been selling the things down here for years....just didnt' know what they had. :lol2:

 

[townfarmer]

Agree about the Wagyus being ugly, but they'll sell well in Japan so I guess it doesn't matter. Their rump is almost non-existant.
Do you know how much they improve the marbling by?

As Keren said, a lot apparently. For a while the feedlot in Japan were buying the F2 cross(angus 25% wagyu 75%) but their weight gains were much slower. They prefer the F1 angus wagyu cross which has good growth and adequate marbling.

Andrew

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

Do you know how much they improve the marbling by?

A bucketload

Pity they are so painful to look at, and painful to handle.

Why are they painful to handle

Poor temperament.

 

[Australian]

The Herefords are very similar to how Australian's like their Herefords. Our herd pretty well all have a Devon Court base. Good pigment,milk and doing ability. The Angus herd looks good.

 

[Keren]

Poor temperament.

Yeah thats an understatement ...

 

[thunder downunder]

Poor temperament.

Yeah thats an understatement ...

I'm trying to avoid a reference to Pearl Harbour here....

 

[lakading]

Do you know what the genetics are behind the replacements they buy? Nice looking cows.