incorporation of % wygu cattle.

Help Support Steer Planet:

aj

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
6,420
Location
western kansas
Heard of an operation trying to raise 25% wygu 75% Angus feedlot cattle. I thought this was interesting. Then I got to wondering if anybody out there was developing wygu composites or a new breed using wygu as a factor. What would happen if someone incorporated wygu in a Shorthorn composite program. You could utilize the "eatability" genes or what ever.
 

mbigelow

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 11, 2015
Messages
189
Yep, cross your DM shorts with wygu. Sounds like the latest craze.  What do you think they would look like?
 

764wdchev

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2016
Messages
57
I started my Wagyu integration project in 2004. If you have seen a Wagyu you know their phenotype is not for many people. The F1 crosses have all been black, and horned- and big horns, take them off early. You aren't going to win rate of gain, but the carcass is awesome. I steer all the bulls, and have retained the heifers. I breed all the heifers back to shorthorn, as my goal is to get back to purebred status. I know I have lost some of the carcass quality, but I feel it has improved my herd as a whole. I think it all depends on the strain of Wagyu you start with. Mine have given me the best udders I have seen on cows, and this has been carrying through. They are also easy fleshing. I am now up to mainly 7/8 and 15/16. And they don't look like Wagyu. And for the haters, Trump cleans up Wagyu in a couple cycles. If you really wanted to invest some money, you could utlilize DNA markers, and carry on the carcass qualities to a higher level. 
 

CAB

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
5,607
Location
Corning,Iowa
Link to a Wagyu breeding/feeding program. Paying premiums for Wagyu X calves.

https://imperialwagyubeef.com/wagyu-beef/
 

aj

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
6,420
Location
western kansas
Very interesting chev........if one of those 7-8ths bull calf looked like a conventional Shorthorn yet had somehow retained the wygu "carcass" gene you would be setting on a gold mine. It might be a long shot. I always wondered......when would breeds of cattle essentially copyright their genes........so other breeds wouldn't steal them through an appendix program.
 

764wdchev

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2016
Messages
57
I should do more genetic testing to verify. I started off doing a bunch of the marbling and tenderness testing- I ended up going through the company, as the Association didn't recognize or record some of the tests. As time has passed, it has been harder to keep throwing money at the testing side. My end goal was/is to supply locker beef, that is superior to nearly everything else. I have a waiting list three years out, so somewhere I am doing good. Now if I had access to more pasture, and hay ground, and TIME, maybe I could expand.
 

Go Green

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 1, 2015
Messages
75
Location
MIchigan
How big are the Wygu calves? I was thinking about using them on some of my first calf clubby heifers (looking for calving ease) and then raising them for beef.
 

Steve123

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 13, 2008
Messages
466
Here is an excerpt from an older article in Drovers:

Johnson said several cattle breeds in Japan, Korea and China are bred to have very high marbling content. To compare, USDA choice beef usually is about 6 percent intramuscular fat, where Japanese Wagyu cattle produce about 30-35 percent intramuscular fat. He added high-end steakhouses in the U.S. have a huge demand for prime steaks with marbling, and those usually have about 6-8 percent marbling.

Asian cattle, however, are fed for much longer periods of time, close to three years in fact, where U.S. beef breeds are usually raised and harvested for meat between 18 and 22 months of age.

Johnson said the longer cattle feed, the more they are able to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats, such as marbling. Cattle release an enzyme called stearoyl-CoA desaturase, which takes steric acid, a saturated acid, and saturates it to form double bonds to convert it into oleic acid.

"As the animal matures, it gets fatter, has more days on feed, it increases the activity or this enzyme," Johnson said. "So, in fact, we are creating more monounsaturated fat. The best way to get more oleic acid is to feed cattle longer."

Johnson said the genetics of cattle breeds used in the U.S. simply won't allow for marbling comparable to Asian breeds, although dairy breeds such as Holsteins, which make up about 20 percent of the beef cattle industry, do marble very well and without much backfat. U.S. beef producers would have to introduce Asian breeds to have cattle with high marbling, but because they feed so long it would not be economically feasible.

If you want to see the whole article: https://www.drovers.com/article/mysteries-marbling

 

huntaway

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 3, 2012
Messages
135
An Australian breeder is using red wagyu genetics from Heart Brand Cattle to primarily infuse into their santa shorthorn composites to improve their carcass grading. Wouldn't be surprised if they trial some in their shorthorns either.
The heart brand cattle look like nice cattle and their colour would work a lot better than black over shorthorns.
https://heartbrandcattle.com/
 

aj

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
6,420
Location
western kansas
The wygu influence deal would be a niche marketing deal. Your walmart deal is your low cost side.
 

beebe

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
520
I have been using Wagyu on my heifers for several years now.  I grass finish the calves and sell them as freezer beef.  The calves are nuts and no fun to work with, but the meat is tender.  When I ultra sounded my cows I found some Shorthorns that were as tender and marbled as well as Wagyu.  I do have a couple of Wagyu cows that I am playing with genetics wise.
 

mark tenenbaum

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 23, 2009
Messages
5,765
Location
Virginia Sometimes Iowa and Kansas
764wdchev said:
I should do more genetic testing to verify. I started off doing a bunch of the marbling and tenderness testing- I ended up going through the company, as the Association didn't recognize or record some of the tests. As time has passed, it has been harder to keep throwing money at the testing side. My end goal was/is to supply locker beef, that is superior to nearly everything else. I have a waiting list three years out, so somewhere I am doing good. Now if I had access to more pasture, and hay ground, and TIME, maybe I could expand.//// Present it to Pharo and tell the world it is entirely his idea O0
 

764wdchev

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2016
Messages
57
So far, I have not had a calf over 70lbs. Lots of vigor. The Wagyu I am using have been as tame as my shorthorns, but big horns. There are multiple strains of Wagyu, they kind of have their own "breeds" within the breed.
 

Go Green

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 1, 2015
Messages
75
Location
MIchigan
764wdchev said:
So far, I have not had a calf over 70lbs. Lots of vigor. The Wagyu I am using have been as tame as my shorthorns, but big horns. There are multiple strains of Wagyu, they kind of have their own "breeds" within the breed.

Can you recommend a sire/semen supplier?
 

beebe

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
520
764wdchev said:
So far, I have not had a calf over 70lbs. Lots of vigor. The Wagyu I am using have been as tame as my shorthorns, but big horns. There are multiple strains of Wagyu, they kind of have their own "breeds" within the breed.
My Wagyu calves come easy, they are built like snakes.  If you have found a line that are as tame as shorthorns you either have wild shorthorns or special wagyu.  Could you enlighten me as to the breed within the breed that is tame.
 

764wdchev

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2016
Messages
57
I can touch or get within inches of all me shorthorns, so they must be wild...... So far I have not had a wild Wagyu, but I bunk feed everything.

I bought cows and a bunch of semen from the Panora State Bank in Iowa, when a guy Denny something? went bankrupt with a herd of Wagyu. Some story about how a feedlot in Texas stole a load of cattle.

I had interest, so they let me go through the herd and pick the cows I wanted. I also saw the bulls, and they still had horns. The semen was stored at Hawkeye. They had thousands of straws, and priced it cheap, but I didn't need that much.

I have a few hundred straws left, if someone is interested I live in NW Iowa, and I can get the semen to Stepping Stone easily. I like to trade semen.

 

beebe

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
520
I know a guy that is raising akaushi, I asked him how that was working he said they were profitable but he would not let his kids help with the cattle.
 

Lucky_P

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
326
CAB,
Spring 2019 ST Genetics catalog had Red Galaxy listed at $60/unit for conventional, $80/unit sexed semen.
He ain't pretty, but still... a much more desirable phenotype than most any other Wagyu/Akaushi bull I've seen (and I've only seen photos). 
He is AA for the SCD enzyme test, which, at present, appears to be a desirable trait being utilized by some Wagyu breeders as a selection criterion.
 
Top