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Japanese Wagyu – Grass-fed / Grass-finished
Situated in the Riverina region of NSW north west of Albury, the Giltrap family have been farming Yalandra for over 80years.
They raise wagyu and angus cattle, with 1000 full blood blood wagyu breeders, serviced by 40 original Japanese bloodline wagyu bulls.
The land is managed with rotational grazing and pastures are improved through the use of worm juice from Yalandra’s own large scale worm farm.
Low stress and traceability were the key reasons Scott was attracted to partnering with Provenir to have his cattle processed.
Scott Giltrap was brought up on dairy farm in Mitta Valley, and believes farming is the proper way to live
He has fond memories of riding horses to school and still uses horses today to move cattle around the farm.
Today Scott manages the farm with his team including farm manager Tim, while also pursuing a professional career in medicine.
The family originally ran crossbreds, but all this changed in 2003.
“We bought a small herd of full-blood Wagyu cows and used embryo transfer (ET) with a lot of Westholme genetics to develop the herd,” Dr Giltrap said.
And why Wagyu?
“We did this because people are more concerned about the quality of meat than quantity,” Dr Giltrap said. “After research, I decided that Wagyu was going to become an important part of the beef industry because of its quality.”
For Mr Kilgour, Wagyus just made sense.
“It is an industry that is on the move, and it is exciting to be a part of it,” he said. “They are a different animal from most cows. Coming from working with Angus and Brahman, Wagyus have a bit more personality.”
Good management is also important – Mr Kilgour has implemented low stress handling in the herd, including using dogs, which has made a massive difference.
“Wagyu have a bit of a reputation that they are hard to work,” Dr Giltrap said.
“But we have a whole herd that is very easy to manage because the cattle are handled frequently and they are quiet. Moving them every week, you get a good handle on your calves. It helps with yard weaning too – they get used to you and it makes the job easier.”
At Yalandra we believe in a multifaceted approach to running a successful Wagyu enterprise. Genetics, animal health, pasture improvement, rotational grazing, nutrition, and low stress animal husbandry are all integral to successfully achieving the maximum phenotypic expression of the genetics in our herd.
Our breeding herd is run in the highly sought after Mitta Valley across six properties containing high producing pastures, rich soils, river flats, irrigation, and a temperate climate.
The cows are rotationally grazed using working dogs, motorbikes and occasionally by horses.
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