The Beginning at Lisheen

 My entry into Wagyu cattle breeding started around 1997.   I had done some initial research before attending a field day in North East Victoria where Simon Coates from Sumo Wagyu gave a presentation.   He provided information about Wagyu cattle and spoke about Japanese Black and Red variants outlining the potential of these cattle in Australia.   Most people had either never heard of the breed or had paid no attention to them labelling them as a “gimmick” akin to ostriches.   There was talk about the price premiums available for F1 Wagyu calves and the speakers were doing their very best to convince people to join their best Angus cows, and even stud Angus cows, to Wagyu bulls.    Most farmers who attended that field day walked away saying that it all seemed too good to be true and scoffed at the thought of only using their best or stud Angus cows with “one of those things” as had been suggested.

During a break in the presentations at that first field day, a simple small sample of some Wagyu beef was provided from a BBQ as a “taste test”. This was one of the things that helped convince me to look into Wagyu further – the small portion of meat was tender, flavoursome, and simply magnificent.  This simple “taste test” changed my mind about Wagyu right there and then and inspired me to take a more serious look at them.

I attended a second field day about Wagyu and kept researching to find all the information possible so that I knew what I was getting into.   I bred about 20 F1 Wagyu x Angus calves as an “experiment”.   While I was a bit doubtful about them at first I was impressed with what I saw as they grew.   I was looking to improve the quality of the beef I was producing and to also find a better way to operate my cattle operation by stepping away from the local beef market systems with their wild price fluctuations, cronyism, and often poor returns.  I was convinced that I had found it.

INITIAL STEPS

Whilst there were some initial teething problems in those early days and good advice was limited, I found that, as I had been told at the field days, there were price premiums available for these cattle and there was definitely a market for them.   I converted 100 Angus cows to F1 production and also sourced another 150 F1 Wagyu heifers and cows to move more quickly into higher Wagyu content production.   I could see the benefits and found them to be cattle that, although “different”, were generally easier to handle than other breeds I had.

Some of my neighbours were less than impressed with the new additions to my paddocks saying things like ‘You’re mad”, “they’ve got no rump”, “can you move them away from the boundary fences – I don’t want people to think they’re mine” and so on !!! ……………..Some of those people still buy Wagyu beef from me.

Cross bred Wagyu cattle in those days were predominantly going to the live export trade to Japan.   In later years the cross bred cattle have been more in demand within Australia and my preference was to sell as locally as possible.

THE FULLBLOOD HERD

In the last five or so years I have downsized my cross bred cattle operation and in the process got out of some often troublesome lease properties I been operating – this allowed me to concentrate more on establishing a smaller high quality full blood Japanese Black Wagyu herd.  This has been the start of “Lisheen Wagyu“.   AI and Embryo transfers are used in an effort to rapidly improve the genetic quality of the full blood herd.   Sires with quality pedigrees and high EBV accuracy have been preferred whilst being very mindful of the need for genetic diversity and maintaining low inbreeding coefficients.   In both the more recent Fullblood Japanese Black herd and the earlier cross bred herds, I concentrated on fertility, maternal and growth traits while maintaining marbling ability – this ensures that any Fullblood or cross-bred females retained are at least capable of getting in calf and feeding their calf when it arrives…… Not all Wagyu cattle are processed as some would prefer you to think!!

All Full blood calves produced at Lisheen are subjected to a thorough genetic testing and vaccination program, and all have Breedplan performance information recorded under paddock conditions – there is no grain feeding to enhance weights.   All cattle on the property have been tested for Pestivirus and other diseases with the property now running as a PI free, closed herd.   All performance data, vaccinations, treatments, and basically anything relating to each animal, is recorded on a fully auditable livestock management system.

I have been an early adopter of newly available genetic testing and other technology in an effort to gain as much accurate information as possible about the cattle I breed.   I have also worked to gain a greater understanding of the limitations of some of the data that contributes to the EBV’s for Wagyu, particularly in relation to the carcass data recorded.

A comprehensive Biosecurity plan is in place for the property with a current JBAS score of 6.