Wagyu

Wagyu's four breeds are the Japanese Black, which makes up 97 percent of beef cattle in Japan, the Japanese Brown or Red, the Japanese Polled and the Japanese Shorthorn. All descend from early twentieth-century crossing between native Japanese cattle and imported stock, mostly European; the first three were formally named in 1937 and the Shorthorn added in 1957.

The American story starts in 1975, when two black and two red bulls were imported by Morris Whitney. Several importations of males and females followed in the 1990s, most black and a few red, and the United States is the only country that imported live Wagyu directly from Japan. Wagyu genetics everywhere outside Japan trace to those animals.

What sets them apart is intramuscular fat. Wagyu marble to a degree no other breed reaches, and the fat itself has a lower melting point, which is what produces the texture the beef is known for.

The marbling, which the Japanese call sashi, shows most consistently in the Japanese Black. The fat is unusual in kind as well as amount: rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, melting below the temperature of butter, with about 40 percent of the saturated fraction as stearic acid, regarded as having minimal effect on cholesterol.

Docile is the word used by the Wagyu breeders' handbook on the Texas Wagyu Association's site, and the association's own site calls the breed's dispositions wonderful. The handbook is also specific about an exception: some animals from the Kikuteru Doi line have temperament problems, so ask about bloodlines. The American Wagyu Association's performance guidelines include a docility score, from 1, docile, to 6, very aggressive.

Cornell's general guidance on beef cattle safety holds here too: a cow with a newborn calf can be very aggressive, so avoid walking between her and the calf, and no bull can be trusted.

A branded, high-marbling beef program, and nothing else does it as well. They are also small, slow-growing and long-fed: a Wagyu is finished at 26 to 30 months rather than 14 to 18.

The American herd book records Fullblood, Purebred and Percentage Wagyu, with Fullblood and Purebred animals verified by DNA parentage testing before entry.

Attention at calving. Calves are small, averaging 65 lb by the breeders' handbook, and small calves lose heat fast: the handbook warns of hypothermia in cold weather, notes that some Japanese Black breeders have had weak newborns, and advises being there when the cows calve. Some cows have small udders and give little milk, so check that the calf is getting enough.

The cattle adapt to a wide range of climates, by the association's account, and need a balanced forage ration. They grow slowly. Grass finishing works for some breeders, but the handbook says it takes high-marbling genetics and may mean feeding past 30 months.

The trade is the whole business model. Twice the feeding period on a smaller carcass only works if you have a buyer paying what the beef commands, and that means a marketing channel arranged before the calf is born, not after.

Ask what the animal actually is. Fullblood, Purebred and Percentage are different things in the American book, and in a breed built on a small imported foundation, the paper trail is most of the value.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.