German Wagyu Association (GWA

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE AUSTRALIAN WAGYU ASSOCIATION

The German Wagyu Association (GWA) was founded in 2008. A small group of only seven breeders were the founding members. Until today the number of members has grown to nearly 200. It is a mixture of smaller and medium sized farms/operations and some larger producers.

The structure of the involved organisations as such is quite different from the Australian Wagyu Associaton. We have several public breeding organisations, which are registering the animals/genetics – based on official herdbooks, which are acknowledged by our authorities. This has to be done under the regulations of the European Union. It sounds quite complicated, but this ensures that the registration is officially done and the animals/genetics can be traded within the EU with a pedigree. In the near future we will have two separate herdbooks. One is a closed herdbook for fullblood Wagyu only and the second one is an open herdbook for purebred Wagyu, where breeders are allowed to add other genetics in order to breed polled Wagyu for instance.

The GWA is focused on the development of the breed as such and to support its members with different services. We are three honorary board members and have a steering committee of three additional members. One year ago we launched a business plan, which is focused on our development over the next three years. One main point is the development of the breed, the other focus is to support the marketing of the beef. For this purpose, we participated as an exhibitor in the ANUGA, the worlds biggest fair for nutritional products. Just to show that there is Wagyu beef from Germany and the quality is good. Up to now, most of the breeders are selling the beef more regionally. Especially this regionality has become very important for the consumer in Germany. In the future we will have more producers in Germany, which are looking for additional market opportunities. We performed our third national Wagyu Beef Contest and published the results to the chefs and consumers. Furthermore, we are in the process of establishing a Wagyu seal – one for Fullblood and the other one for Wagyu Cross, to achieve a higher level of transparency for our consumers. In order to produce Wagyu beef on a constant good level for the German market, we have to start with the breed and its special requirements. So far breeders mostly use only some genetic test results as “quality indicators”, like SCD and Tenderness. Furthermore, the public breeding organisations are doing a classification on skeleton - musculature – breed character for the breeding animals. Some bits and pieces, which are not really supporting the development of the breed. As the ancient philosopher Aristotle said, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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The Australian Wagyu Association, as the oldest Wagyu breeding organisation outside Japan, has a much broader and more detailed view developed over the past decades, which is much more related to the special properties of this breed. The AWA’s BREEDPLAN genetic analysis has a very high transparency and provides data on a broad range of traits important for Wagyu breeding. It is the only reliable global analysis and provides information relevant to the entire registered Wagyu population. Furthermore the AWA has established itself as a globally renown and professional organisation, performing many different activities, which can inspire the German breeders on an individual basis. Bottom line, the AWA offers a lot of opportunities and tools, which are acknowledged by Wagyu breeders from all over the world. Therefore, more and more breeders are joining the AWA, as the GWA is doing

We hope that it is possible to come with a group of German breeders (next year) to Australia to participate personally in your conference and tour.

as well. Based on this partnership, we offer the German Wagyu breeder the access to the AWA, supporting the registration of the members and the animals. This helps us bridge the language barrier and gives us the opportunity to develop the breed on a more professional base. On the other hand the AWA can broaden its worldwide data base and the network, which should be beneficial to its breeders and maximising the available genetic diversity in Australia.

I had the opportunity to visit the AWA office and meet with the highly professional people – in 2019, before the pandemic started. This convinced me, as the Chairman of the GWA, to cooperate with the AWA for the good of our breed as a global resource. We hope that it is possible to come with a group of German breeders (next year) to Australia to participate personally in your conference and tour. This would be really great for us to share in the global Wagyu community. I would like to thank the board and the staff members of the AWA for the support so far and look forward to a continued good cooperation.

Uwe Jerathe

Chairman of the Board For the German Wagyu Association

Pregnancy testing earlier, reliably and on your schedule

The Alertys OnFarm Pregnancy Test detects pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) in whole blood (EDTA) as early as 28 days post-mating and 70 days post-calving. PAGs are only produced in the presence of a live embryo or fetus.

Why use the on-farm pregnancy test:

• Read results easily to make decisions quickly • Shorten calving interval by testing at day 28 post-mating • Cost-effective for testing small groups of cows • Find open animals in just 20 mins • Increase safety for you and your workers

Key Details about the test

The test is highly accurate on whole blood and recommended for use in finding open cows.

Species Bovine Only Test location: place and temperature On-farm at 15oC - 30oC Sensitivity > 28 day post mating 99.7%1 Specificity > 70 days post calving 98.1%1