A PEMBROKESHIRE-based Wagyu beef enterprise has set an Australian record by paying more than £21,000 to secure 10 straws of semen from a bull identified as one of the highest carcase quality sires outside Japan.

Natural Wagyu, run by Rob Cumine and Pembrokeshire dairy farmers, Will and Alex Prichard, paid $3,050 (£2,110) a straw for Mayura Itoshigenami Junior semen at the Elite Full blood Wagyu sale in Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

The bull has more than 500 progeny and is recorded as adding $566 of value to each of his offspring.

Mr Cumine said he believed the semen to be from the best Wagyu bull ever sold at auction outside Japan.

“Wagyu beef production is all about genetics, not necessarily what the animals look like. This bull comes with great figures based on real carcass data,’’ he says. “He will help us to produce the best quality Wagyu beef for our UK customers like Wholefoods Market who we currently supply with our Natural Wagyu brand.’’

It is the first time Australia’s largest privately owned full blood Wagyu business, Mayura Station, had offered its genetics for sale.

Natural Wagyu, which has its foundations in Mr Cumine’s own herd of Wagyu cattle in St Davids, currently has five UK farmer suppliers.

Mr Cumine says Wagyu provides a good option for dairy farmers looking for an easy calving, short gestation beef breed. And farmers are only charged for the cost of the semen at the time of slaughter so it is good for cashflow too, Mr Cumine adds.

“We're encouraging dairy and beef farmers who want to work with us to get in touch,’’ he says.

“The contracts are aimed at beef finishers as we don't want to get involved in trading calves or store cattle between farmers and would prefer a potential finisher to work with a local dairy farmer to source his own calves based on the genetics we supply them.’’

Natural Wagyu will use the Itoshigenami Junior semen on its elite Australian herd, which it has established from females purchased at international auctions.

“For the same reasons that we have invested in semen, we felt the only way we'd step change our genetics was to purchase some elite females and have been buyers at previous international auction of heifers,’’ says Mr Cumine.