A UK-based company specialising in Wagyu production is linking up with Munster Bovine and Kepak and offering dairy farmers a guaranteed price for their one-month-old Wagyu-cross calves.
Warrendale Wagyu, a Yorkshire-based company processing 30,000 dairy-bred Wagyu cattle across the UK, is teaming up with Munster Bovine and Kepak to establish a business in Ireland.
As part of this, it will pay dairy farmers a total of €250 per calf, with €200 paid at collection when the calf is four weeks old and a €50 slaughter premium also goes back to the breeder.
Addressing a packed meeting in O’Donovans Hotel, Clonakilty, on Tuesday night, Warrendale Wagyu representatives Tom Richardson and Jamie Brownrigg gave the background to their business and how they have developed it over the last seven years.
Supply chain
Including 160 dairy farmers who breed the calves, they work with 750 farmers in total.
The supply chain network they have developed sells to retailers such as Aldi and Waitrose, along with supplying the food service sector and export markets.
From their experience in the UK, the average slaughter age is 25 months, with a target carcase weight of 330kg to 335kg.
Dairy farmers using the approved easy calving Wagyu bulls can expect that set price for both bull and heifer calves.
This is the only time there is a set price – after that it’s done on weight and based on a price grid that is set for the year.
Once collected, they will be reared by other farmers. There is an option for the dairy farmer to take them through to slaughter if that is the system they run already.
Other requirements of the breeding programme include membership of Bord Bia’s Sustainable Beef & Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS), calves must be fully vaccinated and Jersey genetics do not qualify for the programme.
Munster Bovine has a total of 3,000 straws available initially. These cost €19 apiece and the minimum order is 20 straws.
