My new Wagyu bull

[Muddy]

Yes, I was referring to the price because you have to offset the lack of product.
When I asked, I was thinking you probably used semen - less risky experiment.
I guess I'm just a snob about my cattle. I have to like LOOKING at them. I have a lot of pride in what they LOOK like. Same with my dogs. Sorry, no ugly adopted pets around here. LOL

Gosh why are you so judgemental.

 

[wbvs58]

Lots of threads in here on how great Jersey beef is. Not my favorite, but if you are after tender with lots and lots of marbling wouldn't Jersey be cheaper than buying into Wagyu?

The name Wagyu has some marketing advantages.

Ken

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Neighbor B has about 150 Wagyu cows. The BLM allotments are shared allotments with multiple ranchers have cattle run in common on those allotments. So Tuesday I was at a branding. Neighbor B told neighbor C that he was going to put a bunch of Wagyu cows out on the allotment which they share. Neighbor C looked got a scared look on his face. He asked, "you aren't turning out a Wagyu bull are you?" Neighbor B paused for effect before saying no these are fall calving cows. Neighbor C looked relieved. He jokingly told neighbor A that he would turn the Wagyu bull out on an allotment that they share. Neighbor A got kind of serious and said two can play that game, his FIL has some ugly Brahma cross bulls that he could turn out. B told A that he would give him a 20 cent premium on an cross calves. A said it better be more like 50 cents to make up the difference in weaning weight. Everyone does try to keep good bulls because your bull will breed some of the neighbors cows and the neighbors bull will darn sure breed some of your cows.
B must be doing good on his Wagyu cows or he wouldn't keep them. He is in his mid 40's and started with nothing. He now runs about 900 cows. This isn't a hobby. But I do notice that the spring calfers go to irrigated pasture for the summer and not out on the rangeland. But everyone (me and B included) who has had to work with the Wagyu cows comments on how stupid they are. Along with the earlier comments here about the lack of SC in the bulls, it is difficult to tell between a dry cow and a wet one. They don't have much udder.

I guess in all that selection and breeding for marbling a few things got overlooked or just not looked as important...

 

[Stocker Steve]

Lots of threads in here on how great Jersey beef is. Not my favorite, but if you are after tender with lots and lots of marbling wouldn't Jersey be cheaper than buying into Wagyu?

The name Wagyu has some marketing advantages.

Ken

I thought it might be a black thing.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

One of my friends had two Wyagu steaks shipped to me from Japan, they were 300 dollars. They were good, but not 300 dollar good. I've had filets from beef I raised that was close.

Sure you have.

 

[Stickney94]

How much of a premium do you need to get to cover the increased cost of producing a Wagyu F1 ?

Great question and in some ways the only question that matters.

I think the locked SAV America thread sorta highlighted all the different categories of cattle producer (seedstock, commercial fats, commercial feeders, niche breeds, direct to consumer, etc). Everyone's path to making a buck is a bit different.

Since this was our first Wagyu offering, for family/select returning customers we charged a 25-30% premium in live weight price compared to our angus beef. That was for this year only. We asked for honest feedback and we were up front that next years price would be $X. That 25% mark-up covered additional feed costs as well as the lower total weight difference.

For some urban customers that were taking 1/4s or 1/8s we charged a substantially higher premium in live weight. Even with that premium, the total meat cost per lb was only $2-3 per lb higher than last year and still far less than the CAB steaks in the grocery store (and no where near say a Whole Foods price).

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Lots of threads in here on how great Jersey beef is. Not my favorite, but if you are after tender with lots and lots of marbling wouldn't Jersey be cheaper than buying into Wagyu?

Bingo!!!
But, it is not "fashionable" and you can't charge extra money! LOL
I have to admit, the Wagyu meat is supposed to be more marbled than the Jersey - but they will probably have the same size ribeye.
It is hard for me to imagine a better eating experience than what I raise and put in my freezer. Do we really need that much marbling to be a great eating experience?? Bottom line - we all want to sit down and invite guests and WOW them with our great beef. I do that now. If it was more tender and juicy, I would think it would be like mush.

 

[Draper]

Muddy - I'm not judging. I would like to know. Seems to me, most producers already raise/sell good quality beef. I re-read this thread & CPA's last thread. He agrees that his cattle marble well & produce good meat. To me, he is down grading the quantity of his finished product. That is why I was asking what he is going to benefit from this program. I thought he had pretty nice cattle already.

This is such a simple concept to grasp—

Of course he's downgrading the quantity but he is substantially upgrading the quality. Regardless of how 'good' you think your beef is,, using this bull or any Wagyu for that matter will improve the quality grade likely by two marbling scores or better. Just as the carcass chasing angus, these are terminal cross components. No one is looking to rush to Gardiner angus for momma cows. No one looking to put half wagyu cows on range either. It's about specializing and finding specimens most suited for their purpose.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

OK - let me put it another way.
How much marbling do we need for a GREAT steak?
If you are selling on the rail, you get paid more for Prime vs Choice. If you are producing high Ch or Pr already, how much better "eating experience" will the Wagyu meat be? and I do realize that just the name will bring more money on the private market.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I personally think Wagyu crossbred with Angus is the best beef I've ever ate. We have friends in Ocala that sell all the Wagau X beef they can raise for a major premium, like an adverage of $3,500+ per animal. But there's a lot of people and money down there and that results in an excellent market.

 

[NonTypicalCPA]

I'll have pics in the next month of my buddy's calves from his Red Devon crossed to our bull. We're anxious to see what they look like and their weight. His Devon's are similar size to my Belties so should be a good preview of my August calves.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Interesting that a Holstein Wagyu F1 is so desirable. Open Jersey heifers are U$S 0.45 to 0.55 due to the dairy collapse. Could cross them with a Wagu, and then sell the resulting black F1 Wagsey for a big premium.

 

[NonTypicalCPA]

Updating this thread with a few new pics of our bull. He's doing well and has been a good boy to work with.

 

[NonTypicalCPA]

And a couple of his calves from my buddies Red Devon cows. Only a couple days old in these pics. Half of his calves are red and half are black.

 

[T & B farms]

That's one of the nicer wagyu bulls I've seen.
I ate wagyu for the first time this spring. we"ll just say there will be a cane of it in abs order this fall.
I thought I raised some good beef, but this was exceptional.

 

[Son of Butch]

It's my understanding USDA labeling requirement for retail sales is a minimum 43.75% or 7/16 wagyu
to label beef as Wagyu (influenced) to consumers.

My Wagyu experiment is slowly continuing. I've got a few 1/2 and 3/4 wagyu, but so far I only have
1 steer, 1st calf heifer and 1 heifer calf that have reached 7/8 wagyu.
A.I.d only 4 to wagyu last year 3 settled but the 7/8 wagyu heifer repeated and bred by Angus bull.
Her heifer calf is my first 7/16 wagyu.

 

[Son of Butch]

Lots of threads in here on how great Jersey beef is. Not my favorite, but if you are after tender with lots and lots of marbling wouldn't Jersey be cheaper than buying into Wagyu?

Yes, but I think Jersey crosses better with Limo and Holstein crossed with Wagyu gives that shot
of frame that a Jersey x Wagyu cross lacks. Which is why Japanese run feedlots prefer Holstein f1s
over Jersey f1s. Both carcasses will grade similar, but Holstein influenced yields more retail pounds.

 

[NonTypicalCPA]

It's my understanding USDA labeling requirement for retail sales is a minimum 43.75% or 7/16 wagyu
to label beef as Wagyu (influenced) to consumers.

My Wagyu experiment is slowly continuing. I've got a few 1/2 and 3/4 wagyu, but so far I only have
1 steer, 1st calf heifer and 1 heifer calf that have reached 7/8 wagyu.
A.I.d only 4 to wagyu last year 3 settled but the 7/8 wagyu heifer repeated and bred by Angus bull.
Her heifer calf is my first 7/16 wagyu.

Got any pictures of those 7/8 calves? Those destined for the freezer?

 

[Stocker Steve]

So a low cost Wagyu man should consider be buying black and white cull cows ?

 

[Dave]

So a low cost Wagyu man should consider be buying black and white cull cows ?

I don't know that there is such a thing as "low cost Wagyu". Neighbor B has 150 Wagyu pairs. His comment is "they will work out one of these days." I know when we worked a bunch of the calves we joked that it was hard to tell the difference between a new born and a 3 month old calf. They simply don't work on rangeland here. They spend the summer on flat irrigated pasture and the commercial cows wean bigger calves climbing the hills searching for sparse grass. I think you would need a real big premium on the price to make them work.