Wentworth weight gains steal the Wagyu show

The commercial Wagyu operation Wentworth Cattle Co, owned by Richard and Dyan Hughes and family from Clermont in central Queensland, almost made it a clean sweep of the Wagyu section.

Their best pen of 50 per cent Wagyu cross steers took out first place with an average daily gain of 1.159 kilograms and second place with a gain of 1.097kg. One steer recorded the highest individual weight gain of 1.289kg/day over 360 days for an exit weight of 800kg.

The long-fed Wagyu programs are designed to achieve a consistent lower gain over a long period of time, to enhance the marbling for which the breed is famous.

Wentworth Cattle Co started with a Brahman cross Red Poll cow base, and currently joins around 8000 F1s through to purebred Wagyu females at Strathalbyn near Bowen, and Table Top at Collinsville, managed by Bristow and Ureisha Hughes.

The steers move to Wentworth as weaners where they are backgrounded before being sold to various feedlots at 300 to 480kg, destined for a number of Wagyu branded products, including Mort & Co's award-winning Phoenix Beef.

Sires of the winning 2021 pen were from Hornery Group's Bar H at River Lea, Comet, Guyra's Door Key Wagyu and Kelva Camm's Cross Bar Wagyu at Clermont.

However, Dyan Hughes explained these steers were chosen while Wentworth was still very much in drought in April 2020 and pedigree was not in the main criteria.

"Flat bone delivers meat tenderness, suppleness in the hide allows for growth and greasiness of spine reflects hormonal activity which delivers flavour," she said.

"The steers were hand-selected for these indicators - good eating quality is the result, but these are also linked to fertility.

"Since the start of time, Wagyu breeders have pursued meat quality and that has also provided exceptional fertility. That also works conversely."

Wentworth uses a Wagyu geneticist to help with bloodline decisions.

"Our daughter Kelva works with Alan Hoey designing mating plans - it's a 'this goes with that' approach to create the ultimate animal," Mrs Hughes said.

"We aim for a balance in frame, marbling and feed conversion in both sexes, combined with fertility, milk and resilience in females.

"We are building longevity into our herd, and making it one that is adapted to the vagaries of northern conditions.

"This is a herd that thrives under regenerative management practices. We like to keep things as natural as we can, hence the move to knock the horns off using polled genetics."

Interestingly, over the 25 years they've been involved with Wagyu breeding the Hughes have used genetics from many of their fellow competitors in this year's competition, including polled Wagyu genetics that became available four years ago.

"Data on the polls is just starting to come through, and it's very promising," Mrs Hughes said.

"Sapphire Feedlot at Goondiwindi achieved a remarkable result with our steers, however F1s often outperform higher-content cattle in weight gains. The real challenge is in the next classes, relating to carcase, carcase dollar value and the ultimate test, the taste-off."

The Hughes family consider it a privilege to compete in competitions like the RNA Paddock to Palate, saying benchmarking against industry leaders and lessons learned are invaluable.