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Members who have not already done so are respectfully reminded to kindly settle their Membership subscriptions for the 2016 year. Invoices were sent out in February and Membership of the WBA allows Wagyu Fullblood and crossbred breeders to register their Wagyu calves through the bespoke WBA Interface with its unique DNA and branded Wagyu tag mechanism. To find out more about the benefits of joining the UK's newest Breed Society, please visit http://www.britishwagyu.co.uk/about-membership-1/
The Wagyu Breeders Association (WBA) will again have a stand at the National Beef Association (NBA) Beef Expo be held in Bakewell on 20th May with farm tours and a gala dinner taking place on the 19th.
Considered the number one showcase for the British beef sector the WBA looks forward to talking to existing and potential Members about the huge potential that breeding Wagyu Fullblood and crossbred cattle brings. With both Wagyu Fullblood and crossbred stock on display, Beef Expo brings together the very best in British commercial and pedigree cattle, equipment, knowledge-sharing, and show classes for everyone involved in the industry.
For further information on either of the overseas expos (Ploughing Match & Eurotier) or to put forward delegates to attend an Inward Mission (Beef Event & Sheep Event), please contact Richard Saunders (E: richardsaunders1965@yahoo.co.uk)
The Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and British Livestock Genetics Consortium (BLG) are lending their support to a number of overseas expos and Inward Missions aimed at helping UK farming and livestock breeding organisations to promote their services on the global stage.
An Inward Mission is being planned for a group of overseas visitors to attend the National Beef Association (NBA) Beef Expo be held in Bakewell on 20th May with farm tours and a gala dinner taking place on the 19th.
Similar Inward Mission support is being put in place for the National Sheep Association (NSA) Sheep Event taking place in Malvern on 27th July as well as two overseas expos later in the year: the Irish Ploughing Match 20-22 September in Tullamore, Republic of Ireland; and Eurotier 15-18 November in Hannover, Germany.
This year’s Irish National Ploughing Championships are being held in Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly, Republic of Ireland 20th – 22nd September. British beef, sheep and pig breeding associations as well as genetics companies are invited to display literature at this prestigious event which last year saw an attendance in excess of 280,000 with over 1,500 exhibitors.
Eurotier, which takes place in Hannover, Germany, will once more host a British Livestock presence. Held every two years, this is the world’s largest indoor agricultural exhibition boasting 150,000+ visitors and over 2,300 exhibitors – half of which are international companies. As such, Eurotier provides UK companies with a platform for promoting their sector to a global market.
For further information on either of the overseas expos (Ploughing Match & Eurotier) or to put forward delegates to attend an Inward Mission (Beef Event & Sheep Event), please contact Richard Saunders (E: richardsaunders1965@yahoo.co.uk ).
WBA Director, Jonathan Shepherd represented the Association at the Testing Times symposium.
Read moreWBA Annual Membership subscriptions are now due.
Read moreUPDATE TO MEMBERS FROM WBA CHAIRMAN MIKE TUCKER
Please find below an edited version of the Chairman's Update sent to Members on 24th December.
INTRODUCTION
The Wagyu Breeders Association (WBA) now has a full year of ‘trading’ behind it as a company in its own right and, looking back, I think we can all be proud of what has been achieved in such a relatively short time. WBA has grown to become an organisation of over 40 Members, has strong partnerships in place with the Australian Wagyu Association (AWA), Caisley and TL Biolabs with an industry-leading registration and DNA Interface and has its sights set on ambitious growth for the Wagyu breed in the next 5-10 years.
FINANCES
The WBA has managed to break even to the end of 2015 but this is thanks in large part to the interest-free loans made by the Directors to help put the Association on the road as the first new UK Breed Society in over 20 years.
Going forward, we have put a budget in place to cover our outgoings in the next 1-2 years (2016 & 2017) and then to hopefully make a small surplus in years 3-5 that we can plough back into WBA activity. The first target for 2016 is to double the number of Members and put through 500+ registrations (rising to 1,000 in 2017). Whilst ambitious, we believe it is also achievable given the momentum that Wagyu is generating within the industry, the extremely cost-effective £15 commercial registration, and with your enthusiasm and continued support.
DAY-TO-DAY RUNNING OF WBA
Richard Saunders will continue in the role of Company Secretary with WBA Director Jim Bloom’s Warrendale business taking on much of the financial administration and website/social media at no charge to WBA. I am personally extremely grateful to Jim for this generous offer which represents a sizeable cost saving and will help the Association to continue its important work.
MEMBERSHIP
The ongoing viability of WBA very much depends on the above membership projections being achieved both in terms of Full Members (generally speaking with cattle to register) as well as ‘Friends of WBA’ taken from the wider agricultural and food industry. You will also be aware that WBA was set up to include not only England, Scotland and Wales but also Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and I am pleased to report that we have a number of Members now from Ireland. As mentioned in my August Update, in due course the WBA will look at expanding its Board to incorporate representatives from all countries.
REGISTRATIONS & INTERFACE
Key to the success of WBA in terms of both income and making a mark on the beef industry, is securing a big leap in the numbers of commercial registrations going forward. The pedigree side is, of course, still very important in terms of dissemination of genetics at the ‘top of the pyramid’ but, as a pedigree breeder myself with relatively few animals, it is the rise in crossbred, Wagyu-sired registrations over the next 5-10 years that will put us firmly on the map.
The Directors have looked again at the £40+VAT commercial registration figure and decided that it was a barrier to securing significant numbers of registrations from commercial farmers. From 2016 therefore, a commercial registration will be available at a cost of £15+VAT to include registration and tag (but without DNA sire verification) for animals registered through the WBA Interface from 1st January. Instead of compulsory DNA sire verification, the DNA sample will be stored and subjected to random DNA sire verification by TL Biolabs.
Please note, the £40 commercial registration (registration, tag and DNA) will remain as an option to those breeders wishing to sire verify their Wagyu crossbred stock but will not be compulsory. Please note further that the £50+VAT pedigree registration fee will remain in place with DNA parentage verification (both sire and dam) required by ourselves and AWA to complete the registration process.
Jonathan Shepherd of Yorkshire Wagyu (YW) has been instrumental in helping put together the Interface and I would like to record my thanks to him here as well as YW’s commitment to put all their registrations through it. I am pleased to note that two of the larger Wagyu enterprises (Highland Wagyu and Natural Wagyu) have also committed to register all their animals through the WBA Interface which will help give WBA that all-important firm financial footing.
The WBA Interface built by Fred Turner of TL Biolabs was launched on 1st September has seen quite a good uptake by Members but, as with any new system, myself and a number of other Members have needed some ‘hand-holding’! There are many fantastic advantages to this industry-leading online portal which links Members’ holdings automatically through to BCMS and allows quick and easy registration and invoicing so I would respectfully ask that you continue to help us get this right and working for you the Member.
We have seen quite a lot of animals come out of the woodwork which are to all intents and purposes ‘Purebred’ Wagyu but do not have the required paperwork or profiles to make them ‘Fullblood’. AWA has said that a Wagyu Content Test is at the prototype stage which will potentially allow animals with ‘missing’ papers to be registered as an F3 so that the next cross with a registered sire would be Purebred F4. This would be a much better and faster method to maximise Wagyu genetics rather than grading up from a base female.
Some of these registration issues have been compounded by the technology behind DNA. In short, there are two methods: STR (Microsatellites) and SNP (SNiP) but the two are unfortunately NOT interchangeable. Generally speaking, the industry is moving towards the newer SNP technology as it is both cheaper, more accurate and allows genomic testing to be carried out. However, many DNA profiles are still historically in the STR format. The industry is therefore at a bit of a crossroads but in due course these issues should be ironed out once profiles are in place for each Fullblood sire and dam. Profiles can usually be extracted from samples such as tissue, semen or blood and the good news is that they only need to be done once! It nevertheless means, at least in the short to medium term, extra work and some additional DNA testing cost. Whilst the onus is inevitably on the breeder to provide all the information required by WBA & AWA to allow a Wagyu registration, we will do all we can to help Members register their animals.
Fred Turner has worked extremely hard to iron out any glitches but it is true to say he has had his work cut out locating DNA profiles from various sires and dams around the world which - as mentioned above - may come sometimes in STR or sometimes in SNP format. This is not really his job and he has certainly gone the extra mile to help breeders. Could I therefore urge all Members to send in all profiles (both STR & SNP) of Wagyu sires and dams they may have in their possession to facilitate registration of progeny? On a positive note, there is now a protocol in place between the various international Wagyu associations for sharing DNA and pedigree information so the situation is expected to improve.
Could I also ask that any Member who has not as yet logged into the Interface please to do so? You should have received an introductory email in early September with full log-in details and temporary password. If you need this re-sending, please email Richard Saunders at info@britishwagyu.co.uk and we will send this out again. Please note also that free Caisley tag applicators are available to the first 20 Members who register cattle through the Interface.
SUMMARY
In closing, I would like to thank you for your continuing support of the Wagyu Breeders Association and remain at your disposal to answer any questions you may have. May I remind you that January 1st sees the start of a new financial year for the WBA so it is planned that subscription invoices for £200+VAT will go out early in the New Year.
I believe the £15 commercial registration represents tremendous value-for-money and goes a long way to ensuring the traceability and integrity required by both your own individual business as well as the wider Wagyu and beef industry. Our aim must surely be to maintain Wagyu as a value-added ‘premium’ brand which has the potential to really break the mould in terms of taste, eating quality and very importantly financial return. If we can all work together and get as many registrations put through the Interface as possible we can make a giant stride towards achieving our ambitious goals for British and Irish Wagyu.
Thank you,
Mike Tucker
WBA Chairman
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An invitation is extended to all existing or prospective Wagyu breeders, chefs, hoteliers, wholesalers, retailers, butchers and farm shops to visit the Wagyu Breeders Association (WBA) stand at Borderway Agri-Expo to be held at Rosehill, Carlisle, CA1 2RS on Friday 30th October 2015 from 9am to 5pm. Come and find out 'what all the fuss is about' British Wagyu and learn more about the cattle, the beef and the Association. We are pleased to welcome Fred Turner from TL Biolabs, the designer of the recently-launched Wagyu tag, registration and DNA Interface, to the stand 10am-1pm to talk to breeders about this exciting new development in terms of meat traceability and integrity. We look forward to seeing you there!
The team behind The Yorkshire Wagyu Company is celebrating after winning £10,000 worth of business support in a national competition.
The Driffield, East Yorkshire-based beef enterprise was invited to pitch to a panel of judges at The Food Entrepreneur Show after reaching the final of The Artisan Food Trail's ‘Pitch to the Experts’ competition last month.
Director Jonathan Shepherd (pictured) is delighted with the win: "This is a high-profile award and we were very proud just to be shortlisted - we never dreamed that we would win!
"As a new business, winning £10,000 of mentoring plus sales, marketing, finance and legal advice is invaluable and will help us to take The Yorkshire Wagyu Company to the next level."
The Artisan Food Trail co-founder and creative director of design agency, childsdesign, Graham Childs, said: "We had over 90 entries to the competition and shortlisted six of the most promising food related businesses.
"Jonathan and his team gave a very polished pitch and clearly demonstrated the potential growth opportunities for their business. The judges all agreed that The Yorkshire Wagyu Company was very different to the other entries and quite unique in terms of its product and business model."
The Artisan Food Trail was founded by Graham Childs and his wife, Lisa to provide support to artisan food and drink producers throughout the UK.
Wagyu Breeders Association (WBA) Chairman, Mike Tucker, attended The Universal Cookery and Food Festival on 23rd September, to assist Wagyu breeder & WBA Member Steve Ramshaw of Northumbrian Wagyu in presenting ‘The Story of British Wagyu’ designated as one of the Festival’s focal points.
Click here to read the Chairman's Report on the Festival.
Around 30 delegates from the world of food and farming enjoyed a 'Wonders of Wagyu' themed event at The Yorkshire Wagyu Company’s first Chefs’ Open Day held on Monday 21st September at Field House Farm, Tibthorpe, Driffield, East Yorkshire.
Visitors to Jonathan Shepherd’s Yorkshire Wolds farm were able to discover first-hand the rich, intense flavour of British Wagyu beef with its succulent natural marbling, as well as learn about the healthy-eating properties of Wagyu. They were introduced to the UK’s most prolific Full Blood Wagyu bull, Blackgold Mikado, who has sired more than 8,000 calves so far in his lifetime.
Yorkshire Wagyu is run jointly by Jonathan together with another local farmer Jim Bloom and is one of the largest Wagyu operations in Britain. Wagyu Breeders Association (WBA) Company Secretary Richard Saunders was also in attendance and he talked about the unique animal registration and branded 'British Wagyu' tagging system which has been put in place to ensure complete traceability and guaranteed provenance of British Wagyu tagged beef. The scientifically robust yet easy-to-use ear tagging system was then demonstrated by Yorkshire Wagyu's on-farm vet Jono Cooper .
Delegates, who had travelled from as far as Northamptonshire to be at the Chefs' Open Day, then enjoyed a delicious Wagyu burger lunch accompanied by locally-brewed beer from the Wold Top Brewery.
Coinciding with the beginning of 'British Food Fortnight', the event also saw the launch of a 'Friends of WBA' Membership priced at £50+VAT and aimed at chefs, hoteliers, restaurateurs, farm shops, butchers, retailers and wholesalers who wish to be part of a growing and dynamic Wagyu industry in Britain and Ireland.
Further information on, and how to become, a 'Friend of the Wagyu Breeders Association' will be available very soon on www.britishwagyu.co.uk.
