American wagyu goes well with Prosciutto di Parma made in Mississippi.
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Just picking up on this thread. I'm far from any expert on the subject but it seems to me that there is more to the story then what the definition of American Wagyu is. AW has been available here in Texas for close to 20 years. I've tried half a dozen breeders throughout the area and have settled on Heart Brand Akaushi Certified. I stopped and visited with them at their Flatonia Ranch and they too decided to ditch the moniker American Wagyu. They were cautious to discuss percentages because its a blend ranging from pure Akaushi (the red cattle from Kumamoto Japan) to a variety of cross breeding with Angus and other breeds.
What's as important to me is not only defining the product but educating the public to the benefits of eating this style of beef. The natural availability of oleic acid in their fat is a great source of monounsaturated oil in your diet. The lower melting point of this kind of fat is what gives this beef it's excellent mouth feel and tenderness versus other cattle breeds.
Stick with naming your cattle with your brand name and explain why they are a better, and not just necessary from a cost standpoint.Comment
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Thanks all for the added input.
Our goal in marketing is to balance the desire to provide as much of the important information as possible, without overwhelming the majority of the customers.
We have for now decided against using the American Wagyu term, and focus just on "Fellers Ranch Wagyu". Our fear is that "American Wagyu" is becoming a bit like "grass fed", in that it is applied to cattle with a wide spectrum of quality.
Restaurants purchase the majority of our product right now, and we provide them with more detailed information than what we have on our website. (It is usually the lead chef that is making that type of decision, and most of them already have vast knowledge about different cuts, grades, BMS scores, etc. They are often interested in where our beef is raised, what the genetics are, how old the calves are at slaughter date, the weight of the cattle, length of dry aging, size of certain cuts, etc.)
Troutman You are absolutely correct in saying there is more to the story . . .
You have considerable knowledge given all of the varieties of Wagyu you have tried, and a farm visit that you made. . . . but for those new to this segment of the beef world: Wagyu is an umbrella term applied to all Japanese beef. There are 4 main varieties -- each of which is considered very high quality. Akaushi is called "Japanese shorthorn".
HeartBrand is really well known in the Akaushi portion of the Wagyu industry. . . and the calves that we have purchased with HeartBrand genetics have turned out well. Over the last few years, we have seen a great number of Akaushi that we saw when just starting out.
One of the selling points of Akaushi is that they are a bit more "efficient" to feed, and they attain slaughter weight a bit earlier that the other Wagyu varieties. A number of ranchers feel that they perform better on pasture than the black Wagyu varieties.
Now this may be a bit more in depth for some . . . . but, for those interested, our next embryo transfer project will involve crossing Akaushi/Red Angus oocytes (eggs) with black Wagyu semen (Macquarie Prelude). That way, the calves will be 75% Wagyu. We believe that the Red Angus (which comes from a very high marbling herd) will add some vigor to the embryos and calves. The purebred Wagyu embryos have not had as good of a "settling rate" and live birth percentages as is often seen in angus and other commercial breeds.
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I also think this is a awesome interview/webinar that AR did a while back. Worth watching on how Snake River Farms and others think about wagyu.
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