The secret to top Wagyu beef is chocolate in feed rations
© Nick Cunard/REX/Shutterstock Cattle on an Australian Wagyu station are eating 1kg to 2kg of Cadbury’s chocolate every day to improve beef tenderness and eating quality for customers.
Broken chocolate pieces are included in high-energy finishing rations to increase beef marbling at Mayura Station, South Australia.
Media reports have detailed how Scott de Bruin has impressed restaurateurs and consumers with the results.
See also: British breeders to benefit from Spanish Wagyu genetics
Mayura Station
- Established in 1845
- Imported Wagyu cattle in 1997
- Itoshigenami Jnr is a foundation sire
- Four national distributors in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney
- Supplying Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, China New Zealand and the Philippines
Mayura feeding regimes aim for a tender product, feeding a slow-growth ration to leave a juicy and well-marbled meat.
Confectionery intakes are increased in the feedlot stage, which sees stock bedded on sawdust and housed in an open feedlot with a barn area.
The chocolate is fed alongside home-grown cereals, legumes, broad beans, clover, maize and grass silages, including lucerne.
Mayura’s full-blood Wagyu products
- Signature label: Performance breeding and pure pedigrees are raised on limestone pasture, purified water and then grain-finished from 12 months old.
- Platinum label: High-level marbling characterisation – Beef Marbling Score Aus-Meat 8 (BMS 3-12).
- Gold label – Beef with moderate marbling and greater focus on beef flavour.