Kids to get real feel of banking

tive. This means they don’t have to buy in as many bulls as they did when they were running a more conventional herd. This fertility extends to females, which have an extraordinarily high calving rate.

Mr Rich said they were receiving around $ 6/ kg for steers which they sell to the feedlot when they reach a weight of 320kg. This compares to a brahman- cross price of around $ 3/ kg.

Old ‘ cracker’ cows which otherwise might have gone direct to the Townsville meatworks for a nominal price are now being sold to the feedlot for a premium. FAMOUS Townsville-ll b based d food industry identity Michel Flores says that wagyu beef deserves every accolade it receives.

He says the prized beef with more white marbling than meat is always tender and full of flavour.

But, like most people in the food business, he says it has to come from top- quality animals. A high- grade, purebred wagyu bull over a hereford cow will produce an F1 Wagyu offspring, which means it is at least 50 per cent wagyu in content.

If the bull is only a crossbred wagyu over a hereford cow, the offspring will fall well short of achieving true wagyu status.

Some restaurants, knowing they can exploit customer ignorance when it comes to the fine tuning of animal genetics, might advertise “wagyu steaks” that in fact contain only minute traces of wagyu genetics.

Similarly, wagyu pies and wagyu burgers might only contain minuscule traces of wagyu genetics. And don’t for a moment think that the small percentage of actual wagyu meat in your pie or burger will be fillet or rump. It could just well be the lips, udders or tongue.

Mr Flores sources wagyu beef for his Essentially Fresh food business from wholesalers in SA and Tasmania.

“No matter if it is eye fillet or sirloin, it is always tender. Even wagyu smallgoods are superior. Wagyu pastrami is the best there is,” he said.

JOHN ANDERSEN