Branded Beef: Kobe, Wagyu, Akaushi
Kobe, Wagyu, Akaushi… All of these buzzwords have a meaning, but it is a little different than their associated hype.
Both Kobe beef and wagyu beef are supposed to be fantastically expensive, and there are more than a few rumors about how they get to be the ‘best quality beef,’ including that those cows are fed only beer, get daily deep-tissue massages, and so on. Let’s start with
wagyu beef. ‘Wagyu’ is a word that simply means ‘Japanese cow.’ It is not a breed of cow, or even a crossbreed. It is an umbrella term that refers to these four breeds:
Akaushi or Akage washu, also known as the Japanese Brown.
Kuroge washu or the Japanese Black.
Mukaku washu or the Japanese Polled.
Nihon tankaku washu or the Japanese Shorthorn.
Those four breeds are lumped into the term ‘wagyu.’ That’s the nutsand-bolts behind the name, but the farming practice of wagyu beef is the same as Kobe beef, because ‘Kobe beef’ is a brand of wagyu from a certain location, in the same way as “Wisconsin cheese” is here in the US.
Let’s talk Kobe. Kobe is one of Japan’s ten largest cities. It’s located on the Pacific side of Japan and is an important port town, according to the Japanese Travel Guide.
Japan does not have much for grasslands, something very foreign in our midwestern region of the US. This is the real tripping point between American-raised beef and Japanese-raised beef: Most cattle in Japan are fed year-round, simply because there is not enough grassland to go around that would allow producers to graze their cattle on summer pasture. Furthermore, their grasslands are somewhat delicate, and would not support grazing for an entire season the way American grasslands can.
That means that Kobe or wagyu beef are not grass-fed or grass-finished.
Since Japanese cattle are fed just about all of their lives, going off feed for any reason (like an illness, or extremely high humidity) is a problem. That’s where the beer comes in. Japanese farmers feed cattle who
can’t or won’t eat their ration beer so that they can stimulate the animal’s appetite and get them back to the bunk quickly and with no losses in gain.
But Japanese cattle are massaged, right?
It might fit in with the whole zen ideal- I can’t think of anything more zen than being massaged all day. However, Japanese cattle are massaged for the same reasoning behind feeding them beer.
Because it makes ‘cents.’ Cattle who are fed grass and yes, grains too, their entire lives are kept in small pens, all the better to see them more clearly and make sure they’re all feeling well and (of course) eating. Just like people who don’t move enough, cattle who can’t roam the rangeland get stiff and sore. When moving hurts, it’s pretty easy to overlook hunger until you’re really hungry. That’s bad for a Japanese farmer whose bottom line is involved with the cow eating every time it’s fed. So, for the cattle who are stiff and sore from lack of movement, the farmer massages the animal until it can move, painfree. It doesn’t have anything to do with improving the marbling, just movement, and of course, eating. Japanese beef are fed silage, rice straw, and concentrates like grains or molassesjust like American beef. However, un
like American beef, Japanese beef takes much longer to grow to maturity: About three years, which is double what it takes in America. While longer time to maturity usually equals healthier beef, as in the world of grass-fed beef, Japanese beef animals are not being raised on pasture. They are in a pen, being fed the same things that most American feedlots feed their cows.
Another idea come to America about Kobe or wagyu beef is brushing cattle with beer. Japanese farmers don’t actually give their cows a beer bath every so often for reasons related to beef quality. The only cows who get a beer bath are the show cows, the ones on which their coat matters.
Show cows are not evaluated on the basis of their meat, because they are shown as live animals. Therefore, the beef being shown has to look nice. The wash in beer is supposed to
make the cows’ coats look better in the show ring, but I don’t think that will catch on in American markets, for the obvious reasons. The cow’s marbling could be abysmal, but what matters on show cows is their outside. If their hair looks nice, then they are probably healthy. If their frame looks good, they’re likely well- marbled.
D.K Lunt of Blackmore Wagyu writes, “Ambiance and mystic are nearly as important in the eating experience as the flavour, juiciness and tenderness of the beef.” If Americans believe that Japanese cows are fed beer, massaged regularly to improve marbling, and washed with beer for the same reason, then the mystery surrounding the beef is as a good a leadup as any marketing campaign.
There’s the mystery of Kobe and wagyu beef. It’s no more a mystery than American beef. What wagyu beef can claim over American beef is a higher percentage of intramuscular fat, called ‘marbling.’ Wagyu beef is highly marbled and very fatty, which makes it prized in taste and texture in the world of gourmet beef.
However, that type of beef is highly calorie- dense no matter the proportion of good fats, so a consumer can’t eat much of it before getting full. American beef prizes leanness, because less fat means fewer calories, and that’s what the American consumer wants.
Our American beef does have marbling, but not to the same percentage as wagyuand there is the physical difference between our beef and Japanese beef. American beef is raised differently, as well- feeding our beef animals their entire lives would mean not only a great loss in profit, but also a compounding of problems
like the animals going off feed and suffering from stiffness and pain in movements. Japanese farmers have developed ways to fix those problems, but as my rancher says, “When you’re feeding cows, you’re working for them. When your cows are grazing, they’re working for you, and they’re happier too.”
Japanese beef versus American beef: Now you know the difference.