What are they? Where did they come from?
Most of the cattle were influenced by British
and Continental breeds for a few generations nearly 100 years ago. Brown
Swiss, Shorthorn, Devon, Simmental, Ayrshire, Korean, Holstein and Angus
had been imported by 1887 and impacted today's Wagyu.
Crossbreeding was prominent for several years,
but when the price of crossbreds collapsed in 1910 no further crossbreeding
was conducted. The result was selection for specific traits determined
by region and extensive linebreeding was used to achieve those traits.
The dominant black Wagyu strains are Tottori,
Tajima, Shimane, and Okayama. Tajima cattle, bred in the Tajima region,
were originally chosen and bred for their heavy forequarters because
their primary use was to pull carts.
They tend to be smaller and less heavily muscled
than the Tottori breed. Tottori cattle, because they were used as pack
animals for the grain industry of the Tottori region, were selected
for their size and strength of topline.
The other main "breed" of Wagyu, was developed
on the island of Kyushu and are red in color. As with the blacks, there
are two distinct strains-Kochi and Kumamoto.
Kochi cattle were strongly influenced by Korean
breeding while Kumamoto are believed to have considerable Simmental
influence.
The original import of these cattle to the U.S.
in 1976 consisted of two Tottori Black Wagyu and two Kumamoto Red Wagyu
bulls.
That was the only importation of Wagyu into the
U.S. until 1993 when two male and three female Tajima cattle were imported
and 1994 when 35 male and female cattle consisting of both red and black
genetics reached the U.S.
The photographs and information on this page
were provided by the American Wagyu Association, P.O. Box 4071, Bryan,
TX 77805 Phone:(409) 260-0300
