Unlike the amazing market for Angus sires, prices for Wagyu bulls have lagged behind since the drought broke, but right now there is renewed confidence in the high-end product with breeders banking on solid demand once we lift a lid on the pandemic.
Before the drought Wagyu on AuctionsPlus were making upwards of 700 cents a kilogram before a correction in price and breeding set things straight. COVID-19 put a temporary halt to fine dining, but future signals are bright and producers all along the supply chain are re-investing in the breed.
Now those prices are in the 900c/kg range topping at 1000c/kg for feeder weight cattle. Part of the renewed drive is an increased appetite for Wagyu from the domestic consumer. Breeders supplying Wagyu bulls are allocating them to keen buyers as soon they as hit the ground and weaner heifers are being sold out of the paddock for the price of a good sire.
Since 2018 genomic testing has advanced the Wagyu sector in leaps and bounds and there are now more than 100,000 black Wagyu assessed for heritable traits - half the Australian herd.
"Our members have already submitted enormous amounts of performance data on 250 industry sires and we are about to test another 250 to help prove-up the next generation," said Australian Wagyu Association CEO Dr Matt McDonagh. "We are just embarking on a phenomenal increase in our ability to make genetic improvements - to turbo-charge the black Wagyu breed - totally funded by the Wagyu industry. We are fortunate to be in a position where it is possible to do this ourselves."
This year's cohort of semen sires includes bulls from overseas association members keen to take part in what is considered to be the best progeny testing program of Wagyu in the world.
Gloucester Wagyu breeder Carl Erasmus, Gateway Farms, has been selecting for growth, while maintaining a balance of the other desirable traits in his poll herd.
"Demand from stud breeders is very strong," he said. "We have sold all our bulls and have orders for next year. Customers contact us through the Web and we sell a few on AuctionsPlus.
The recent sale of $32,000 for a just-weaned full-blood registered heifer by the Mike Buchanan bred Ginjo Marblemax J864 has added confidence to the enterprise, which is currently selecting for good carcase weight.
With new genomic testing Mr Erasmus says he has confidence selecting for good growth while maintaining average marbling.
"With this tool we can pick traits from previous generations. You know what you're breeding up," he says. "We do genomic testing to find defects while looking at carcase traits like retail beef yield. Based on that we decide what to keep."
Guyra Wagyu breeder Lock Rogers, has been stolidly selecting for intra-muscular fat since he stepped back from breeding Angus and now reports that after the soft market at last year's bull sales there is demand from cross breeders, keen to put Wagyu over Angus or further north where the volume numbers are a hundred-fold greater, Wagyu over Brahman.
For Door Key, the focus is on marbling "more than anything else" with an emphasis on Tajima bloodlines. An AA Co sire, C650, has produced the bull LSRF J0476, half Tajima, that recently produced terminal cattle on consignment that averaged 8.3 marble score on slaughter.
"Most of our bulls go into first cross herds and without marbling you've got nothing. It's all about the eating quality. That can mean a difference of thousands of dollars.We find with low growth Wagyu we can get very acceptable heavy carcase out of Angus cows.
"Calving ease is a huge part of the requirement for F1 Angus. The impact from this on management is profound.
A lot of M Roger's clients keep the F1 heifer whose calf will be terminal and they are finding a 10 per cent increase in weaning weights in progeny by using more fertile Wagyu bulls.
"We are careful with our birth weights and we pick and choose our genetics based on estimated breeding values but it can be dangerous to rely only on the index - I don't believe these fill in the full picture particularly for marbling where there's lower accuracy than for growth."
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