The Rural Voice, 2019-04, Page 21 “You just have to try it. It’s the
only way to really understand why
I’m so excited about it,” said Prior,
coming in from the barn where the
cattle are housed. Three future sires
fill one pen, younger calves another,
and growing steers race about in an
outdoor yard. Despite the bitter
temperatures, the cow herd was
calmly eating hay outside. The cattle
have access to indoors and fresh
water but prefer the outdoors. In
summer, the cattle eat well on fresh
pastures via the rotational grazing
system in place on the farm but in
winter, they thrive outside, protected
by a wooden wind barrier. If it’s not
the ideal time to photograph the
cattle, it most certainly is the right
time to chat indoors while sampling
the marbled meat.
Marbling is the amount of fat
streaking within a cut of meat and
ranges from select (slight marbling)
to Prime (abundant marbling).
Marbling is associated with flavour,
tenderness and juiciness. Wagyu
would be considered Prime Plus, said
Prior.
It’s what attracted him to the
breed a decade ago while he was
raising Black Angus cattle as a
supplement income to owning
Brussels Agri Services Ltd., and the
Cowboy Loft in Brussels. At a
Cattlemen’s conference, he listened
to a pair of Australians espouse the
merits of the breed. Prior was
intrigued. The breed appealed to him
as a businessman looking for a niche
market but also as an entrepreneur
who could bring this exotic breed to
Ontario. It’s good he did it then
because Japan no longer allows
exports of live Wagyu cattle
“In my mind, it’s their national
treasure,” said Prior. There are,
however, many Wagyu breeders in
the United States and Australia.
He honours the cow’s Japanese
heritage by giving all the cattle
foreign names. Tour the Grazing
Meadows Wagyu website and you
can see pictures of the cattle,
including Suzukuma, Michito and
Fukuhira.
Through a combination of buying
full blood Wagyu and introducing
full-blood Wagyu semen and
embryos into his Black Angus heard,
he now has 33 fullblood Wagyus,
April 2019 17
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