Making Wagyu more affordable part of red and green mix for success

A young Tasmanian couple are combining red cattle with green sustainable principles in a beef enterprise aiming to make Wagyu more affordable.

Stephanie and Sam Trethewey of the Tasmanian Agricultural Company at Dunorlan. Picture Chris Kidd

AN INNOVATIVE new beef business is helping Sam and Stephanie Trethewey realise their dream of farming in Tasmania.

Mr Trethewey, a third-generation farmer originally from Tasmania, and self-confessed city girl, Mrs Trethewey moved to the state about eight months ago.

They met six years ago when Mrs Trethewey was working as a TV journalist and interviewed Mr Trethewey in Rockhampton in Queensland.

As a boy Mr Trethewey spent time on farms at Kempton and King Island. After finishing school, he worked interstate and overseas.

For some time he worked with the National Farmers Federation, setting up an innovation hub for agriculture technology in Melbourne, which helped launch a number of start-up businesses.

“I love that tech and innovation stuff,” he said.

His work in agricultural industries has included cotton, beef, wool, grain, horticulture and even crocodile farming.

Since moving to Tasmania the couple have raised capital to buy a property at Dunorlan. They also secured funding through the State Government’s AgriGrowth loans.

Mr Trethewey said his work with corporate enterprises gave him valuable experience to draw on when it came to setting up a new farming business from scratch.

“We had to be quite innovative around how we set up the business, because I wasn’t getting a hand-me-down multi-million dollar asset,” he said.

“I always had to do it my own way and everyone said it couldn’t be done, but it’s done all the time, so we just had to be creative.”

The property is about 174ha and the pair also lease 81ha nearby.

About half the farm is irrigated with water from the Meander Dam scheme and on-farm bores. It can run 750 to 800 head of cattle including the leased land.

“It’s good country, so running that amount of stock is no massive surprise to Tasmanians, but if you tell mainlanders that they tend to freak out a bit,” Mr Trethewey said.

Mrs Trethewey said their beef business started by looking at consumer trends and asking what was the next step up from grass-fed.

They now produce grass-fed Wagyu beef using regenerative agriculture techniques.

“Regenerative agriculture is a big part of what we’re doing and something we really believe in and from a consumer demand perspective that’s where the world is heading,” Mrs Trethewey said.

“People are increasingly demanding food that is sustainable and now beyond sustainable and not only good for them, but for animals and the environment. There’s a lot of talk about soil health and repairing some of the damage that has been done.”

Mr Trethewey said he had become increasingly frustrated by what he calls “green washing” when agriculture businesses, particularly large corporate enterprises, use sustainability as a marketing tool without actually doing much at all.

“We’re going to be making all of our data publicly available and be 100 per cent transparent about how we’re improving soil health and everything,” he said.

“That’s one of the things I wanted to do, and say this is the benchmark. You’re not going to fool investors and consumers.”

So, after starting off with no money and no property, the couple looked at how they could establish a premium beef enterprise.

“If you look at a farm’s balance sheet, the heaviest thing apart from the actual property is the female breeding herd, so how do you produce something without owning breeders,” Mr Trethewey said.

“I looked at the dairy industry and they don’t want their calves, but they’ve got breeders.”

For premium beef using dairy cows as female breeders, the couple knew the right bull genetics would be crucial. They came across Red Wagyus, which are not genetically related to black Wagyus.

“They were bred from a South Korean Hanwoo, which were crossed with Simmental and Red Devon in Japan in a government breeding initiative in the 1800s.”

Mr Trethewey said Red Wagyus grew about 20 per cent faster than black Wagyus and also marbled more easily on grass.

After Mr Trethewey’s father set up a stud on his farm in Victoria, the family have one of the biggest Red Wagyu herds. The business is now involved with eight Tasmanian dairy farms.

Red Wagyu bulls and semen are supplied to the dairy farms for free and the Tasmanian Agricultural Company buys the resulting calves when they reach 100kg. The calves will be finished and processed to supply the domestic market.

Mrs Trethewey said most of the Wagyu beef produced in Australia was currently exported and aimed at the very high end of the market.

“We’re not producing marble- score nine Wagyu, were going for more of a mid-range,” she said.

“It will be for people interested in good quality beef, a good experience and the environmental angle, for a good price.”

Mr Trethewey said they aimed to make quality Wagyu available to the average Australian.

“You shouldn’t have the be a millionaire to be able to afford to eat Wagyu,” he said.

The cattle will be turned off at about 18 months of age and weighing 450kg to 500kg. They aim to have 850 to 1000 cattle in the system this year.

The first of their TAC-branded cattle are due to be processed later this year with the meat to be sold in Tasmania through butchers and retail outlets. The couple have also been in discussions with a number of chefs about the product.