South Australia's Mayura Station presented an exceptional eating steak from animal bred for a very high amount of unsaturated fat to take out the top gong in the 2024 Wagyu Branded Beef Competition.
The offering contained 60 per cent marbling, with a marbling fineness score of 8. It also measured a record 155 square centimetres in the eye muscle area.
The steak, from Mayura's Signature Series brand, was crowned Grand Champion at the awards, hosted by the Australian Wagyu Association as part of its annual WagyuEdge conference.
Reserve Champion went to the Shiro Kin label by Andrews Meat Industries, also a fullblood. Bred by 3D Genetics, this entry contained the highest marbling percentage of all entries at 71pc, with a marbling score of 9-plus and an eye muscle area of 105 square centimetres.
There were 66 entries, up almost 14pc on last year and the judging was done by 36 renowned food and beef industry experts from around Australia.
Entries were scored for their visual appeal when raw and cooked, juiciness, flavour, aroma and physical mouth sensation.
Louis Vuitton of beef
Mayura, owned by the deBruin family and based on the Limestone coast near Millicent, runs the largest privately-owned fullblood Wagyu breeding herd in the world.
It is vertically integrated, with a number of specialist divisions including cropping and fodder production, breeding, grainfeeding and international beef marketing.
In Asia, Mayura's brand is known as the Louis Vuitton of beef.
The 2024 grand champion beef offering, which makes Mayura the only one to win the prestigious competition's top honour three times, was from a steer from the bull Notorius, which Scott deBruin said was bred to produce carcases with a high amount of unsaturated fat which has a very low melting point.
"When you look at the fat it's translucent, when you touch it it melts and that makes for an amazing flavour profile," he said.
The judges agreed, describing the steak as 'exceptional melt-in-your-mouth juciness with lasting flavours and a satisfying silky mouthfeel'.
Notorious also sired the steer which won Mayura its last grand champion trophy in this competition two years ago.
No outside influence
Lidcombe operation Andrews Meat Industries had a big night at the awards, with its flagship brands Shiro Kin and Tajima on the stage a number of times.
Tajima picked up recognition in the commercial Wagyu and open F1 classes.
General Manager of Exports Jeremy Stuart said the calibre of the beef on show in the competition was second to none, a tribute to both brand owners and producers.
"It starts with our producers and flows all the way through to the people packing it to go to our clientele - there's a lot of passion for producing our Wagyu that flows through onto plates around the globe," he said.
"Both Shiro Kin and Tajima are brands we've been continually perfecting for over a decade and they remain firm favourites in both our domestic and export markets."
Shiro Kin sources from the Darling Downs in Queensland and the cattle are fed a specially designed Japanese diet for at least 500 days. Shiro cattle are direct descendants of Japanese Wagyu with no outside influences from other breeds, produced from Tajima Sires with a focus on Japanese Dam lines of Kedaka and Shimane.
High calibre
Japanese Australian outfit Starzen Australia's Eight Blossom Beef won the purebred class via an animal bred by Fuchang Woodlands.
Starzen also sources from south eastern Queensland and its cattle are fed for 350 days to finish with a marble score of 6.5 and above.
The open crossbred class was won by regular competition high performers Stone Axe Pastoral Company via their Margaret River Wagyu, an entry with 60.7pc marbling and a marbling score of 9-plus.
Stone Axe Pastoral Company supplies to the ultra-premium Wagyu market globally with feedlots and farms across the country. Their Margaret River Wagyu is raised across eleven farms around the Margaret River region in South West Western Australia.
Tamworth's Jack's Creek F1 Wagyu took out the open F1 class with an offering bred by Stamo, a marble score of 9-plus and an EMA of 118 square centimetres.
Brisbane's Paradigm Foods won the commercial class via ICON XB Wagyu. The animal was bred by Hugh McMurtrie.
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
