Dubbed “Passion for Prime,” the public event is intended to promote Wagyu beef and “to get the word out about the benefits of Wagyu beef and the cattle themselves,” said Mike Kerby, vice president of the American Wagyu Association.

Events begin with a gathering from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at the Greyhound Hall of Fame, 407 S. Buckeye, in Abilene. A $10 lunch will feature Wagyu brisket.

An auction of some 50 head of cattle, along with genetics — semen and embryos — is 1 p.m. Saturday at the Farmers & Ranchers Livestock Commission, a sale barn at 1500 Old U.S. Highway 40, just west of Salina.

Organizers suggest arriving early, as breeders and buyers are expected from all over North America plus Canada.

“It’s grown into a huge event. We will have people placing bids from all over the world,” Kerby said.”“There will be some rare stuff at the sale.”

Proponents of Wagyu — the name is translated as “black cow” — tout the breed for the meat it produces, which is known for its marbling, taste and tenderness, Kerby said.

The owner of Buck Mountain Ranch near Warsaw, Mo., Kerby started “Passion for Prime” six years ago as a place for Wagyu breeders and buyers in Missouri to connect.

“Word got out about what we were doing, and people from other states started asking ‘Can I come?’” Kerby said.

Soon speakers from China and Canada were booked and “Passion for Prime” began bouncing around the middle U.S. such as Oklahoma, to build some buzz about Wagyu cattle.

Hearty animals

The hearty animals will eat and gain muscle through extreme weather conditions and show resilience as they reproduce, Kerby said.

Wagyu are raised well into Canada where some breeders deal with 40 feet of snow a year, he said.

“They are literally all over the world,” he said, which includes Saline and Ottawa counties.

The breed showed so much promise that Salina ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Jerry Cossette, and his wife, Dani, now a nurse anesthetist, began pursuing the breed roughly a decade ago. Their operation, Gypsum Valley Wagyu Cattle Co., which sells mostly wholesale to distributors around the nation, welcomed their first Wagyu calf, produced through an embryo transplant, in March 2009.

The herd has since grown to 300 head, said Jack Cossette, Jerry’s brother, who manages the ranch.

“Every year there seems to be more demand for naturally raised Wagyu cattle, with what they used to call ‘Field to Fork’ traceability,” he said.

Less stressful births

Wagyu cows give birth to calves smaller than popular American breeds, Kerby said, making that process much less stressful on mothers and their young.

“It’s not uncommon to have a 50-pound calf, and they hit the ground growing,” he said.

But the “real advantage” is in the meat, loaded with marbling, that consistently rates above the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s top grade of prime. Roughly five years ago 3 percent of America’s production was graded at prime or above. Last year, a speaker reported that that number had risen to 15 percent, and much of the credit went to Wagyu’s influence.

″(Wagyu) will normally grade at high prime, or there is no way to grade it,” Kerby said. “You get a highly marbled steak that no other breed can compete with.”

He refers to the fat in the meat — marbling — as monounsaturated fat.

“It’s the healthy fat with a lot more Omega 3 and Omega 12 fatty acids than salmon. This marbling starts to melt at room temperature,” Kerby said. “It’s the only breed with the tender gene, the gene that makes the beef able to cut with a fork.”

The higher the marbling, the more it’s worth at a restaurant, Jack Cossette said, telling of steaks costing upwards of $170 served at fancy eateries.

Wagyu suppliers charge astronomical prices for the meat, he said, mentioning a Canadian company being paid $12,000 to $15,000 a carcass, versus $1,500 to $2,000 for the carcass of other breeds; $3,000 to $4,000 “if you piece it out by the steak,” he said.

Many commercial breeders in the United States have taken notice, Kerby said, and are incorporating Wagyu genetics into their herds.

Cross breeding cattle

Cross breeding domestic cattle with Wagyu through artificial insemination will produce a 50-percent Wagyu calf that fetches a hefty premium.

Bigger money comes from injecting females of other breeds with Wagyu embryos and using Wagyu semen to impregnate the cow, producing a full-blooded Wagyu calf.

“We’ve tripled the amount of prime because of the influence of the Wagyu bulls on commercial herds,” Kerby said.

The Wagyu invasion of the U.S. began in the 1970s when four bulls — two Wagyu Reds and two Wagyu Blacks — were exported to the States.

“There were no full-blood cows. Everything was crossbred,” he said.

U.S. producers began importing females in the 1990s, but the numbers were just in the hundreds, Kerby said.

To protect the breed integrity, he said, the Japanese government no longer allows live Wagyu cattle to leave the country. But the breed has been preserved in this nation.

Rare breed

Wagyu are still very rare in these parts.

“We’ve got genetics from the first animals brought into the country that I wouldn’t sell for less than $5,000 a straw (semen sample),” Kerby said.

With commodity prices low and weather unfavorable to spring planting Jack Cossette views the Wagyu cattle venture to be the most exciting on the farm and ranch.

“It’s still producing a pretty hefty profit, but it took us four years to get there,” he said. “You don’t make a dime until you make enough calves to sell, and they have to be finished cattle.”

The post Wild for Wagyu ~ Published by Salina Journal appeared first on Buck Mountain Ranch.

Mike Kerby produces Wagyu cattle on his Buck Mountain Ranch in the Missouri Ozarks and has worked hard promoting the Wagyu breed through his Passion for Prime Event. This year’s event will be held in June at Missouri State University and will be a consignment auction and workshop on the Wagyu breed.

Kerby points out that our labeling/branding of beef today in the U.S. does not adequately identify marbling. “We don’t have a marbling system, and we don’t have a labeling system. There has been a lot of talk about a new grading system overall, and at least a grading system that can identify Wagyu beef,” he says.

Kerby has been talking to many of the major Wagyu producers in this country. “It will be hard to come up with a system that labels the percentage such as half Wagyu, half Angus, as opposed to a Fullblood. A lot of the meat being produced is F1 so people don’t want to do that,” he points out.

“Regarding our current meat grading system, it would probably take an act of Congress to change it.”

He has talked to numerous ranchers recently to get some input on these two topics (the beef grades, and the need for branding/labeling Wagyu products) and is hoping to get additional feedback. “Perhaps eventually some of these thoughts could be presented to the American Wagyu Association board and help push something toward branding or labeling,” he says.

Labels and advertising can influence public perception and create a positive perception for Wagyu beef. “When I was a kid and went to the butcher shop with my parents, the photos behind the meat counter were Hereford cattle. Then over the years those photos became black cattle. The Angus breeders simply out-marketed everyone with all their advertising. You go to McDonalds today and get an Angus burger. You go to a restaurant or a grocery store and buy Certified Angus,” says Kerby.

“We are at the point now in the Wagyu breed that we have become the best beef producers in America. We are not the biggest, but as far as quality of the meat, day in and day out, Wagyu is it. We are still small enough but getting large enough that we now have to come up with a brand,” he explains.

“It should not be American Kobe or American Style Kobe or Kobe Beef. We

have to promote our own product and not take the name of another product, or we are not being truthful in our labeling.” An article on the Australian Wagyu Association website mentions that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recently held an investigation on the labeling of Wagyu beef produced in Australia.

The ACCC considered this matter in relation to their sections that deal with (1) misleading or deceptive conduct, (2) false or misleading representation that goods are of a particular standard, quality, value, grade, etc. and (3) conduct that is liable to mislead the public as to the nature, manufacturing process, characteristics or suitability for their purposes or quantity of goods. After looking into this matter, the ACCC decided not to pursue it any further at this time. The Australian Wagyu Association assisted with the investigation and welcomed this announcement. The AWA president Peter Gilmour said, “We continue to support truth in labeling principles fundamental to Australian consumer law.”

The Australian government dropped the investigation in late December 2015, but Kerby says American Wagyu producers should take note. “How would you like to be a rancher just trying to make a living and then have someone from the USDA show up and tell you that you’ve violated truth in labeling. One of the things the USDA does is enforce truth in labeling and advertising. If it’s Prime, it had better be Prime,” he says.

“Not only are we facing the chances of litigation in the future, on the extreme side, but we are not helping ourselves for the future. People are starting to learn about Wagyu beef and what it is. I travel all over the world and see it on menus in many of the nicer hotels, and we’re starting to see it in more and more restaurants. Regarding labeling, we should not be hiding behind another product or saying it’s like Kobe beef. It’s Wagyu beef. Many producers are saying we should just call it American Wagyu, or even just Wagyu,” Kerby says.

“Maybe we could incorporate the American Wagyu Association logo, which everyone is trying to use, with the branding of this beef. Is it enforceable for the Association to say: ‘Don’t make us come out there and change your advertising?” No. You or I or a board member have no power to regulate and enforce anything we come up with regarding labeling. But we can highly encourage it, and get everybody’s advertising dollar, whether it’s a person who is selling 10 head of cattle per year or 300 head per year,” he says.

“When producers put their advertising in the local restaurants or high end beef shops, we should have a set logo that everyone will stand behind and that the public will recognize. If we are ever going to become a major player in the industry, we need to have this. If you look at the grade Prime in the U.S., it’s up 2 to 4% from what it was, and this is due to the contribution of Wagyu bulls being used on commercial cattle,” says Kerby.

“There is no reason for us to be saying that we are trying to be like the Japanese people, because we are not. We produce great beef here, but I don’t know of anyone in this country who has produced $400 per pound beef, like I’ve seen come out of Kobe, Japan. Yet we have carcasses that could be rated as 4 or 5 grades above Prime. This is where a carcass camera can be useful,” he says.

“There are very few carcass cameras in the U.S. however. Even if we don’t have a carcass camera, we can come up with an IMF (intramuscular fat, or marbling) score, though it won’t appear on our USDA grade. I personally think it would be a good idea to come up with a logo and labeling that we can all get behind, and push it as much as possible—and discourage the use of the word Kobe. Let’s be proud of what we have. We have the top-of-the-line here and shouldn’t be trying to mimic anybody,” he says.

Wagyu has the quality, and will always compete—on any market in the beef industry. “We can call it American Wagyu or just Wagyu and let the public decide, and hopefully our board will get behind this and do it. I’ve talked to a lot of restaurants in the U.S. and they are all serving Australian Wagyu beef. One of the speakers at my Passion for Prime event 2 years ago said that only 20% of the Wagyu beef eaten in the U.S. is produced in the U.S. Everything else is imported. What a massive market climb we could have, if we could just expand to take over our own market. I don’t want purveyors of nice restaurants and butcher shops to think they have to go to Australia or Japan to get good Wagyu. We need to have a logo and get behind it,” he says.

He uses state inspectors to ship meat out of the state. “But I didn’t know until recently that there are state graders who will come out and grade our meat. I had one come to my place and he’d never graded a Wagyu before. He wasn’t sure how to grade it because he had no experience with this kind of meat. I had photos of the Japanese marbling scale, and he looked at that, and then guessed that my meat was 4 grades above Prime,” says Kerby.

“We need to come up with a grading system. A well-known producer in Australia has his own labeling—C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5. He tells his customers that C5 is his prime, and tells them what they’ll pay for it. C1 is good, but not as good as C2, C3 or C4. We can’t tell USDA that we’re going to redo the whole grading system. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but it would take a lot of push from our Association and a lot of marketing, at the national level. That would be a huge uphill battle,” he says.

“One alternative would be for us, in the Wagyu industry, to have 5 grades, and they could be mixed with the USDA grades. Any carcass that was Prime or above could be a W5 (Wagyu 5), for instance, or whatever we decided to call it—to create some kind of labeling system,” he says.

People who have experience in grading could help guide this and give ideas on how to set it up. “We could come up with a laddered or grading system that everyone could use, that goes along with the USDA scale. I also think that with the proper information to producers, we could probably get some good feedback that we might be able to compile and maybe make a recommendation to the board,” he says.

This is something the Wagyu industry has needed for a long time. “It’s been talked about a lot, yet nothing has happened; nobody does anything about it. This year we have 6 auctions scheduled for the Wagyu breed, and that’s the most we’ve ever had. The growth is here. I feel that if we don’t get hold of it now, and get in front of it, it will be harder to catch up later.” The breeders need to get on board and move forward in a unified way.

“We need a logo, and we need our name. Our logo should be professionally done, and available to all producers through the AWA or the Texas association. We all need to get behind creating a logo and a common marketing tool,” says Kerby.

With input from producers who have done this all their lives, it might be possible to come up with a grading system that could be used within the industry so everyone is on the same playing field. “The worst thing we can do is finally get national recognition because the USDA is investigating claims of misleading advertising!” This is not how Wagyu breeders want to be remembered!

All the breeders he has talked with on these two topics (consistent, accurate labeling, and a grading system) have said we need to have this, and that it should have been done a long time ago. “We don’t want to force anybody into anything, but we need to come up with recommendations that might make it a lot easier to implement. We are reaching out to the ranchers and asking for their opinions and ideas on how to do this and improve our system,” he says.

“My goal is to talk to people smarter than me and put together an idea and present it to the board. Hopefully we can have something implemented. This isn’t something I’m wanting to do just for my farm. I want to do this for my industry that I have invested my life and my dollars into, for the next generation. If we start building a brand that we can stand behind and grow behind, this will be better for our future,” says Kerby.

The present grading system started with ideas at an earlier time. People have to start somewhere and create something that works and stands the test of time. “Our current grading system for beef is antiquated and probably needs to be updated. As a good place to start, why can’t we lobby—from our association—and say that the present grading system just doesn’t go high enough for this breed of cattle. We need a new system because often these cattle will go far above Prime. That would be great marketing, to reach the people who have never heard of Wagyu. We have advantages that we talk about inside the industry, but those advantages have to be screamed from the hilltop so the consumer can hear it. If that happens, we all win.”

The meat-eating public needs to realize there is beef available that goes beyond what consumers have traditionally considered top-of-the-line. “I was at a grocery store recently and saw a display of certified USDA Choice Angus beef! They are promoting Choice! That’s like saying ‘we have the best average beef on the market’ but it’s advertising, and people don’t understand the grades enough to know what to buy. We’ll never have a Prime cut or a Wagyu 5 cut and have everybody understand it, but we could get behind the breed, the labeling, the marketing, so we are unified, and everybody’s advertising dollar is pushing the same agenda and make a difference.”

Kerby feels strongly that we need to do it soon, because the bigger the Wagyu industry becomes, the harder it will be to turn this big ship around. Even if the average consumer doesn’t understand a grading system, the people who are buying meat for high end catering, restaurants, etc. will understand it.

“If we have a uniform logo, it could be on the menus at the restaurants. This could help educate the consumer, advertising this breed of cattle. It could be used ultimately for retail purposes,” says Kerby.

Angus breeders started their marketing a few years back and it has paid off for them today. “We are not going to be the everyday beef, like Angus. That’s not going to happen. But we are the premium beef and we need to be marketing as the premium beef and the healthiest beef,” he says. It’s an educational process.

“The one thing I know about marketing is that you have to tell people something multiple times because at first they are not going to remember it. If they see or hear it enough, it starts to sink in, and maybe feel that it’s something they want to remember. If we are all using the same labeling for this beef, every time there’s advertising in a magazine or a restaurant or a butcher shop, it’s repetitive and something people will come to recognize. We need to have a brand, and the ultimate goal of any association is not to promote itself but to promote the cattle.” Without the cattle, you won’t have an association.

“It’s time to take that step. If a group of people agree upon it and the associations get behind it and help create the final plan, we can move forward. We are still in our growing, infancy stage with this breed, but we are no longer taking baby steps. We need to become organized in our advertising. Right now, there are many different logos and everyone keeps changing them. We need to get a logo and focus our marketing and stand behind it.” The element of recognition is lost if things keep changing.

“With 10 different ranchers advertising their beef 8 different ways, it’s confusing. I really think the grading part will be the hardest. At our Passion for Prime auction in June I am going to try to get a meat grader from the state of Missouri to come and speak. This could give us some insight, realizing that we do have cattle that quite often will go Prime or above, and an opportunity to ask the questions about what it would take to get a new grading system. Even if that’s not possible, maybe we as an industry can come up with something that will work—regardless of whether we are producing F1s or fullbloods or purebreds, to be graded on this scale,” says Kerby. This is something everyone could stand behind, recognizing the exceptional carcasses—whatever they are.

“If we can come up with something simple that everybody was using, we may not have to reinvent the whole wheel. We’d have something that everybody could relate to, and the meat buyers and chefs could relate to, over time, and we don’t want it to get a black eye from a consumer protection agency or the USDA. If we are not truthful in our labeling, at some point it will come back to bite us.”

He feels that the Wagyu associations should eventually come up with guidelines for the industry, and a logo that could be downloaded off the website to use on menus, websites and advertising. “We just need to all get behind it, for the future of our breed. I think we will have a long run and a great future. I want this to be a family legacy for our children. The better we can make this breed, the better it will be for our children and grandchildren and beyond.”

The post Making the Grade ~ Published by Wagyu World appeared first on Buck Mountain Ranch.

A few years ago the Kerby family radically changed their business model on the family ranch (400 acres, with an additional 700 acres of leased pasture and hay ground) in central Missouri. Mike and his son Brandon went from raising Angus cattle to raising Wagyu. This was a big move—a leap of faith. No longer would they have the ease and security of heading to the local sale barn to sell that year’s calf crop, or the resources that the Angus Association offers in genetic mapping, backed by thousands of animals.

When asked why they changed their operation, Mike says it was a big decision but also a simple one. “It comes down to dollars and cents. I realized that we can only run so many head of cattle on our farms. So why not raise cattle with the highest profit potential? There is definitely a premium for Wagyu cattle,” he says.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN – “We live near the small town of Warsaw, Missouri. It’s a resort town with only about 2000 people, but on weekends we might have 20,000 people from all over the country. We are located between Truman Lake and Lake of the Ozarks—two of the biggest lakes in Missouri, and a popular destination for tourists,” he says.

“Some of our farms are close to Warsaw, and we have more land farther east, near the town of Edwards. It makes our farm management challenging because we are spread over a 10 mile circle, but it’s difficult to find 1000 acres all together,” says Kerby.

His main farm is located in very rural country. “If you want to go see a movie, you have to drive 45 miles. I drive 40 miles each way to go to church. But it’s a nice town, small community, and beautiful country. We have water everywhere with the lakes and streams, and lots of wildlife,” he explains.

“I am 51 years old and have been a financial advisor my entire adult life. I drive an hour to work, to my Springfield office. It can take a half hour just to drive across town in that city. I’d much rather drive down my driveway and see 5 or 6 deer and some wild turkeys than be in traffic. It’s a much better way to start and end my day,” he says.

“I am an outdoorsman and love to hunt and fish. I fished professionally when I was young, until a car wreck retired me from that activity. Prior to my accident, I’d purchased a farm in central Missouri for deer hunting. My bookkeeper told me that if I had cattle on the farm it would save me thousands of dollars in taxes because of all the expenses on the farm that I could write off,” explains Kerby.

Reluctantly, he bought some Angus cattle. “Then, being an outdoor person, I discovered that I actually liked having cattle. I enjoyed working with them, and it grew on me. I had been around cattle all my life, one way or another. After the first year of owning cattle, however, I realized that this was too involved and too much work just to do it for a tax write-off,” he says.

“I got into the Wagyu breed by blind luck. I was having lunch with a financial client of mine at a restaurant and there were Wagyu steaks on the menu for more than
$60. I was familiar with Kobe beef and had a chance to talk to the chef. We started talking about the price. He was buying carcasses from a ranch that raises these cattle, and this immediately piqued my interest,” says Kerby.

GETTING INTO WAGYU – “I realized there is money to be made in Wagyu. I predict that this breed’s growth and its own education in genetic testing, etc. will be tremendous. It has been growing much faster the last couple of years than it did in the previous 5 to 10 years, partly because of some of the genetic tests that are now available and the education that most ranchers are getting about this breed and its genetics,” says Kerby.

After months of research he knew the strengths and weaknesses of this breed–and as a family they decided to make the change. They started purchasing cattle and embryos from breeders all over the U.S. and some in Australia. “We tried to find the best donor cows and semen to build our herd,” he explains.

“This is an expensive breed to get into, so most of the ranchers who are trying to grow their herds are doing AI and in-vitro fertilization for embryo flushes. For us, this was a new concept. We did a lot of research, and went to TransOva and Genex. We traveled to meet a specialist, and met embryologists in our local communities. We sent our AI specialist to embryo school to become an embryologist. That way we knew we could have someone here, working with our breeding program, who is up to date on the latest technique. I think this will help our future success,” he says.

Mike and his youngest son, Brandon, run the ranch. “After we got into Wagyu cattle, Brandon became involved. Without him, I couldn’t do this; it would be too much work for me, with the schedule I carry. I am more of an assistant to him, on the day-to-day ranch chores. We work together on our breeding program,” says Kerby.

“We have been mainly an AI and embryo breeding program, and only use bulls that are proven—that have a good track record. With AI we can use proven bulls from anywhere in the world. One thing I’ve learned is that no matter how good a bull looks, if he doesn’t have the genetic material for marbling and calving ease you could be setting your operation back many years. So we are very careful on that,” says Kerby.

Most ranchers he talks to are really interested in what the bull is, but overlook or don’t put enough attention on the cow. They tend to forget that the bull is only half of that calf’s genetics. “We look at our cows as being a huge part of our breeding program. All our cows go through the same genetic tests, marbling tests, fat tests, etc. as the bulls. When we flush cows, we only flush the top 7% of our herd.”

Buck Mountain Ranch also uses sexed semen. With the price of heifers right now, he is trying to produce as many heifers as possible. This year about 90% of the flushes were done with pre-sexed semen, to produce heifers instead of bulls.

“I think a person can have as good a success in conception rates using pre-sexed semen as using conventional semen. Pre-sexed semen has a bad rap, with statistics showing lower success in getting embryos. But we’ve gotten as many as 7 grade one embryos from one flush, using sexed semen. I think it can help get a person to their herd size goal faster,” he says.

“Most of our embryo calves are born from Angus recipients. The extra milk from the Angus cows gives our calves a boost; this makes a huge difference in the health and growth of the calf crop,” says Kerby.

BREEDING PROGRAM AND GOALS – “Our goal at Buck Mountain Ranch is to breed some of the top seedstock in the country. There are a lot of great Wagyu breeders and we like to think we are one of them. Our ranch raises Full Blood Black and Full Blood Red as well as crosses of these. I encourage every Wagyu rancher to use rotational breeding, using both types. I tell people to look at the red genetics because of the vigor you get. If you cross a high-growth red bull on a high-marbling black cow for your rotational breeding, you will be amazed at the size difference in the offspring. The composite half black, half red Wagyu is much bigger than even a very large black Wagyu,” says Kerby.

“Most ranchers don’t consider Wagyu because they tend to be small animals. But the crossbred black/red Wagyu are bigger and still have plenty of marbling. They just develop faster and grow bigger. Their milking ability is much better than the standard black Wagyu. There is a lot going for the cross, especially with our limited gene pool in this breed,” he explains.

One rancher came to look at his heifers, knowing about Wagyu and how small they are compared to animals in most beef breeds. “He looked at how big our red composites are, and then went to a competitor’s ranch to look at their heifers—and said he would probably come back to buy ours just because of the size difference. Since we are primarily a seedstock operation, our philosophy is to have them a little bigger than the typical Wagyu,” says Kerby.

“Our females are huge. Everyone who visits our farm can’t believe how large our cows are. We recently had bull buyers here who were traveling the country to find bulls for their company and they remarked that ours were the biggest yearling bulls they’d ever seen. This is all because of our deliberate and meticulous breeding program,” he says.

“The first semen from our top bulls will be available in 2015. We want to run our ranch like an open book. We are using everything at our disposal to create our donor program–from the latest genetic tests to ultrasound scan—and sharing this information with our customers so they know exactly what they are buying when they are looking for their next herd bull or donor cow,” he says.

“We have some yearling bulls we are getting ready to ultrasound. I think that the more information we can offer buyers—on the bull or heifer they are buying—the better choices they will be able to make. We grade and price our livestock according to how they do on the ultrasound, tenderness, genetic makeup, etc. If we have something that truly excels in the desired traits, it will be a little more expensive, but the ranch that buys that animal will know exactly what they are getting. It’s not just pedigree,” he explains.

“Not all offspring of a good bull are equal. We know that the wrong bull or donor cow can set your program back years. The more information the breeders get, the better choices they will be able to make, to help their own operations. There is no guessing; our customers know what they are buying,” says Kerby.

MARKETING AND NETWORKING – People often ask him what the drawbacks are to Wagyu. “First is the cost to get started. Second is how to sell your calves when you can’t take them to the local sale barn,” he says.

He has met most of the Wagyu ranchers in the Midwest, or talked with them on the phone and has made it a priority to reach out and get to know them and network with them. “Most of these people are the best ranchers I’ve ever met. They know what they are doing when it comes to breeding, feeding, mineral programs, etc. but marketing is the big challenge. Because it’s a niche breed they often wonder where they can sell these animals. Many of them are better breeders than marketers,” says Kerby. With nearly any other breed of cattle, you can take them to the local sale barn and get market price for them, and get a check that day. It’s more difficult with Wagyu.

“I’ve made a point to meet or talk with most of the big ranches in the U.S. and also in Canada and Australia. I’ve found that the average ranchers are very good at what they do on the farm but what they often struggle with is being able to market their cattle. To help with this, Brandon and I held the first Mid-West Wagyu event last April. It was different from anything else I’ve seen in this industry. It was a one-day networking event that highlighted guest speakers on topics ranging from feeding to maximizing a breeding operation with ET and AI, with tips to get conception rates higher. Since I am a financial advisor, I talked about how to keep your ranch out of probate and to leave a legacy.”

“We had mineral companies talking about their products and buyers from one of the major F1 markets. Ranchers from 13 states attended and it was a great success. We put together a book that included everybody’s contact information, what they raise, what they sell, etc. Our goal was to get everyone together and get to know each other. I think we are stronger by working together,” he says.

“Our plan is to host the first Mid-West sale in 2016. The breeders in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, etc. have to travel a long ways to attend a Wagyu auction. There are many great auctions in California and the east coast, Texas and the Northeast. We also need one that’s centrally located, so we are planning to host it in Springfield, Missouri. There will be a dinner, and the day before the auction we’ll have a full day educational event with guest speakers. People can learn more about the genetic tests, different feeding programs, etc. and the next day go to the auction. Since Springfield is centrally located near Branson and 3 major lakes, we tell people to come to our event and stay for a vacation,” says Kerby.

He feels that the more education people have and the more they learn about Wagyu, the more they realize it makes sense to add some of this breed into their herd, no matter what the base breed. With Wagyu’s exceptional marbling and calving ease, this can help any herd. “If we can keep our bulls at desirable size, I think every rancher would want some of these genetics in their herd,” says Kerby.

For new ranchers who want advice about getting into this breed, he tells them to do their research. “It takes a lot of money to get started embryo flushing, but this is the fastest way to build a cow herd,” he says.

He recently teamed up with a good friend and like-minded rancher, Chuck Davis, who owns D&H Wagyu in Marshall, Missouri who has 100-plus Angus cows they are using in an ET program. “We supply the embryos and use his cows for recips, and split the calf crop. It cuts the costs for both of us. We didn’t have to buy more recip cows and he didn’t have to buy donor cows or embryos so it works great for both ranches,” he says.

This is something small ranchers could look at, to get started. When embryos cost as much as $1500 to $2500 apiece, it helps to be able to partner with someone who is doing this. Right now recipient cows are also expensive.

The two ranches are about an hour’s drive apart–but work well together. “Chuck is a great partner, with a lot of cattle experience. Within a year and a half we’ll both have about 100 fullbloods, so between us we’ll have 200 Wagyu cows. This will be a good start to help support the sale we’re planning for 2016. Networking has helped us both.” Kerby feels the future is bright for the Wagyu breed and says he and his family are thrilled to be a part of it.

FAMILY – “Without my son Brandon, we wouldn’t be as far along in our program as we are now. This is a team effort and the most exciting thing is that it’s a family business that I hope to pass down to future generations,” says Kerby.

“I am a single dad, with 4 kids. I became a single parent when they were babies. It’s been an interesting 20 years, raising my kids. They are grown now; my youngest daughter is 18 and just started college. All my kids have stayed in our local area. My oldest son Nick works in my financial business and eventually may take it over. My oldest daughter is married and has 4 children. We recently celebrated with a birthday party for my youngest son and two of my grandkids. This was a big event,” he says.

“These young grandchildren like to help on the farm. We go out and look at our cattle, or go fishing or look at the deer. It’s a great place to raise kids. We have beautiful streams here in the Ozarks and I enjoy going out for a day with them to wade and swim and catch crawdads. Soon they’ll be hunting the whitetail deer that roam our ranches,” says Kerby.

Family is first, with him. “We have our family events and these special occasions are high priority in our family. We have to come together for these, or we will lose touch,” says Kerby. He and his family also enjoy sharing their outdoor experience with other people, especially children. “We have kids from the inner city that come out to our farm, and we have some youth programs. Some kids have never even seen a crawdad,” he says. He likes to give these children the opportunity to get out to the farm and the woods and enjoy nature.

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