AN independent genomic evaluation program developed for the Wagyu portfolio at one of New Zealand's largest private farming operations, Brownrigg Agriculture, is delivering impressive year-on-year genetic improvement across a range of key carcase traits.
Wagyu Breeders Limited, the wholly-owned Brownrigg subsidiary which focuses on genetics within the cattle section of the operation, has been running its own evaluation program with strong emphasis on commercial progeny testing for ten years.
Dunedin consultant Sam Harburg, from AbacusBio - genetics advisors to Wagyu Breeders - gave an overview of the program and the genetic trends it was achieving at this year's Australian Wagyu Association annual conference.
ALSO IN BEEF:
Brownrigg are pioneers of Wagyu production in NZ. With operations in the Hawkes Bay region, they also finish in excess of 150,000 lambs a year and are a significant producer of squash, maize grain and onions.
Cattle are finished on both grass and grain, with two feedlots having a combined capacity of 3500 head.
The WBL genetics improvement program has now tested six cohorts, at approximately eight to 10 sires per cohort, and established a reference base of 3600 grain-fed and grass-fed carcase phenotypes with matching carcase data, Mr Harburg said.
"We see a strong genetic correlation between grass and grain-fed carcase traits," he said.
"This is consistent with Australian research.
"The implications are we can use the phenotypes from either system to build our reference populations and it provides confidence that sire rankings will transfer across the systems."
The main traits in the evaluation are days to slaughter, marble score, gestation length and eye muscle area.
A breakdown of genetic trends shows marble score is progressing at close to 0.1 of a unit per year, gestation length is negative 0.07 days and eye muscle area 0.25 square centimetres.
Mr Harburg said the genesis for the independent approach was originally the need to support clients with novel genetic requirements, along with data control and integrity.
WBL genetics have sired more than 180,000 head over the years, providing a good point of reference to validate the quality of the genetics, he said.
Cattle performance
WBL data shows that after 370 days on feed, F1 Wagyu steers have been averaging 472kg hot standard carcase weight and 7.1 marble score.
Mr Harburg said it was more common to see NZ cattle placed in feedlots heavier and fed for shorter times.
"Despite this, we have been achieving a marble score and carcase weights consistent with F1 systems in Australia," he said.
Grass-fed F1 and higher steers and heifers, processed at three years, are between 270 and 320kg HSCW and have an average marble score 4.
The US was a key market for NZ grass-fed Wagyu and the novelty of the product had generated plenty of consumer attention, Mr Harburg said.
A marble score of 4 lines up with top US quality grade, Prime.
Unique place
Wagyu in NZ was really showing signs of growth and establishing its own unique place in the global red meat landscape, Mr Harburg said.
Three main supply chains operate: First Light, Black Origin and Southern Stations and all three focus on F1 Wagyu-on-dairy.
First Light is exclusively grass-fed and finishes around 18000 head of F1 Wagyu per year.
"Beef-on-dairy is a key driver of the NZ Wagyu industry - NZ has 5m dairy cows versus one million beef cows," Mr Harburg said.
"It's dairy industry only needs to retain around 1 to 1.2m dairy heifers a year."
Beef-on-dairy genetics had to recognise the dairy part of the equation - strong need for short gestation length and calving ease, he said.
"Strategically, the industry recognises generic grass-fed beef may not be economically sustainable into the future given the cost base of the NZ red meat industry versus other international competitors," Mr Harburg said.
"Shifting into higher value branded products is a direction most supply chains are keen to pursue."
Growth challenges are limited feedlot infrastructure, strong competition with established grazing enterprises of sheep and calf-rearing bottlenecks.
For all the big news in beef, sign up below to receive our Red Meat newsletter.