Wagyu Sire Breeding Trends

1994 to 2022

The Australian Wagyu Association first formed in 1989 with four founding members implementing an independent registry for recording Wagyu progeny and their pedigrees and to commence development of Wagyu in Australia.

Reflecting on the past

In the ten years to 1999 , the AWA membership increased to 197 Full members. An excerpt from the AWA year 2000 annual report reads, “The majority of animals are held by just 50 members, these members have more than 20 Wagyu each….”

The first recorded progeny in the AWA Herdbook are sired by IMUFA0103 (Mazda, born 1974; 6 progeny registered in 1990, 111 progeny in total) and IMUFA0104 (Mt Fuji, born 1974; 13 progeny registered in 1990, 79 progeny in total). Fast forward to 2023 and the AWA now has over 1,000 Full members, with more than 250,000 Herdbook registered cattle. Much of the growth in registration numbers has occurred in the last 10 years, with growth accelerating such that in the last five years alone, AWA members have registered more than 112,500 calves (averaging 22,500 calves per year 2018 – 2022).

Trends in the top 15 ranked Wagyu sires by number of progeny registered

The growth in Wagyu registrations since 1994 are reflected in the following figure which shows the year-onyear cumulative progeny numbers for the 15 sires with the most progeny registered against them in the AWA Herdbook.

The breeding trends across the period 1994 to 2022 as shown in Figure 1 are broken into five phases of sire use to help explain changes in breeding over time.

Each sire is numbered by ranking the sires from 1 to 15 based on total number of registered progeny at 2022.

TOP 15 WAGYU SIRES (1994 - 2022)

1 IMUFQTF148 9 IMUFR3258

2 WKSFMO164 10 SMOFF0126

3 IMUFQTF147 11 WKSFM0139

4 IMJFAJ2810 12 BDWFM0495

5 IMJFAJ2351 13 SMOFF0154

6 IMUFN2294 14 IMJFAJ2703

7 IMUFLTF151 15 WKSFS0100

8 ADBFA0139

In phase 1, starting 1994, we see high use of the foundation sires WKSFM0139 World K’s Haruki 2 (born 1992), WKSFM0164 World K’s Michifuku (born 1992) and IMUFN2294 TF Itohana 2 (born 1993) in the years up to 1999/2000.

Of the three original high use Foundation sires, Haruki 2 (red line) was used relatively moderately until 2011/12, after which his progeny number doubled again by 2015 before plateauing, with total progeny numbers at 2022 of 1,901. The progeny numbers for Itohana 2 ( black line) followed those of Haruki 2 until 2005, but then showed sustained increase through to 2020, with total progeny numbers of 3,379 at 2022.

Of the three original high use sires, only Michifuku ( grey line) has shown sustained high levels of use, particularly over the period 2005 to present. Michifuku’s direct progeny now total 6,485, making him the second highest use sire within the Wagyu Herdbook.

The next wave of foundation sire use occurred in phase 2 around 1999/2000, lead by IMJFAJ2810 Kitateruyasudoi (born 1993), who showed high use through to 2008/09. IMJFAJ2351 Hirashigetayasu (born 1989) also showed high use through this period, with consistent moderate use thereafter.

The AWA’s leading sire by total progeny number is IMUFQTF148 Itoshigenami (born 1995), who started to be used around 1999/2000 and who has been used highly and consistently used since then, with 7,298 total progeny recorded to 2022.

Other popular foundation sires that started to be used in Phase 2 include IMUFQTF147 Itoshigefuji (born 1995), IMUFLTF151 Itozurodoi (born 1991) and IMUFR3258 TF Terutani 40/1 (born 1996). Increasing use of these sires is a feature of Phase 3, along with increased use of Itoshigenami and Michifuku

1

3 15

2

Phase 3 of Figure 1 shows a general acceleration of breeding rates for many of the foundation sires, but a sharp acceleration in use of the three sires that will ultimately be the highest ranked AWA sires by total number of progeny recorded at 2022 Itoshigenami , Michifuku and Itoshigefuji ). In Phase 3, we also see an increase in the use of WKSFS0100 World K’s Yasufuku Jnr (born 1997).

Phase 4 of Figure 1 shows consistent use of all foundation sires from 2010/11 though to 2015/16, with the exception of Michifuku , whose progeny numbers increased markedly during the period compared to other sires. Of note during Phase 4 is the commencement of use of second-generation sires that will end up being within the top 15 sires by total progeny numbers at 2022.

Remarkably, it took 10 to 15 years for second generation sires to appear that would have a significant impact on future progeny numbers. These sires are direct descendants of two of the most extensively used sires during Phase 3 and will end up being in the top 15 of all sires for registered progeny numbers by 2022. These sires include:

ADBFA0139 Mayura Itoshigenami JNR (born 2005), SMOFF0126 Sumo Michifuku F126 (born 2010) and SMOFF0154 Sumo Michifuku F154 (born 2010).

Phase 5 of Figure 1 shows emergence of a third-generation sire BDWFM0495 Macquarie Prelude M0495 (born 2016), who in 5 years from 2018 – 2022 became the 12th ranked sire by total progeny numbers recorded with the AWA. Macquarie Prelude M0495 is the grandson of Kitateruyasudoi

Phase 5 of Figure 1 also shows the accelerated use of secondgeneration sires introduced in Phase 4, relative to the use of Foundation sires, with the exception of Itoshigenami , whose recorded progeny numbers accelerated significantly from 2015/16 through to 2022.

Trends in use of other Foundation Sires from 1994 to 2022

Figure 2 shows the progeny record number for the 15 Foundation sires ranked by total progeny registered that are not included in Figure 1 above. These sires are the next highest ranked Foundation sires, ranked from 17th to 82nd by total registered progeny numbers with the AWA. Progeny numbers for these sires are considerably less than sires in Figure 1, ranging from 1,410 ( IMUFP0036 -TF Itomitchi ½ ), down to 336 ( IMJFF0005 – Shigefuku J1822 )

The general breeding Phases from Figure 1 are shown on Figure 2 for comparison. As for Figure 1, there is commencement of breeding activity using several Foundation sires in the early part of Phase 1 starting 1994. These sires include IMUFP0036 ( TF Itomitchi 1/2 ), IMUFJTF40 ( Terutani TF40), IMUFM2100 ( Kikuyasu 400 – born 1992), IMUFN2127 ( Kikuhana – born 1993) and IMUFN2461 ( Kenahanafuji - born 1993). It is of interest to note that of these sires, only TF Itomitchi 1/2 saw high use in breeding through later Phases.

Phase 2, starting around 1999/2000 saw the introduction of the remainder of Foundation sires, with IMUTF150 ( Kikuterushige) showing very high use through Phase 2 before plateauing in Phase 3. Kikuterushige progeny numbers started to increase from 1998, but are most prominent through the 1999 to 2005/06 period.

Phase 3 saw rapid growth in several Phase 2 sires including IMJFMJ068 ( Fukutsuru J068 ), IMUFQ2599 ( TF Yukiharunami 4) and TWAFR0003 ( TWA Ichiryuno).

The use of the Foundation sires represented in Figure 2 plateaued through Phase 4 and 5, with the exception of TWAFR0007 ( TWA Shikikan), IMUFP0036 ( TF Itomitchi ½ ) and

FOUNDATION WAGYU SIRES OUTSIDE TOP 15 (1994 - 2022)

Emerging trends in new generation sire use

Figure 3 shows the progeny record number for 20 nonfoundation sires (second and third generation) sires whose total progeny numbers rank them in the top 50 Wagyu sires by number of progeny registered with the AWA.

Of particular note are the sires WSRFQ0062 (Overflow Kaneyama - sired by World K’s Haruki 2) and WSRFS0060 (Overflow Katsumi - sired by World K’s Michifuku). These are the first two second generation sires against which progeny records are noted with the AWA.

Figure 3 shows the majority of second and third generation sires within the top 50 ranked progeny number sires start having progeny recorded against them from 2005/06 onwards. Individual sire use is not commented on further in this article, as the appearance of these sires and the recent breeding trends in using these sires is the main point made. Some sires only have progeny recorded in the last 3 years (2020 – 2022), but already have close to 1,000 progeny recorded during that time.

Looking towards the future

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the predominant influence on the total AWA registry to date is the sustained breeding from Foundation sires up until to 2015/2016 period. Approximately 50% of the top-ranking sires based on numbers of registered progeny are Foundation sires. This means that there have been high levels of introgression of Foundation genetics into the registered Wagyu herd and that we have good representation of the majority of Foundation genetics in our Herdbook.

Of note in Figure 1 and 3 is that starting from 2005/2006, but particularly since 2015/2016, we are seeking a marked increase in use of second and third generation sires. To make genetic progress, a fundamental requirement is that new sires are identified that have higher genetic merit for traits compared to Foundation sires. The rapid increase in new sires over the last 10 years from a number of herds using a range of genetic backgrounds, provides breeders with opportunities to increase genetic gain for the future. This gain can be achieved on top of a well-established base of broadly infused Foundation genetics.

In upcoming Wagyu Quarterly Update magazines, we will focus more on genetic selection trends for different traits and how these have been impacted by the use of Foundation and new generation sires.