What is Kobe Beef?
What are Kobe Beef Cattle?
First a word of caution! This is written by memory from many years of hearing, reading and studying about Kobe Beef. The author is a Senior Cowboy from Texas and the content may be BS, Opinion or Actual. You job is to sort out which and use as you see fit.
Kobe Beef has become famous in the last several years because of its extreme taste, marbling and tenderness. It gets its name from the city in Japan where the cattle were first bred many years ago. Also for many years it was not available outside Japan.
Kobe Beef Cattle
What are Kobe Beef Cattle? So far as I can learn there are none. Kobe beef comes from Wagyu cattle. I understand that Wa means Japanese style and gyu means cattle. Sounds reasonable to me that possibly all original Japanese cattle might be Wagyu. What difference does it make if the quality is there?
I believe Wagyu cattle were first imported into the USA in 1976 and like all new imports they were slow to develop very many numbers and then and now most are cross breeds. But again, if the Quality is there What Difference does it make? Some research even says Wagyu was developed from Asian cattle crossed with British and European breeds in the late 1800s. But more recent tales are that the breed has been closed since 1910.
In modern times there are lots of folks who developed their own genetic lines and of course each one has the best in the whole wide world. How can that be? BS or Opinion we won’t get into specific lines in this short article. Wagyu is a horned breed and can be either black or red and stories say they have a taste for beer.
Some of the research material says Wagyu beef has a higher ratio of mono-unsaturated fatty acid to saturated fatty acid. The beef is more tender and tasty. And Wagyu cattle can improve marbling and quality grade in crosses and deliver calving ease at the same time.
Bragging rights tell us that Wagyu bulls are very fertile, have strong libido and are adaptable to all types of weather and terrain.
Research tells us that according to USA standards Wagyu bulls have inferior scrotal measurements and in Japan most are raised inside barns most of their life, massaged and exercised very little.
Historically Wagyu cattle have been much older at slaughter than most cattle in the USA with many going 30 to 36 months by the time they are ready. I have also read that their feed conversion can be as high as 10 to 1. All this sounds like that increase in quality may come with some increased costs. But as one source says, what difference does it make if you can sell beef up to $600.00 per pound.
In the USA if a ribeye has 6 to 8% intramuscular fat or marbling it is considered a prime steak. It is said that Japanese beef has up to 20 to 25% intramuscular fat.
What an opportunity for anyone wanting to upgrade the quality of their beef cattle. From what I have read it seems that a majority of crossbreeding in the USA has been with Black Angus. I believe we can do better by getting all that color blindness behind us. Have you ever heard of British White Cattle? Angus is a polled Black English breed. British Whites are a polled white English breed.
Yes, I raise British Whites. I personally bred and raised a British White bull that sired a couple of heifers that ultra-sounded to have over 9.8% intramuscular fat at 13 months of age. One of my British White cows weaned a bull calf that was 69% of her weight at 7 months of age. An ultrasound has shown British White rib eyes to be as much as 1.6 per hundred pounds of live weight in an industry that is proud of anything over 1.2. A British White bull with my herd name on him was top gaining bull over 62 bulls in a college bull test.
Many years ago an English Author described a British White carcass as having very little interior fat and what was there was interlarded within tissue.
In my opinion a cross between British Whites and Wagyu would have an extremely good chance of producing a great piece of beef that would closely resemble true Kobe Beef and would satisfy today’s USA appetite for gourmet beef.