Wagyu

Wagyu is not the name of a single cattle breed but a Japanese term, meaning roughly Japanese cattle, that today usually refers to four established Japanese beef breeds: the Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Polled and Japanese Shorthorn. These breeds were developed from the late nineteenth century onward by crossing regional native Japanese cattle with imported stock. The Japanese Black accounts for more than ninety percent of Wagyu cattle raised in Japan and is the main source of the highly marbled beef commonly associated with the term, prized for its finely distributed intramuscular fat and distinctive sweet aroma. Since the 1970s, cattle and genetic material exported from Japan have formed the basis of separate Wagyu herds in the United States and Australia, each maintaining its own herdbook.