Pioneering wagyu a valuable solution
Sharing the goodness was just one secret to breed success
HIS broad craggy face kindly fixes with a wry smile when asked how cattle farmers first responded to his promotion of wagyu cattle in the early 90’s.
“Do you remember ostrich farms? Well, we were the black ostriches. What the hell are these things?,” Simon Coates chuckles.
A pioneering advocate and breeder of wagyu cattle in Australia, Dr Simon Coates knew he was onto something when he heard about the highly-prized Japanese breed with outstanding qualities around marbling and flavour, a stocky, smaller black breed that had been cultivated over thousands of years working in Japanese fields to develop a unique intramuscular oily fat of particular delicacy and flavour.
High grades of wagyu can retail in Japan for $1000/kg, where it is traditionally prepared in small, delicately sliced portions in the traditional Japanese style.
Dr Coates’ pivotal “aha” moment came in 1991, coinciding with a period where the Australian beef industry was in crisis.
“For example, premium angus steers were making 80c a kilo, liveweight. People were really worried about it, they weren’t making any money. It was pathetic. And people were seriously looking around for what they were going to do,” Dr Coates said.
“And so, we weren’t making any money either. We had a hereford operation near Roma. Then I saw that first little tiny wagyu operation in 1991.”
A period of research followed.
“I had done a lot of biochemistry at university, and the biochemistry of these animals was completely different to the normal cattle. I just couldn’t believe it, so I went to Washington State University where they did a lot of research on some of these animals that had come across to the US, and saw the researcher, who had produced a book on what the wagyu-angus steers were like, biochemically.
“I knew immediately after I had done all the reading that this was an amazing thing and that these wagyu cattle, with one cross over any breed could improve the carcass quality dramatically.
“We knew about Kobe beef (the general term for it) and businessmen travelling to Japan knew about it as a premium product. All Australian cattlemen at the time were into producing lean beef, but lean beef is not a predictable eating-quality beef, and a lot of people don’t like it. So we were ready make big financial commitments to wagyu,” he said.
But one man alone cannot radicalise a market and establish a solid market share for a high-value niche product, so as his own herd developed, Dr Coates set about establishing the Sumo cattle name, developing a network of beef producers, presenting a series of field days right across eastern Australia, from Tasmania up to Hughenden, advertised through Elders local branches.
“I’d present a one-hour talk with a slideshow on the beef industry, where it’s been, where it was going. And they were really keen to hear what I had to say, because they weren’t making any money. We’d get a big roll-up, and would not even mention wagyu until the last five minutes, and what effect that might have on the beef industry. It was very cunning, because I didn’t want to get too much thrown at me, like apple cores.
At the end of my presentation – it always happened – you’d be four or five people that would put their hand up: ‘What would you know?’”
At that point, the group would be invited outside where four barbecues were fired up to grill 300 steaks to go on fresh buns.
“All the people that tried to put me down in the presentation, I’d just watch their faces when they took that first bite, and they were just absolutely stoned. They couldn’t believe it.”
“And so, you’d get 10 to 15 that would come up and want to find out more, or get involved. For every region we visited we had that little pocket of people. You can’t start a revolution by just waving a flag, you’ve got to do it in small bursts and let it roll, and you’ve got to involve people.
“Just telling people about wagyu wasn’t going to do it, allowing them to taste it, experience it, made all the difference.”
Dr Coates said that for every field day, they would prepare two or three steers, selecting only the sweetest cuts, and giving the remainder to charity. At one field day a month for five or six years, he estimates they probably invested around $100,000 in free samples.
People buying bulls or embryos were also encouraged to join the Australian Wagyu Association, of which Dr Coates was the second president, seeing the organisation grow in those years from 15 members to around 300 during his years as president.
One significant moment came when some Collins Street stockbrokers attended
PRESIDENT Donald Trump was early today set to greet three Americans released by North Korea, underscoring a much-needed diplomatic win and a stepping stone to a historic summit with his counterpart Kim Jong-un.
Mr Trump was poised to travel to Andrews air base near Washington to meet Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong-chul after their release from North Korea yesterday.
The North Korean regime granted the three men “amnesty”, a US official said, removing a major point of friction between Washington and Pyongyang and a potential obstacle to talks between the Cold War foes.
Mr Trump tweeted yesterday: “I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health.”
Two of the men, agricultural expert Kim Hak-song and former professor Tony Kim, were arrested last year.
Kim Dong-chul, a South Korea-born American businessman and pastor in his 60s, was sentenced to 10 years’ hard labour in 2016.
The White House said all three were able to walk unassisted onto a US air force plane that carried them and Mr Pompeo out of North Korea.
A US government plane, with more robust medical equipment, awaited them at Yokota air force base, just outside Tokyo, and was expected to take them back to the US last night.
The trio later released a statement of thanks conveyed via the State Department.
“We would like to express our deep appreciation to the United States Government, President Trump, Secretary Pompeo, and the people of the United States for bringing us home,” they said.
Mr Trump described the men’s release as “a gesture of goodwill”.
The result appears to pave the way for a much-anticipated summit between Mr Trump and Mr Kim, scheduled to take place within weeks.