How Much Is A Wagyu Cow?
From rearing to calving, Wagyu cows are provided with all their needs. So, how much is a Wagyu cow worth? A Wagyu cow can cost more than $30,000. Known for their fatty meat and tenderness, the cost of raising Wagyu cows is high but worth it.
A wagyu cow can also be priced up to $30,000, and meat can retail as much as $200 per pound. So if you want to get a taste of this rare meat, your wallet should be prepared. Wagyu’s health benefits are already scientifically proven. Wagyu beef contains more monounsaturated fats than most other meats.
There’s been a lot of hype in the barbecue world lately regarding Wagyu, but there is also a lot of misunderstanding. Is it really worth the extra cost or is it overkill? The answer, in my opinion, is “that depends.”
Their normal intake is 1.4 to 4.0% of their body weight daily, but this can change depending on the type of diet they have. There are studies showing that if cows are fed on a dry basis a low-quality feed, they will consume between 1.8% and 2% of their body weight.
What Is Wagyu Beef And Is It Worth The Price? Wagyu beef is the most prized beef in the world because of its superior eating quality compared with other breeds of cattle. Not only does wagyu beef have higher levels of intra-muscular fat or marbling but the meat texture is finer, which results in a more aromatic culinary experience.
There are three main Wagyu breeds in Japan including:
- Japanese Black
- Japanese Brown
- Japanese Shorthorn
How Much Does Wagyu Cow Cost?
A mature female and calf of unique bloodlines will sell for $6000. Males for breeding are selling from $2500 upwards. Semen from proven sires sell from $20-$50/straw. Embryos sell generally in the $350-$600 price range.
Wagyu beef quality is considered by four categories, says Todd Brazile, executive chef for Sodexo at Space Center Houston: Marbling, color and brightness, firmness and texture, and the quality of the fat.
Wagyu cows live for about 30 months, sometimes 35. American cows, by comparison, are slaughtered at 15-22 months.
In the early 1900’s, one farmer wanted to repurpose the byproduct of olive oil production as feed for his cows. The animals’ manure fed the trees, so why not have the trees feed them?! There are only about 2,000 of these cows in the world and only a few are harvested per month, making this beef extremely rare.
Wagyu and Hanwoo cattle have high potential of accumulating intramuscular fat (IMF) and producing highly marbled beef. They are heart-healthy dietary fat because they can lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol while increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol.
Wagyu is definitely a premium beef product. It is different than Angus and other domestic breeds. Wagyu generally exhibits somewhat more marbling than USDA Prime with some subtle differences in the fat type and content, but to say that it is “better” than high quality Angus/Angus cross beef is a bit of a stretch.
The cost to have the animal slaughtered is $95 for a half or $190 for a whole, payable to the rancher. The cost to have the meat aged, cut, wrapped and frozen so it’s ready to take home is $1.25 per pound hanging weight. Hanging weight is usually 59% to 62% of the live weight. This is payable to the butcher.
What is the Wagyu breed?
The Wagyu breed while very small relative to other commercial breeds such as Angus, is highly sought after for their unique marbling abilities. The heavy marbling of Wagyu is what drives the demand, and as such we have prioritized that trait within our herd.
Generally, these animals aren’t harvested until they reach 30 months of age and the females aren’t bred until they reach two years of age.
First time heifers can be problematic and using a low birth weight bull will greatly improve cal ving ease.
With that, a creep feed routine is paramount with Wagyu calves. Those are the main two downsides. The other upsides are docility (toward humans more so than other cows), the ability to cover more cows as their semen quality is excellent, and finally low birth weight.