| 29 Taking control of their own destiny NZ Wagyu Cattle Oamaru. Richard Loader MEAT & WOOL » Black Origin When a specialist wagyu beef operation who owned the Black Origin brand went into liquidation earlier this year, one of its key suppliers of finished cattle, the Copland family, had three choices to consider; get out of wagyu all together, supply the finished cattle to someone else, or take control and do it themselves. After doing due diligence, the family decided the best course was to purchase the Black Origin brand name, controlling everything from breeding and finishing through to marketing and sale of the meat under the Black Origin label. The Copland family farms 800 hectares on the Canterbury Plains in small rural town of Chertsey, just out of Ashburton. Farming is a partnership between brothers Craig and Wayne Copland and their parents Neville and Marilyn, 5th and 4th generations respectively. “The basis of the farm is dairy and we’re milking 1400 Friesian cows,” says Craig. “We use all the dairy bobby calves for the Black Origin Wagyu beef. We also grow grain for the dairy and beef, along with maize and lucerne for the dairy, and we grow potatoes under contract to Talley’s. I look after the livestock operations, while Wayne looks after the cropping and potatoes.” Nine hundred wagyu beef are finished each year on farm, with both domestic and international markets. The Copland’s journey with wagyu commenced in 2016 when the family were looking at different breeding options to add value to the product it already had on farm; such as bobbies. “We started breeding with Wagyu genetics, and were approached by the Japanese owner of the original wagyu company. He wanted us to breed for them, and at that point we suggested we could finish as well as breed. In 2018 we built our herd home. The wagyu cattle graze outside on grass until they are about eighteen months old and then come inside to be finished on a grain diet.” While the best genetics are put back into the dairy herd by using sexed semen over the best cows, full blood wagyu semen is used for everything else. “The Chairman of the Japanese Wagyu Association came over here originally and helped us set up our operation. So, we gained the knowledge from the Japan to finish like they do. Our wagyu aren’t Kobi, so it’s not to exactly the same standard. For F1 half breed Wagyu cattle like we have, we’re getting really good flavour in the meat as well as marbling. The Japanese have told us that we’re Ashburton 233 Alford Forest Road 03 307 7153 David Williams 027 263 9185 Simon Jackson 027 512 7205 Tom Wells 027 706 4147 Proudly Supporting Black Origin Proudly supporting the Copland Family FarmSource Rakaia 0 0 FOR ALL YOUR ELECTRICAL NEEDS PROUD TO SUPPORT BLACK ORIGIN youngelectricalltd.co.nz right up there with flavour, and that’s probably our real point of difference. It’s the way we’re feeding, the way the cattle are looked after inside on sawdust, fed farm grown grain and drink fresh water.” Domestic markets include restaurants but there is also an on-line presence enabling anyone to enjoy the flavour of wagyu. “At the moment the products being sold are predominantly whole cuts. We use a butchery to process whole cuts down to steaks and we do mince, sausages and a few other little things like that, but we’re planning to step that up quite a bit shortly.”
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