“Waygu Holstein” Makes Great Beef

“Waygu Holstein” Makes Great Beef LIVESTOCK Beef Blake Hansen is producing tender tasty beef by crossing the family dairy herd’s less productive cows with Wagyu semen The co-owner and herd manager of Hansen’s Dairy was hooked on Wagyu beef after trying some at a friend’s home Wagyu beef is often marketed as Kobe and is known as a premium product “I tasted some Wagyu/Jersey beef and that gave me the idea of crossing some of our Holsteins with Wagyu ” says Hansen Four years later Hansen has begun selling the crossbred beef at a premium Prices range from ground beef at around $8 per pound to fillets at $100 per pound In addition to their dairy herd Blake’s parents and 3 brothers operate a creamery on the farm and offer farm tours for a fee They market their milk and other dairy products at 3 family-owned Hansen’s Dairy stores Their dairy products are also carried in more than 40 other retail stores Hansen credits their retail experience as key to the new meat enterprise “It is easy to crossbreed and raise the cattle but marketing the premium beef is the hard part ” he says “With our dairy products we’ve built a strong consumer base and distribution system However the meat is very high quality and priced accordingly There is a limited market for beef this expensive ” While the market may be limited initially Hansen expects demand to grow as people become more aware of the quality He now has about 45 crossbred animals on feed “We have had a huge amount of interest ” says Hansen Hansen personally prefers the beef from a Wagyu cross but he also plans to sell beef from purebred animals He will continue breeding his less productive Holsteins to Wagyu and he is developing a line of purebred Wagyu as well “We have 2 Wagyu steers and a heifer we raised from embryos implanted in our cows ” says Hansen “We have since collected 15 embryos from the heifer with plans to implant them as well The full-blood steers will be ready for market by the end of 2019 ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Hansen’s Dairy 8461 Lincoln Rd Hudson Iowa 50643 ph 319 610-1530; www hansendairy com

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