Author Archives: Lauren Barbaro

New to our Specials Menu, you’ll find two new Prime Wagyu items featuring local beef from Clint’s Cattle company. Here’s a little about Clint’s Cattle and what makes our local Wagyu simply premier.

Owned by Mike Moorman, the Akaushi cows of Clint’s Cattle are located in Bedford and Franklin Counties, in Virginia. Mike farms with his dad, Roger, and friends Bill and Stephen Maxwell. The cows are pasture raised, hormone free and supplemented with spent grain from local brewers. They start with Black Angus or Gelbvieh cows that are then crossed with Akaushi bulls via artificial insemination. They have most recently been using a bull named, “El Padrino”.

Clint’s Cattle are Akaushi (Ah-ka-OO-shi), or Japanese Red. The origin of the breed traces to Kumamoto, Japan where they were developed to withstand the challenging climate and terrain of Kumamoto, but also the refined taste of Japanese consumers. The Japanese Association of Akaushi was founded in 1944 to carefully control the breeding, progeny testing and research that culminated to produce the best-tasting beef in the world.  These cattle were first introduced to the US in the mid 90s and are still primarily located in Texas at Heartbrand Ranch.

The high-fat content in Akaushi cattle leaves less room for muscle fiber and collagen making the beef notably more tender than other breeds.  It also contains a higher concentration of monounsaturated fat relative to saturated fat, which can lead to lower cholesterol, the prevention of coronary heart disease and weight loss.  The American Akaushi Association has more information available about the breed at their website.

Wagyu simply means Japanese Cattle. The four breeds of Wagyu Cattle are: Japanese Black, Japanese Red, Japanese Poll and Japanese Shorthorn.  In the US, both Japaneses Black and Japanese Red are available. All Akaushi are Wagyu, but not all Wagyu are Akaushi.