The Rural Voice, 2004-09, Page 16The first cattle are reported to
have been imported into Japan from
the Asian mainland in the second
century, not for meat but as beasts of
labour.
The dominant black Wagyu
strains are Tottori, Tajima, Shimane,
and Okayama. Tajima cattle, bred in
the Tajima region, were originally
chosen and bred for their heavy
forequarters because their primary
use was to pull carts. They tend to be
smaller and Tess heavily muscled
than the Tottori breed.
Tottori cattle, because they were
used as pack animals for the
grain industry of the Tottori
region, were selected for their size
and strength of topline.
The other main "breed" of
Wagyu, was developed on the island
of Kyushu and are red in color. As
with the blacks, there are two distinct
strains — Kochi and Kumamoto.
Kochi cattle were strongly influenced
by Korean breeding while
Kumamoto are believed to have
considerable Simmental influence.
Most of the cattle were influenced
by British and Continental breeds for
a few generations nearly 100 years
ago. Brown Swiss, Shorthorn,
Devon, Simmental, Ayrshire,
Holstein and Angus as well as
Korean breeds, had been imported by
1887 and impacted today's Wagyu.
Crossbreeding was prominent for
Kuntz's focus had been on building
up his herd prior to BSE.
several years, but when the price of
crossbreds collapsed in 1910 no
further crossbreeding was conducted.
The result was selection for specific
traits determined by region and
extensive line -breeding was used to
achieve those traits.
Though North American Wagyu
producers- are committing a similar
faux pas in calling their beef "Kobe"
VvESZERZN ZONE
THE HEREFORD BREEDERS OF ONTARIO
Extend a Special Invitation to attend
THE CANADIAN HEREFORD ASSOCIATION
MARK OF EXCELLENCE SHOW
Walkerton Little Royal Fairgrounds
Walkerton, Ontario
October 2, 2004
JUDGING STARTING AT 11:30 A.M.
For inquiries and entry forms contact:
Mark Lemon
RR #1 Annan, ON
Tel: (519) 376-1013
Judges: Roy and Cheron Chamberlain
Shedden, ON
°r¢ Skeeeo cult! a Vij(aaeureeII
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12 THE RURAL VOICE
beef to our wine makers who
borrowed the "champagne"
appellation from the French wine -
growing district, the feeding of beer
and the massaging the animals
apparently has nothing to do with the
taste of Kobe beef, according to Chef
Brown. It's all in the genetics and the
grain -fed diet, she says.
The first Wagyu imported into the
U.S. arrived in 1976 and consisted of
two Tottori Black Wagyu and two
Kumamoto Red Wagyu bulls.
Exporting of live animals, semen and
embryos has since been discontinued
as Japan jealously guards its unique
breed.
Like Kuntz, most breeders have
peen concentrating on building up
their herds since then. He's built his
cow herd up to 22 and, though he has
sold some bulls, he hasn't been out
promoting breeding stock to his
neighbours in the heart of Ontario's
cattle country. There have been some
people who have heard about the
qualities of the breed.
The marbling ability of Wagyus
has attracted some breeders to
crossbreed to try to transfer the trait
to larger European cattle. The West
Kansas Agricultural Research
Centers of Kansas State University
hypothesized that breeding Wagyu to
Charolais could result in a lean
carcass with high marbling and in
fact that proved to be the case.
Seventeen steers were sent to market
with 15 grading prime, one high
choice and one average. Forty-seven
per cent each had yield grade No. 1
and No. 2 with just one with yield
grade No. 3. Backfat averaged just .3
of an inch.
"This might very well be the best
carcass results on a group of cattle in
the history of grading cattle in this
country," the university's website
boasted in 1999.
Similar praise comes from
Genetic Solutions LLC, an
Australian -founded company which
has conducted genetic tests in
Australia, Japan and the U.S. to
identify animals with the highest
predictability of producing good
marbling. The company uses its
GeneSTARTM marbling rating that
gives two stars for finding two copies
of the favourable marbling allele; one
star for one copy of the favourable
allele and zero stars for no copies.