How To Get Started
If you currently manage cattle and if you want to raise meat. (F1, 50/50 Wagyu)
Option 1
The Easiest Option
Buy a breeding age bull or purchase a bull calf and develop this bull calf to use on your existing herd. Wagyu bull calf’s will generally be fertile at about 15 months of age.
Best sources of breeding aged bulls could be purchased via private treaty from contacts on our website. You may also look under the classified section of the Texas Wagyu Association (TWA website). Breeding aged bull vary in price but you can expect to find offering from $4000-$8000. Avoid buying bulls with known genetic deficits.
Occasionally we do have exceptional ET Bull calf’s available for sale at our ranch. We offer them for sale at birth and will hold them for a deposit of $500 and commitment to buy at weaning (210 days). We generally reserve 26% of commercial semen rights for 8 years should they be exercised by the buyer. All future heard sires will have predicted epd in the top 20 %. Private treaty offers start at $2500 with fertility guaranteed at breeding age.
It is imperative that you choose a FULL BLOOD REGISTERED WAGYU BULL that has been dual registered. If you mate this bull to a non-wagyu dam its offspring can be registered with the associations and you will qualify for the VERIFIED WAGYU BEEF PROGRAM. PURE BLOOD BULLS ARE NOT eligible for this option.
Offspring could be fed out at your ranch or sold to local feed yards for a premium. Many wagyu breeders sell load lots to feedlots in North Texas, Kansas and Nebraska at a premium. These F1 (50/50) Wagyu steers generally sell themselves at an obvious premium via private treaty offers.
Steers could be sold on the hoof to local buyers marketed through the internet or posted for sale on the TWA website. As your business grows you will find generally steer buyers will return on an annual basis.
When we have visitors to our operation our chief wrangler and chef Davi Spaeth, prepares for them a prime angus steak, followed by a F1 wagyu cut then a full blood wagyu cut so they could taste the differences in the meat quality. We send potential buyers’ home with meat samples to share with their families. We have yet to lose a sale.
Remember, you will need to feed these steers out and NOT slaughter them until after the 23th month. Generally, 26-29 months are ideal.
We suggest you retain your heifers. If you have no known genetic deficits in your herd sire you may breed them back x 1. Offspring will be considered F2 stock and could be exposed to your heard sire or AI using other Wagyu semen.
A few important points
- You don’t need to spend $10,000 for a bull for F1 or F2 meat production. Leave those bulls for full blood operations. A $4000-6000 bull often is just as good for meat production.
- Current epd on your bull will generally decline not improve
- Wagyu need grain to marble so they must be supplemented. Grass fed wagyu just don’t taste as good as those fed out on grain.
- DON’T harvest prior to 23 months
- Don’t buy bulls with Recessives because you can’t breed them back without doing DNA testing. If you accidently breed two animinals who are carriers you have a good chance of expression of the mutant gene.
- Don’t expect your Wagyu bull to look like an ANGUS bull. In general, the poorer they look the better they taste. Only a new breeder that has not done his homework will buy an angus looking wagyu bull.
Option 2
No cattle, start from Scratch – You want to raise F2 or higher beef
Buy a few wagyu or percentage wagyu cattle. Make sure they are registered by the association and have NO genetic deficits. They should be DNA Parent verified and come with documentation. Sources are other wagyu breeders or the TWA Classified. Sometimes breeders will sell you older wagyu stock at a discount because they want evolving genetics. You may also purchase at a sanctioned sale.
Have a budget and stick to it. You don’t need a $10,000 heifer to start a meat production business. Often breeder will age out their breeding stock at these sales and you will find a 5-year-old wagyu cow for very reasonable prices. Remember Wagyu females are often fertile until their late teens. Also, it has been found that older wagyu cows that have been slaughtered may be far superior in quality than a steer harvested at 30 months. You will often find younger wagyu females at reasonable prices which would be ideal for private meat production. Pass on the expensive cattle if you want meat production and save them for the FULL BLOOD SEEDSTOCK breeders.
You will also need to buy a Wagyu bull or develop a bull calf as described above to breed to your females. Use the sources above to find a good bull.
Breed your herd. Retain your heifers but choose to AI them at breeding age. Steer all percentage wagyu and offer for sale. Retain any full blood bull calves for future herd sire.
Cattle can be offered for sale via private treaty at weaning, fed out on your ranch or on feed yards. You may offer cattle for sale via the TWA website. We steer any bull calves with EPD not in the top 20% and offer them for sale at weaning (Unless we keep them for our personal use)
Option 3
Start a Full Blood Operation (Using your cattle as recipients). Best way to get top end cattle
This option is labor intensive and requires the most work and planning. Consider this a long-term investment as you will not have cattle on the ground for at least 1 year. You will not have cattle ready for harvest until 30 months plus 1 year.
If you have existing cattle, you can purchase embryos and have them placed in your cows. When the calf is born, it will be full blood wagyu. Generally, conventual embryo transfer yields a 50 percent live calf rate with IVF at 40%.
Learn as much as you can about ET an IVF before attempting this process. Consider investing in the heat seiker heat detection system as it will improve your conception rate.
Always buy from a breeder with a good reputation that offers a conception guarantee. This should be established up front prior to the sale. Generally, conceptions guarantees are NOT given at public sales but are more available through private treaty offerings.
Your cattle will need to be 45 days post calving and have a good BSE score. You need calm gentle cattle that are easy to work with. You will need acceptable working pens and a squeeze shoot.
Placing embryos requires putting the cattle through the shoot several times. You will need to learn how to observe heat time, give injections and place ciders. You will need trailers to transport cattle as well as be close to a vet or embryologist who can place the embryos for you. Placing Embryos is at least a 14-day process.
If this option is appealing to you give us a call or stop by our ranch and we will help guide you through the process and help set you up with the right contacts to help make you successful.
Option 4
Full Blood Operation – Purchase existing cattle and develop
You could purchase full blood wagyu cattle from a reputable dealer or at a sanctioned sale. This is the most expensive way to get into the Wagyu business. If you want to be successful using this route you will have to focus on the top 10 percent. You will be competing with larger breeders with huge resources.
After purchasing, you could then harvest embryos from these cattle and place them in your non wagyu cattle. You would then continue the process listed in option 3.
Your offspring would be highly marketable and you could expect above average returns in a sanctioned sale. The TWA does have two sales twice a year but remember you there are fees deducted as sales commissions. You could also offer your cattle via private treaty via internet marketing. Consider Quality over Quantity.
A few important points
- You will probably have less than a 50% conception rate until you learn the process. It is very demoralizing when you spend $3000 for an embryo and it does not take. We help new breeders get started by offering to place embryos for them at our ranch to get them established in the wagyu business.
- Use EPV to guide your purchase and breeding decision but don’t over focus on the numbers.
- Remember figures lie and lyers can figure.
- We save our most valuable embryos for our proven recipients and give the less valuable ones to the cows that have not proven themselves.
- Only place embryos in Cows NOT Heifers.
- Consider purchasing conventional embryos and improving your conception rate before venturing into IVF.
- Attend as many AWA events as you can and ask questions but remember everyone goal is to sell you something
- Consider going to cow school (We suggest Graham Cattle School)
- Know your budget and don’t spend more than you can
- Know than an $1,800 purchased 2 years ago is probably now worth $700 so you don’t need a large embryo inventory to get your started.
- We generally plan 1 year out our mating’s for our receipts and set aside two embryos for each receipt just in case one does not take.
- We will allow a receipt cow to fail x 2 then she is retired from the ranch. We don’t keep cattle on our ranch that don’t produce
- Don’t buy large amounts of expensive semen because generally the value will decline as better bulls emerge.
- Use the mating predictor in breed plan to help guide your decision.
- Get rid of wild and crazy cows they will infect your herd and they are dangerous.
- As your genetics advance, consider using your older wagyu females as receipts. They often are fertile in their late teens.
- Make as many contacts with breeders as you can. You can often trade for like genetics to increase your diversity.
Reach out today!