SA Wagyu breeder Mayura Station has set an Australian semen record selling 10 straws in their most prolific sire for $30,500- or $3050 a straw.
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The semen package from Mayura Itoshigenami Junior sold to UK buyer Rob Cumming at the Elite Full blood Wagyu sale held during the Australian Wagyu Association’s annual conference in Hunter Valley, NSW this week.
Mayura Station managing partner Scott De Bruin said the 2006-drop bull had more than 500 progeny and had been identified as one of the highest carcase quality sires outside Japan.
“He was included in a progeny testing program run by the Australian Wagyu Association with MLA. Based on real carcase data and objective measurement he ranked number one in the first release of information from around 350 bulls,
“He is the highest accuracy bull in the breed and adds $566 of value to each of his progeny,” he said.
Itoshigenami Junior is also a trait leader for eye muscle area.
It was the first time Australia’s largest privately owned full blood Wagyu herd at Millicent, and award winning beef brand has offered any of its genetics.
“We wanted to release some of our genetics to the broader industry to give others an opportunity but also to benchmark ourselves against the rest of the genetics available.”
“Our business model has not been selling genetics but building a strong beef brand domestically and internationally underpinned by the highest quality.”
Mayura Station imported their first Wagyus in 1998 from Japan and have used AI and ET extensively to expand their herd. In 2009 they bought two large full blood herds and now run more than 2000 breeding females.
Mr De Bruin said they were “tickled pink” to have such an exceptional sale.
“It certainly opens our eyes to what is achievable within the seedstock industry but our business model is producing the highest quality beef and to do that we need the highest quality genetics,” he said.
