A note from our president : The 2020 score card - how are we going?

president MIKE BUCHANAN

THE 2020 SCORE CARD HOW ARE WE GOING?

Dear Members, It’s again my pleasure to offer you a short review of progress in the Australian Wagyu world, from an AWA Board perspective. This piece is in part a scorecard for the first half of 2020. How do you think we are performing?

MEMBER SERVICE PERFORMANCE

With our annual conference cancelled due to COVID-19, our planned Member briefing on AWA member services and competitive breed society performance went online in June in a members-only Zoom webinar. This delivered the outcomes from a first-ever business review that was conducted from November 2019 through to February 2020. We measured AWA against ‘the rest’, and identified ‘blips and dips’ over a seven year period. This outcome is a showcase for the diligent efforts of CEO Dr Matt McDonagh and his team, most prominently in turning around a negative MIPs-to-SNPs implementation scenario. The lesson in project planning was clear. The difficulties created for members in that period are fully recognised. The obstacles have been identified and redressed.

In both competitive member costs and service delivery, AWA is today a clear leader among Australian breed societies. We will continue competitive benchmarking to ensure we retain this position.

NEW BREEDER INDEX

The inexpensive webinar format was again used a fortnight later when we introduced the fourth Wagyu profitability Index, named the ‘Wagyu Breeder Index’, which again originates in our November 2019 meetings. The purpose and functionality of this important addition to our suite of BreedObject $Indexes is well described elsewhere. It is a powerful new tool for breeders in low-input Australian pastoral conditions and is ideal for use in overall herd development in these production systems.

WWW.WAGYU.ORG.AU

> WAGYU WEBINAR SERIES GENETIC DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT: PREFECTURAL SCIENCE ADOPTED Another important project commenced last November was unveiled as ‘now operational’ at another AWA webinar in early July. The objective was the first-time measurement of genetic diversity in the Australian Japanese Black Herdbook. This then enables planning to manage diversity, which has been recognised as challenged. One new enabling tool is the database integration of Japanese prefectural values (individual percentage content) for all individual registered Black Fullbloods. In doing this, we deliberately adopted the unique, differentiated structure of Japanese Black breed population science, as used in Japanese scientific literature for more than 40 years. Adoption of the prefectural population structure was enabled by the efforts of external consultant Mr Tak Suzuki and AWA Technical Services Manager Carel Teseling, who first created a foundation by resolving numerous deficiencies in the AWA pedigree database, substantially enhancing linkages back to Japanese herd ancestors. Great implementation assistance was also received from ABRI.

The implementation provides improvements in metrics, including the potential for inbreeding measurement right back into the Japan Registry Herdbook. Now, for the first time, the AWA Herdbook database provides a ‘single narrative’ for the international Japanese Black herd, from the latest animal registrations from members around the world, back to Japanese pedigrees and individual prefectural herd origins. ‘Real Wagyu’, without a doubt. Accurate pedigrees back to our founder ancestral genetics ensure delivery of a stable, consistent source for prefectural analysis that has been used by many breeders since original exports from Japan. This implementation is a strongly affirmative response from AWA to consistent requests from AWA members in recent years, captured in formal surveys in 2014 and 2017. The major benefit is yet to come, as our key scientific partner,

AGBU, applies the new pedigree ‘map’ to prefectural subpopulation genomics in the international Wagyu herd registered with the AWA. New measurements and conservation of genetic diversity, management of inbreeding, and productivity enhancements are all potential outcomes.

EBV REVIEW AND GOVERNANCE UPDATES

You will recall that we announced plans for a review of carcase EBVs last November, with hopes of completing this by June. COVID-19 and related workload got in the way. We are still working on this review and will communicate further in August 2020. Similarly, we are in the process of upgrading internal Board governance structures, including a new formal contract for directors. The latter initiative should be complete and available on the AWA website by September 2020.

MARKETS, SALES & AWA FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

For many commodity beef producers, the COVID-19 era has seen record livestock prices. The outlook for premium product like Wagyu seems rather more uncertain, and the anecdotal information in early July 2020 is confused to say the least. The only (not too similar!) precedent we have is the 2008 GFC, from which Australian wagyu rebounded strongly after a couple of tough years. However, the one Wagyu market trend that was clear in the first half of 2020 was that high-end Wagyu genetics have lost none of their appeal, especially in the international marketplace. To nurture that demand, AWA has now put in a place a second Elite Wagyu Sale for our southern hemisphere spring. Revised terms and conditions are a response to member, vendor and buyer feedback. This should be a great opportunity to showcase, buy and sell an increasingly diverse range of top genetics. As we passed through 30 June, amongst the best news of all was that AWA corporate financial performance has remained strong through the first four months of COVID. A credit to the Armidale team.

Thanks for your interest. Feedback is always welcome.

Mike Buchanan AWA President and Chair

board@wagyu.org.au