What's New In Wagyu

25/11/2025

The Australian Wagyu Association just made one of the biggest genetic announcements our breed has seen in decades. Even though I wasn’t there, I’ve taken time to study the details — and this shift is massive for the entire global Wagyu community.

The AWA officially introduced Wagyu Breeding Values (WBVs), replacing EBVs with a new system built exclusively for Wagyu using Wagyu-only data. For the first time, our breed will no longer be evaluated through a generic multi-breed model that never fit Wagyu biology.

Why this matters:

Wagyu cattle have unique biological features:
• Slower growth curves
• Distinct marbling and adipogenesis pathways
• Higher oleic acid production (linked to melt point & flavor)
• Longer feeding periods (up to 700 days)
• Strong maternal influence on carcass expression

The old system (EBVs) couldn’t model these traits accurately.
WBVs finally can.

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Key Upgrades With WBVs

✔ 1. A Wagyu-Only Evaluation System

No more Breedplan dilution or Angus-driven correlations.
WBVs use:
• Wagyu-specific trait relationships
• Molecular-level genomic inbreeding
• Real carcass + feed intake integration
• Accurate heritabilities based on Wagyu biology

This is the first time the numbers will reflect what breeders see in real cattle.

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✔ 2. The New “Helical” Database

Helical is the new engine behind all this — a high-power platform that manages:
• DNA workflows
• Carcass data
• Feed intake data
• Genetic evaluations
• Cleaner submissions and fewer errors

This type of infrastructure is what Wagyu genetics have needed for 20+ years.

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✔ 3. Milk & EMA Finally Make Scientific Sense

Under EBVs:
• Milk was poorly correlated
• EMA didn’t match carcass reality

Under WBVs:
• Milk now correlates correctly with growth and maternal performance
• EMA aligns with carcass weight, ribeye development, and feed intake

The numbers now match what we see in the paddock and on the rail.

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✔ 4. Fineness & Oleic Acid Get the Spotlight

Two traits that drive Wagyu eating quality — and global market demand — are finally being valued:
• Oleic Acid (linked to lower melting point, buttery mouthfeel)
• Fineness Index (smaller, more numerous fat cells = better texture)

These are the traits that separate Wagyu from every other beef breed.

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✔ 5. Feed Efficiency Data Explodes

AWA now has:
• Over 2,000 net feed intake records
• Across ~100 sires

For a long-fed breed, this unlocks:
• Emissions reduction
• Higher profitability
• Better maternal efficiency
• More predictable growth on feed
• Scientific links between feed intake and marbling chemistry

This will become one of the most important WBVs in the next decade.

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✔ 6. Better Genetic Defect Testing

Updated pipelines for A10, HFSD, and Brachygnathia strengthen:
• Market integrity
• Bloodline safety
• International confidence in Wagyu genetics

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✔ 7. The Progeny Test Program Becomes a Powerhouse

Thousands of calves, multiple herds, and massive carcass datasets now feed WBVs.
This is the strongest long-term data pipeline the breed has ever had.

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Final Takeaway

This isn’t a “rebrand.”
It’s a rebuild of Wagyu genetics from the ground up.

WBVs don’t replace the history of the breed — they refine it.
They finally model Wagyu as Wagyu, not as a variation of another breed.

For breeders everywhere, this marks the beginning of the most data-driven era in Wagyu history.

Big shift. Big opportunity. Big future.

https://www.4cconsultancy.org/post/the-day-the-wagyu-world-tilted-reflections-on-the-awa-agm-wbvs-helical-and-the-next-frontier?fbclid=IwdGRleAOSfFlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeH5snQz19ZAn-dzU1VYnpXPLMaU-vHpWLwj9K8C_0Jrmbtv9NS-cqpNvWHuM_aem_bkLZBA18zVsUwOr0JWj8_A

21/11/2025

“A Real-World Clone Story That Needs to Be Heard”

I want to follow up on my previous post about cloning with a real story that perfectly illustrates why I take the stance I do.

A few months ago, a close friend of mine—someone who has been in the Wagyu industry since the early 2000s—called me in frustration. This is a guy who built one of the most successful F1 dairy/Wagyu programs in the Midwest. And like many of us who’ve seen a truly exceptional bull in our lifetime, he had one sire that changed everything for his program.

This bull stamped calves with consistency, hit the grid year after year, and delivered the kind of carcass data most breeders only dream about. So when the bull got older, he made the decision many would consider but few actually act on: he cloned him.
The cloning process cost him just over $50,000.

In return, he received six clone bulls—each raised with the same level of care, nutrition, management, and attention that made his original bull a legend in his F1 program.

He collected semen on all six, sent it out to the same dairies he’d been supplying for years, and expected the same results.

But a few years down the road, the packing plants started calling.
Carcasses weren’t grading consistently.The feedyards said the calves didn’t grow the same. Nothing lined up with the performance they expected from the original sire.

So my friend started digging… tracing cattle backwards, lot by lot, dairy by dairy. And what he found still bothers him to this day:
Not one of the six clones could pass on the same genetic potential as the original bull. Not one.

Same pedigree, same genetics on paper, same management… but completely different outcomes in the real world. The result?

A multimillion-dollar F1 supply chain suddenly at risk—and a breeder now scrambling to find original semen so he can rebuild what the cloning process failed to preserve.

That’s why he was calling me that day.

And that’s why I continue to warn breeders—especially new ones—that a clone is not a shortcut to greatness, and a name on paper does not guarantee genetic transmission. Cloning might replicate DNA, but it does not replicate epigenetics, gene expression, mitochondrial influence, environment, or the lifetime imprinting that made the original animal what it was.

In Wagyu, where data matters and consistency is everything, cloning without deep multi-generation proofs is gambling with your entire program.

If you missed my first post on cloning and epigenetics, it’s worth reading—it sets the foundation for why stories like this keep happening.

09/11/2025

09/11/2025

The Integrity Crisis Within the Wagyu Breed

The Wagyu breed is facing a growing integrity problem that can no longer be ignored. Many breeders have expressed concerns privately, yet the issues persist in plain sight.

Several large programs continue to market cattle to new breeders who may not fully understand what they are purchasing. At the same time, those same programs populate their own production sales with cattle that exhibit poor structure, limited performance potential, or clear faults that should have disqualified them from seedstock pathways. When these animals fail to draw bids from informed buyers, they are often redirected to online sales and promoted at inflated prices.

This pattern is not sound marketing. It is a form of manipulation, and it undermines the credibility of the Wagyu breed as a whole.

Responsible stewardship demands accountability. Animals that do not meet structural, genetic, or performance standards should be culled, not papered and resold into the seedstock marketplace. Passing flawed cattle to the next breeder only compounds long-term issues: weak toplines, poor feet, cow-hocked structure, and phenotypes that would not have been tolerated in previous generations. The industry cannot continue down this path without eroding the value and reputation of Wagyu cattle.

If breeders are serious about improving the soundness and longevity of the breed, we should invest in education. Judging clinics, hands-on structure evaluations, and mentorship opportunities—similar to youth livestock programs—would provide new breeders with the tools to identify quality and avoid costly mistakes. Many of us are willing to contribute to this effort.

Ultimately, the standard is simple. If a program claims to operate with integrity, it must demonstrate that integrity through disciplined selection, responsible culling, and honest representation of stock. Inferior animals belong in the commercial marketplace, not in registered seedstock pipelines.

The Wagyu breed was built on discipline, and pride in sound genetics. Its reputation once held unquestioned value. Preserving that reputation requires a renewed commitment to transparency and quality over convenience.

It is time to protect what this breed stands for.

03/11/2025

Over the past year we’ve received a significant increase in questions surrounding cloning, our stance on it, and what concerns we have from both a genetic progress and livestock performance standpoint. While cloning is an impressive biotechnology with specific, valuable applications, it is not—at this time—a replacement for disciplined genetic selection, high-quality phenotypic and carcass data, and multi-generation performance validation.

From a scientific perspective, the primary limitations revolve around epigenetics and gene expression stability. A clone is genetically identical at the DNA sequence level, but the epigenome—the chemical layer regulating how and when genes are expressed—can differ substantially between the original animal and its clone. These epigenetic marks influence key developmental pathways such as growth, immune function, reproductive performance, marbling deposition, and feed efficiency. Small differences in fetal environment, reprogramming success, or early-life conditions can result in meaningful variation in performance. In practical terms, identical DNA does not guarantee identical biology.

We have already seen this phenomenon demonstrated in the show cattle world. A widely discussed example is the bull Monopoly. Multiple clones of Monopoly were produced, yet only a few expressed similar ability to sire high-end calves. Despite identical genetics, the clones varied in their capacity to transmit desirable traits—clear evidence that heritability and transmission potential are not dictated by DNA alone. Epigenetic divergence and developmental variation play a real-world role in which genes get expressed and passed forward effectively.

This experience aligns with what current scientific literature tells us: some clones perform exceptionally well; others simply do not replicate the transmitting power of the donor animal. That inconsistency creates risk. In my opinion, relying on cloning as a primary genetic advancement strategy is moving backward—locking in historic genetics while ignoring the accumulated data, selection pressure, and continuous improvement the industry has benefited from. We don’t progress by freezing time; we progress by selecting forward.

Where I do see legitimate value in cloning is when the original animal has:
1. Extensive, multi-generation data behind it
2. Documented, repeatable performance in itself and progeny
3. Proven transmitting ability, not just a big name or famous pedigree
4. A clone that also collects independent performance data prior to being used aggressively in a breeding program

A pedigree or a reputation alone does not make a sire or dam valuable. The ability to consistently transmit desirable traits does. As breeders we must avoid the trap of chasing names to sell cattle. Our responsibility is to advance functional, efficient, high-carcass animals for the next generation of producers and consumers.

Cloning can be a tool—and in some historic cases a powerful one—but it is not a substitute for thoughtful selection, high-quality data, and genomic + phenotypic evaluation. In our program, the bar for considering clone genetics is high, and will remain so. We prioritize heritable performance, measurable carcass traits, and real-world results above novelty or hype.

30/10/2025

The “Loudest in the Room” Theory in the Wagyu World

There’s an old saying: “Sometimes the loudest in the room is the weakest.”

I’ve found that to be true in the Wagyu and cattle industry more often than not.

In this business, the quiet breeders — the ones who aren’t posting every day, bragging about every calf, or hyping genetics nonstop — are typically the true OGs. These are the men and women who have been stacking genetics for years, dialing in feed programs, studying pedigrees, measuring carcass results, and quietly building world-class herds.

They don’t need constant spotlight or sell-sheets every week — their cattle and their results speak for them.
On the flip side, the loudest voices online are often the ones with the least to back it up… and many times, that loudness is just a cover for lower-end genetics and desperate sales tactics.
To all the new breeders entering Wagyu — welcome! This is an incredible breed and community. But take your time, observe, learn pedigrees, ask real questions, and look beyond the noise.

Quality doesn’t shout. Consistency whispers.

Seek out the breeders who:

quietly share data
produce repeatable results
invest in proven bloodlines
are here for the breed, not just the sale
Those are the mentors, the builders, the future of Wagyu in the U.S.

Let’s raise this breed together with integrity, patience, and good stewardship. You don’t build great Wagyu overnight — you build it one generation, one decision, one disciplined step at a time.
Iron sharpens iron — not ego.

17/10/2025

https://whatsnewwagyu.com/episodes/7xndaemt8r35736-yp6cf-j7bj9-s9lc9-pyjls

26/08/2025

We’re back on What’s New in Wagyu with Season 4, Episode 4 — “Let’s Catch Up.”

It’s been a minute, and in this episode we sit down to share what’s been happening behind the scenes, the latest in the Wagyu world, and what’s next for the herd, the shop, and the industry. If you’ve been waiting for updates (and a little real talk), this one’s for you.

23/07/2025

After a long hiatus, we’re back.
Life threw us a few curveballs—health challenges, major life changes, and the heartbreaking loss of loved ones. But through it all, your support and patience have meant the world.

We’re incredibly grateful to say that What’s New in Wagyu will be returning next week with a brand-new episode. We’ve missed you, and we’re excited to pick up right where we left off—sharing insight, stories, and guidance to help you on your Wagyu journey.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we step back into the saddle.
See you soon.

—Stephen & the What’s New in Wagyu Team

31/03/2025

We came across this video this morning looks like an interesting operation and a future business trip in the near future.

In this weeks vlog we visit Monsaraz in the Alentejo region of Portugal. We have a look at a very ambitious farming project, to bring the FIRST Red Wagyu (Ak...

26/03/2025

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all our amazing followers! It’s wonderful to see that 51% of our viewers do not follow our page, and we appreciate each and every one of you. A special shoutout goes to Bob Jicks and Britta Peterson Jicks from Old Glory Ranch. This episode has already been played 50,000 times, and at this pace, it’s on track to become the our fastest video to reach 100,000 views! Thank you to all our listeners for your incredible love and support!

26/03/2025

🌟 **New Episode Alert!** 🎙️
This week on "What’s New in Wagyu," we dive deep into one of the most pivotal days in the cattle industry - Selection Day! 🐂
Ever wondered how the right choice can propel a ranch to success, or how the wrong selection can lead to costly mistakes? In this episode, we're discussing the synergies and challenges that come with selecting Wagyu cattle. It can truly be the best or worst day in the cattle business!
🎧 **Listen in to explore:**
- The impact of selection on cattle quality and profitability.
- Real-life stories from ranchers who faced selection challenges.
- Tips to improve your selection process and avoid common pitfalls.
👉 **Tune in now!** https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KZZYEMAChdsZgCvcquwtZ?si=170f3d2ac83e4f56
Fire up your cattle knowledge & join the conversation! 💬