Red Wagyu hardier and more beefy than black, finds Bannockburn farmer

With 38 breeding cows and followers on 120 hectares, his expanding pedigree herd is the largest in Australia.

Mr Tretheway started the stud as a "hobby" of sorts but he has helped the breed find its niche, with bulls selling as far as northern Queensland.

"I registered the most [calves] in Australia last year and I registered 25," he said.

"The numbers are in the hundreds, not thousands."

Mr Tretheway first started breeding Red Wagyu after selling a 1200ha sheep and grain operation and downsizing.

He initially supplied bulls to his son and daughter in law, Sam and Steph Trethewey, who ran a grass-to-beef Wagyu operation in Tasmania, under the brand Tas Ag Co.

The Bannockburn farmer said the breed is related but very different from the Black Wagyu, with Red Devon and Simmental genetics in the breed's background.

"I believe the Japanese decided they needed more eating quality cattle, not knowing what they had with the Black Wagyu at that stage because they were a beast of burden," he said.

Mr Trethewey said the European breeds were used to influence the Japanese cattle to create a more rounded, more beef style animal.

"They still marble quite well but not as well as the blacks," he said.

He said the word 'Wagyu' meant Japanese cow and like how there were several British breeds, there were four or five Japanese breeds.

"You can't lob Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn all together so you can't really lob all the Wagyus in together either," he said.

"Although we do in Australia.

"They're a completely different animal and they're not related."

Mr Trethewey said the Red Wagyu cows were low maintenance and they calved outdoors, unassisted.

"The Black Wagyu are not a robust calf but that's not the case with these," he said, adding that calves average 33 kilograms at birth.

"I haven't had to deal with a mothering up of a calf and weaning weights at four to five months are brilliant.

"They don't suffer from that poor milk like their black cousins do.

"They have more beef breed attributes."

Mr Trethewey said he used natural breeding on his cows for the first time this year after some challenges with AI.

"This year we used natural breeding for two reasons," he said.

"Firstly, we had a really bad joining last year and with the AI, we only got six out of the 38 and the rest were by follow up bulls.

"It was fine and I got calves but they weren't the genetic gains that I was hoping for.

Mr Trethewey said he bought a new bull and joined him with the herd this year.

"From our pregnancy testing this year, we see he's been very active and got well over 80pc in the first oestrus," he said.

"Pumping cows full of hormones and all the costs associated with that, I thought let nature do its work.

"To his credit, he has."

All of Mr Trethewey's stock were grass-fed, apart from a few of the weaners.

"The weaners get a little bit of grain just to keep them growing and the cows are on silage this time of year," he said.

He said he didn't hold stud sales but offloaded bulls once customers came calling.

"I sell bulls and I don't sell many heifers," he said.

"I've been using them to lift the breeding numbers and culling unnecessary cows."

The Red Wagyu bulls had travelled up to Queensland, northern Victoria, and New South Wales.

"That's where the growth area will be - infusing the Red Wagyu into the herds in northern Australia," Mr Trethewey said.

"These cattle handle heat a lot better, ticks and things, a lot better than the blacks.

"There's a push from the red breeders to get the northern cattle men thinking about these instead of the shorthorns and other breeds they might use.

"They're being bought not so much for stud work but mostly going into commercial cattle operations.

"Especially people who want to have control of their vertical integration meat business."

Mr Trethewey said he was getting more contact from those with on-farm butcher shops, going directly to the consumer, seeking to use the breed.