Expensive Taste
At $55 Per Pound, This Beef Melts in Your Mouth
Raising Japanese cattle in the heart of the Ozarks puts JB Kobe Beef Farms way outside the U.S. beef-production box.
This Nixa, Mo., operation, run by Justin Baker and his mom, Joey, isn't focused on many of the traditional benchmarks important to most cattlemen. Having run a crossbred herd prior to specializing, they are certainly familiar with conventional indicators like weaning weights and days on feed. But those things just don't hold as much importance now. With Wagyu, the rules are different.
Justin explained when you're producing American Kobe beef from full-blood and high-percentage Wagyu cattle, the endgame has far more to do with quality than it does with efficiency.
"It's all about taste," Justin said. "Taste and tenderness are everything in this business. Our goal is to raise the absolutely best-tasting beef you've ever experienced."
Ten years ago, the Bakers bought a Wagyu bull and four cows from Washington State University. Since then, they've expanded the herd to more than 100 head and have seen values increase as more people have become familiar with the beef and demand has grown. A JB Kobe Beef Farms full-blood Wagyu rib-eye steak fetches about $55 per pound. The same cut from three-quarter Wagyu steers sells at $33 per pound. This year, the Bakers expect to harvest six full-blood steers and about 20 of their high-percent steers. They say they could sell more if they had them, but keeping the numbers manageable is key to keeping the quality up.
Just what is a Wagyu? This is simply the Japanese word for cow, although in the U.S., it's a designated breed. Kobe is an area in Japan where a strain of Wagyu earned a reputation for high quality, comparable to sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. The American version of Kobe beef comes from percentage or full-blood cattle genetically traceable back to this region of Japan.
BLUE BLOODS OF BEEF
The Bakers take a purist approach to Kobe beef production. Through artificial insemination and embryo transfer, they've built up their full-blood herd and upgraded Angus-based cows. At this point, all the beef JB Kobe Beef Farms markets is coming from steers that are three-quarters Wagyu or higher. They also market meat from their full-bloods.
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Baker's cattle descend from Japanese Blacks with a concentration of highly regarded Tajima genetics to assure intense marbling. In fact, the Bakers have sons of the breed's first- and second-highest marbling bulls, and they own the third-highest EPD sire for marbling in the world.
Intensely marbled, dramatically more than USDA prime, connoisseurs say Kobe beef melts in your mouth with a rich, buttery taste. For health-focused consumers, it also has higher percentages of monounsaturated fats and Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids. It is lower in cholesterol than commodity beef.
So, if the beef is so incredibly tasty and healthy, not to mention expensive, why don't all cattlemen have Wagyu cattle in their pastures?
"It's not an easy breed to deal with," Justin explained. "To start, the cattle are incredibly expensive, they are somewhat fragile, and it takes a good three years to get a steer ready for processing. It definitely isn't a get-rich-quick enterprise."
TIME AND DEDICATION
Wagyu cattle are fine-boned and slow growing. They have not been bred for reproductive efficiency and, as a result, many females don't breed back on time. They can also be prone to various health issues.
The big issue, however, is the time that needs to be invested to make an enterprise like this work.
"You can't cheat if you're going to produce extremely high-quality beef," Justin explained. "You can't push them. It's four years from breeding to beef. The marbling we're after is not going to be there until the cattle are at least 3 years old.
"That means you're going to have to maintain herds of weanlings, yearlings, 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds, in addition to the cows and bulls. You end up having a lot of time and money invested."
And then there is the scrupulous testing. Every animal in JB pastures is genetically tested through the American Wagyu Association to verify its Japanese heritage. Pulling blood and hair from every calf also isolates possible genetic faults associated with the strain. Every year, a few select bulls are sold to other breeders. None of the animals receive growth hormones or proactive antibiotics.
All cattle run on fescue/orchardgrass pastures interseeded with clovers. The operation has some 350 acres of pastures, adding to that as needed with additional land leases. To extend seasonal quality, turnips are interseeded for fall and early-winter grazing. Steers are finished on pasture with a grain-based ration for a minimum of 12 months. The ration is called a "trade secret" by the Bakers.
QUALITY TIME
"As much as we'd like to speed up the process, we don't do anything to compromise the quality of the beef or its appeal to our customers," Baker noted.
Finished Wagyu steers, weighing about 1,400 pounds, go to a nearby USDA-inspected plant for processing. Carcass yields can be as high as 68%. All cuts are marketed through the Bakers' web site (www.kobemidwest.com) or by one of three retailers in the Springfield, Mo., area.
"I've never had anybody who didn't like it," Baker concluded. "It's good. I've always loved beef, but every time I take a bite of this beef, I'm still amazed at how great it tastes."
(VM/CZ)
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