Our Wagyu vs Others
Japanese Wagyu is a specialized breed compared to registered angus. Registered Angus are bred to be a hearty cow. They produce an overabundance of milk for their offspring and have adapted to live in the harsh winter and summer conditions of Virginia - living primarily in pastures and supplemented with a minimal amount of hay. Conversely, Japanese Wagyu are raised in barns and are protected from the elements. They are bred with the sole purpose to produce as much marbling as possible - as has been such for over 150 years. Naturally producing very little milk, Japanese Wagyu are required to be grain-fed from an early age making them not as hearty as their counterparts. Ultimately, raising Wagyu is a much more difficult, demanding, and ambitious than raising the average Angus.
"...most, if not all, of the local Virginia Wagyu breeders crossbreed their stock of Wagyu with Angus..."
Because the Japanese Wagyu require a much greater level of care than the Angus, most, if not all, of the local Virginia Wagyu breeders crossbreed their stock of Wagyu with Angus. While this makes for a low maintenance, low cost cow, the level of marbling suffers which is what makes the full blood Japanese Wagyu a high-end, and noticeably higher-quality breed.
"...all of our stock is traceable straight back to Japan with zero crossing between Angus or any other breed of cattle..."
At BLAC Wagyu, we only raise 100% full-blood Wagyu registered with the American Wagyu Association and all of our stock is traceable straight back to Japan with zero crossing between Angus or any other breed of cattle. We maintain a purposefully small heard, never exceeding 25, and we use the term full-blood rather than purebred as the American Wagyu Association (AWA) classifies any breed of cattle with 92.8% Wagyu as a pure bread Wagyu. The term full-blood Wagyu, as defined by the AWA, refers to a cow with 100% Wagyu blood lines traceable directly to Japan. It is important to know that many farmers classify their animals as Wagyu, when in fact, they are Wagyu Angus crosses. You will typically see this represented on a rating scale of F1 - F5 which means the cow contains 50% - 96.875% Wagyu respectively.
"...all of our stock is traceable straight back to Japan with zero crossing between Angus or any other breed of cattle..."
Our cattle are pasture raised in Northern Virginia, but being only grass fed is not sufficient enough to produce high quality marbling in Wagyu meat. This is why grains are an intricate part of the feeding process when trying to achieve high quality Wagyu. On a daily basis, we feed our cattle a custom blend of grains that keep in fashion with traditional Japanese feeding standards and that's why our meats consistently result in average BMS(Beef Marbling Standard) ratings of ~8 , which is a very high grade of excellence.