EUROPEAN WAGYU GALA – SALE REPORT & SYMPOSIUM REVIEW
· €30,000 Heifer Top Price
· Five-month-old calf makes €12,000
· Breeding Bulls to €11,500
· Semen to €3,600 per straw
· Embryos up to €3,600 each
Saturday 12 September 2020 saw the annual European Wagyu Gala take place in Muenster, Germany, with a high-achieving online auction grossing €445,000 preceded by a symposium featuring two international speakers: Scott de Bruin, Mayura Station and former Australian Wagyu Association President; and PJ Budler originally from South Africa but now more often found in Fort Worth, Texas.
Sale Spectacular
The sale achieved a full clearance with females sold to €30,000, bulls up to €11,500, embryos at €3,600 and a tremendous €3,600 per straw figure for five straws of Mayura Prologue, a son of the top-ranking Australian-bred sire Mayura Itoshigenami Junior, realising a whopping €18,000 for the five-straw bundle with a further five straws going under the hammer for €14,000. This was perhaps the headline price and eclipsed the AUS$4,500 paid for Mayura Prologue semen at this spring’s Australian Elite Wagyu Sale. Prologue has a marbling score EBV of +3 and an SRI (Self Replacing Index) of AUS$287.
Itsuko -Leading Price at €30,000
Topping the sale at €30,000 was Itsuko, a July 2018-born heifer with outstanding genetic heritage, from Wagyu breeder Alexander Looshen. Sired by Aizatzuru 10.201401, the paternal side is dominated by the foundation bulls Fukutsuru and Kikutsurodoi both well-known for marbling; whilst the maternal side boasts Itozurudoi, a sire for growth, frame and milk, as well as the 100% Tajima cow, Kinu Y385, coming from Blackmore breeding.
Miss Pepper €21,000 pictured with her grandsire Mayura Itoshigenami Junior, Number One sire worldwide
Next best female at €21,000 was the June 2019-born Ms Pepper, by the Mayura Itoshigenami Junior son, Peppermill Grove, and out of a dam with good maternal traits combined with top carcase figures. Seller was Marblelution Genetics. Mayura Itoshigenami Junior is the Number One ranked sire with an SRI of AUS$+343.
Third-highest heifer was another Peppermill Grove daughter, again from Marblelution Genetics, this time in the shape of Ilka, a January 2019-born in-calf heifer featuring bloodlines from two prominent Australian breeders, Westholme & Blackmore. Ilka sold for a healthy €14,500.
Two further animals made €12,000 apiece in the form of the five-month-old heifer calf Ms Kanitoshi and the yearling heifer Miss Reeves. Another four females made €10,000 per head. Two bulls reached five figures with the leading price of €11,500 paid for Mr Nikuru, a son of Itozuru Doi with his great combination of growth and marbling, sold by Wagyu DE. At €10,000 was the red Wagyu bull Mr Garant from the same home.
The trade in embryos was strong with a leading price of €3,600 per embryo for a mating of Sumo Cattle Co Michifuku and out of a Mayura dam with top 1% figures from Marcel Merz/Mayura Farms.
Averages:
39 Females €7,567
3 Bulls €8,833
73 Embryos €1,254
10 Semen Straws €3,200
Total Sale Gross €445,150
Symposium Review
Wagyu Breeders Association Company Secretary, Richard Saunders, writes:
“It was great to hear Wagyu cattle perspectives from one of the foremost Australian cattle breeders, Scott de Bruin, who runs Mayura Station on the Limestone Coast in SE Australia. This Wagyu operation was established in 1998 with the import of 25 females and 4 bulls and now numbers 8,500 Fullbloods marketing 40,000kg of retail beef per month. Exports account for 70% of production mostly to China, the Far East and Middle East. Key to the success of the Mayura brand has been data collection: DNA for analysis, 8-weekly weighings and carcase assessment for marble score, eye muscle area and rib fat with a big emphasis placed on identifying the top 5% performers within the herd. According to Scott, creditable data means minimum carcase numbers for sire and dam; consistent feeding programmes; and evaluating the performance of management groups. Profitability is the key strategy at Mayura with the specific objective being to reduce age to slaughter (24-26 months versus the Australian average of 36-40 months) but still maintaining a superior carcase. Scott recognises Breedplan as the most advanced genetic evaluation system in the world – this being the vehicle for increased performance and predictability. ‘Don’t be afraid of cattle that carry recessive disorders’ was a final message noting that these could be the best performing commercial cattle. By way of conclusion, Scott summed up his three tips for a successful future breeding strategy: a) get your data assessed by a third party; b) use high-accuracy performance-proven sires; and c) collect data and progeny test.”