Waygu question

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djswin

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My Bro-in Law and I are in halves on a ranch and about 200 brood cows in Florida. He wants to put a Waygu bull on about 30 of our Brangus/Braford/Brahman. I think it's beyond stupid. I'd much rather run a quality Super Baldie or Hereford bull in there. Tell me I'm wrong. Thanks.
 
I'd suggest that he ai a few to wagyu to try them out before he purchased a bull. They look like sorry cattle, but the meat is really good. Friend who had ai'ed some angus to a wagyu gave me some steaks and it was good. He said that it took forever to fatten out the steers.
 
Since you are 50/50 partners you would be wrong not to give consideration to his ideas too.
You still have 170 cows to run super baldie or hereford bulls.

What is the marketing plan for the 1/2 wagyu calves?
30 is only 15% of the herd and the results would interesting, so I won't say it is beyond stupid.
It may open a market opportunity for you, but I would want to have a plan in place before committing to buying a bull.
A.I. can be a real pain if you aren't set up for it.
IF possible I would try to A.I. just 10 or 20 on 1st service to a wagyu bull with the expectation of 6-13 calves to see
what you think of them.
 
I heard, only heard, that 1/2 wagu does not give you the marbling that a full wagu has. That might just be pure bred wagu people wanting to sell full blood, or, maybe just 1/2 isnt as good. I've seen a few and i sure dont like how they look. I'd be nervous too. I feel its just a fad breed.....And i'm going to guess you'd have to market them yourself, you wouldnt want to haul them to a sale.
 
cowgirl8":a4hexf37 said:
I heard, only heard, that 1/2 wagu does not give you the marbling that a full wagu has. That might just be pure bred wagu people wanting to sell full blood, or, maybe just 1/2 isnt as good. I've seen a few and i sure dont like how they look. I'd be nervous too. I feel its just a fad breed.....And i'm going to guess you'd have to market them yourself, you wouldnt want to haul them to a sale.

Being just a "fad breed" is what was said too when the Simmental, Maine Anjou, Limousin, Gelbvieh and other breeds were brought to the US. in the 70's!

I would though, as a couple of others have mentioned, have some sort of marketing plan in place. If the meat is better, then even if you finish out some of them, they could bring in a premium. Could be a good opportunity.
 
I have heard positive things about angus/waygu cross. I don't know how it would work out with the cross your talking about. A farm we use to work with Sweetwater Plantation in Georgia put waygu Bulls on their Angus herd and have been very happy with the results, but they had a plan going in. I would call some folks that are actually doing it and get their input.

Gizmom
 
Wagyu X Angus cross works better than wagyu X other breeds. I would warn you that you guys might not be satisfied with the weaning weights.
 
Weaning weights wouldn't as important as long as there are buyers set up, waiting to pay a premium for the feeders. As mentioned, that would be critical. I think the point of selling Waygu crosses would be for the carcass qualities, not necessarily the carcass weight. Selling them at the sale barn, I feel, would be extremely disappointing.
Until someone can get angus to marble like waygu on a consistent basis, I don't think the "fad" is going anywhere. I'd call it more of a niche than a fad.
 
M.Magis":36xq4g8n said:
I'd call it more of a niche than a fad.
:nod:

10 straws of semen 60% conception = 6 calves
200 calves in crop, so 6 calves = 3%
20 straws = 12 calves
12 calves still leaves 94% of calf crop as is
30 calves leaves 85% the same

1 owner wants to try Wagyu the other owner doesn't.
I vote give it a try on small scale to keep peace in the family and to gather facts and go from there.

It may turn out to be a good idea if it opens new market opportunity.
OR it may be stupid, if it doesn't. But you won't really know unless you try.
IMO: Just keep it as small of a trial as possible to start, so as to limit risk.
 
People around here are using them on heifers....i think though most are just half wagu.. I dunno, i might would do it if i had buyers waiting for them with a signed contract. Otherwise you'll be selling to tire kickers off craigslist or getting hit at the sale...I'd suggest you find buyers first...
 
My guess is for my area (DFW), but if you know what you are doing and can properly finish these crosses all you would have to do is advertise you have Waygu beef for sale by hanging weight you could sell everything you had at a premium price.
 
slick4591":362r8fex said:
My guess is for my area (DFW), but if you know what you are doing and can properly finish these crosses all you would have to do is advertise you have Waygu beef for sale by hanging weight you could sell everything you had at a premium price.

Probably the same way here, around Houston. I don't have a clue how to go about it, but 'someone' is providing the Waygu beef to the few eateries in Houston that advertise it as their only beef. One's out near Sugarland, a waiting list to even get a reservation and it's a very expensive place to eat--tho you'd never know it from looking at the outside.
They are ugly looking critters tho--I gues a real testament to the old adage that the true beauty is inside.
 
I'd suggest you stay using a good Hereford or Angus bull...Wagyu on Brahman cross cows appears to be headed in the wrong direction for me...calves will be slow growing and light muscled.
 
My family has been raising Charolais cattle for over 40 years. About 8 yrs ago we started breeding our Char heifers to Wagyu bulls. The beef from those F1s was the best I had ever tasted. So, I bought some fullblood Wagyu. Now we have about 120 fullblood Wagyu, a bunch of Wag x Char cross and about 200 Char. We put Fullblood Wagyu embryos in all of our Char heifers and clean them up with a Wagyu bull. Absolutely zero calving problems.

My advice would be to breed your heifers to Wagyu to see if you like it. As others have said, you will take a hit on weaning weights but the Wagyu will vastly improve the quality of the carcass. We have harvested dozens of Wag x Char steers and every one has graded prime and better.

You could check with these guys in Florida...they might buy your calves:
http://jackmanwagyubeef.com/
http://www.artisanwagyu.com/
 
The wagyu guys from this part of the world only want half bloods out of angus cows as they are trying to produce the Prime+ beef. The continental breeds and brahman breeds will see a drastic improvement in carcass quality in the first generation cross but they won't grade to the huge premiums that most are wanting.
 
Here are two examples of ribeyes from Wag x Char F1s...it has worked every time for us. The genetics on the Wag side does matter. The best quality comes from the Tajima strain of Black Wagyu.



 

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