Smoking it over

[Jogeephus]

I'm smoking over the idea of taking some angus heifers and AI'ing them to a Wagyu to try to enhance the marbling in some beef I'll use for personal consumption. My proposed plan is the following:

Pull 10 heifers out and AI them. If 50% settle, I might get two or three heifers and two or three bull calves. I plan on butchering the steers and checking to see what type marbling is produced. If there is a noticeable difference, I might even carry it one step further and AI the heifers again to Wagyu to end up with 3/4 Wagyu calves which I hope to ultimately end up with two 3/4 cows that I can use for my family's meat source - assuming the meat is what its cracked up to be and the cows don't require babying or special treatment.

I'm not doing this to make money but I surely don't intend to lose money either. Just doing it to learn and find the "perfect steak". I've tried other crosses and have yet to find one that is bad. Some of the stuff I read about the intramuscular fat of the Wagyu breed sounds like it could be beneficial in this quest.

Anyone done this? Or Anyone know of anything that might be helpful in my planning or implementation of this project. Or do I need to quit smoking what I'm smoking? :lol:

 

[dun]

I have no experience with Wagyu but understand from reading that they're smaller and finsih later then traditional breeds. Why not just use one of the super high marbeling Angus bulls and select also for growth and maternal?

 

[grannysoo]

I don't think that it would be safe for you to eat cows that you breed like this. Go ahead and do your experiments, get them butchered and wrapped, and call me. I'll do the taste testing for you to keep you safe.....

 

[Frankie]

What Dun said.

 

[Jogeephus]

I have no experience with Wagyu but understand from reading that they're smaller and finsih later then traditional breeds. Why not just use one of the super high marbeling Angus bulls and select also for growth and maternal?

Since I figure this little experiment will take about 3 or 4 years to run, I am considering doing this to another set of heifers using something like Foresight so I'll have a comparison. After all, adding a few more shouldn't be much trouble. I am however interested in seeing if the Wagyu is all its cracked up to be. My wife ate Kobe beef when she lived in Japan and said it is really good. I'm just curious to see for myself what they can or will do.

So far, the best steaks I've grown for myself came from a braford crossed up with a limousin. Ugliest calf I ever saw but she could have lived up to the name of Blizzard or Snowstorm based on the marbliing.

 

[Jogeephus]

Make sure that in order to get that perfect kobe beef steak you feed em lots and lots of beer and kudzu. Thats how they do it in japan

From what I've researched, the marbling is genetic. The beer thing is a stretch. More like brewer's grain.

 

[john250]

Make sure that in order to get that perfect kobe beef steak you feed em lots and lots of beer and kudzu. Thats how they do it in japan

From what I've researched, the marbling is genetic. The beer thing is a stretch. More like brewer's grain.

I think a daily massage is also part of the program. Beer and massage. 8) Jo, do you really want the steers to have it better than you?

 

[MikeC]

John Brethour did an experiment with Wagyu X Char crosses and got very good results.

Link: http://www.wkarc.org/Arch/Research/cattle/wagyu.htm


Seems to me that since neither Angus nor Wagyu (Wags remind me of Holsteins) are the highest muscled animals, you would want to cross the Wags with something that has more growth and muscle.

One thing for sure, the cross you are contemplating will have some dinky little calves. :lol:

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks for the link Mike, that was interesting reading. I'm a little concerned over the weight conversion. I think you are right about needing to use something besides pure angus. I thought it interesting that some of the Wags grown in Japland are finished out at 3 years of age. Weight gain is .6 Kg/day. Pretty slow.

With this new info, I'm going to lean toward crossing them to some heifers I have that gain pretty fast. I'm hoping that maybe by crossing them to these I can get a fairly decent gain while enhancing the marbling of the meat. If I can double the normal marbling while giving up 1/2 my normal growth I'll be satisfied. From a prouduction standpoint I'll be going backwards but I really want to just try it to see what the meat will be like.

You know, the more I think about the gain on these animals the more I'm reminded of a dairy calf I finished out some years ago. Darn good meat just took a lot of corn to finish it.

 

[CPL]

Daily massage, beer, and all you can eat salad. That wouldnt be a bad life at all really.

It is if you intend to do something with your life.