Wagyu goes high tech to meet surging demand from rich Asians

At the retail level, a wagyu chuck eye roll fetches more than three times similar cuts of Australian or American beef. — Image by freepic.diller on Freepik

Hiroki Sawai, who raises 2,200 cattle at his ranch in western Japan, received an alert on his phone one evening last year: a calf had fallen and wasn’t getting up.

He called on staff to check the barn immediately as fallen cows often require prompt aid and, if ill, treatment. The calf, which had tripped over some steps, was rescued, and Sawai was spared the loss of an animal that could be worth over one million yen (US$7,820/RM33,723) when sold as wagyu, high-quality Japanese beef known for its distinctive fat marbling and loved by gourmands.