US Wagyu Association Announces New Classifications For Fullblood Wagyu

Citing ‘issues and unfortunate misunderstandings’ relating to registration types and Wagyu definitions, the US Wagyu Association has announced sweeping changes in registry structure to ‘clarify the breed’ .

Given the increasing international occurrence of entrepreneurial ‘Western Wagyu’ sub-breeds, starting with ‘Purebreds’ and now including ‘Fullblood Red/Blacks’, ‘Polled Purebreds’ and ‘Shagyus’, the registry re-organisation appears both timely and essential.

Despite a weak overall beef market, US Wagyu seedstock sales remain strong and good customer understanding of the niche is important to maintained momentum.

According to a US Association statement, the American breed registry will be restructured as follows, with changes to be confirmed in a re-issued Association Handbook, under ‘Section 1 Rules’:

• “Fullblood Black Wagyu (FBB) – Animals registered in the Japanese Wagyu Herdbook and animals whose sire and dam are registered in the AWA Herdbook as 100% Fullblood Wagyu, and progeny of registered 100% Fullblood Wagyu parents are classified as Fullblood animals. These animals are primarily of “Black” color and are progeny of the three major black strains – Tajiri or Tajima, Fujiyoshi (Shimane) and Kedaka (Tottori) originating in Japan. All parentage is DNA verified by AWA or other AWA accepted methods.
• “Fullblood Red Wagyu (FBR) – Animals registered in the Japanese Wagyu Herdbook and animals whose sire and dam are registered in the AWA Herdbook as 100% Fullblood Wagyu, and progeny of registered 100% Fullblood Wagyu parents are classified as Fullblood animals. These animals are primarily of “Red” color and are progeny of the Japanese brown strains Kochi and Kumamoto. All parentage is DNA verified by AWA or other AWA accepted methods.
• “Fullblood Red/Black Cross Wagyu (FBRXB) – Animals registered in the Japanese Wagyu Herdbook and animals whose sire and dam are registered in the AWA Herdbook as 100% Fullblood Wagyu, and progeny of registered 100% Fullblood Wagyu parents are classified as Fullblood animals. These animals are of “Red or Black” color and are progeny of the three major black strains – Tajiri or Tajima, Fujiyoshi (Shimane) and Kedaka (Tottori) originating in Japan; and the Japanese brown strains Kochi and Kumamoto. All parentage is DNA verified by AWA or other AWA accepted methods.”
• Purebred and percentage (Crossbred and Purebreed breeding up) Wagyu registrations shall remain the same/with no changes.

More News Briefs From North America

• New US Carcass Camera: The US association is working on an ‘affordable’ new grading camera system, based a passive on-site camera unit which provides digital images via the web to an intelligent remote ‘backend’, which will provide the actual grading values. (Australia is also reviewing next options in carcass camera technology).
• Questionable Registrations Review: More ‘biting the bullet’: An ongoing historical review of questionable US FB registrations is well underway. More to come.
• US Assn 2016 Conference:  Now scheduled for mid September 2016 in Couer d’Alene, Idaho.  A beautiful lakeside resort close to the resources of the national American Wagyu HQ.