What's behind the 1378pc spike in British Wagyu numbers

However, the rise of anti-meat sentiment and legislation aimed at drawing on livestock production to address climate change is worrying those at the helm of the industry - in the same way it is beef producers the world over.

These insights came from the company secretary of the British Wagyu Association Richard Saunders, at the 2024 Wagyu Edge conference held in Cairns.

He reported Wagyu numbers across England, Scotland and Wales jumped 108 per cent last year on the previous year and were an incredible 1378pc higher than a decade ago.

A total of 35,000 Wagyu-sired calves were born in 2023 in those countries, most of them crossbred.

Wagyu now make up 1.8pc of the UK beef-sired calf population and Mr Saunders said that was expected to grow to 4pc over the next couple of years.

Mr Saunders said UK cattle numbers had remained stable over the past 10 years, but the make-up of the herd had shifted.

Last year, the herd compromised 3.3m cows, of which 1.8m were dairy but in 2012, the dairy and beef herds were of equal size.

"Our suckler (beef) herd is going down, but more beef semen is going into the dairy herd," he said.

Wagyu has benefitted from the growth in integrated dairy beef schemes. The breed is now the third biggest supplier of semen into dairy herds, after the Angus and Blue breeds.

Much of that was driven by the eating quality of the product, Mr Saunders said.

"When British people think of Wagyu, they think this is the best and it is the most expensive," he said.

The hurdles for Wagyu, and British beef in general, were very much on par with challenges being faced by Australian beef, Mr Saunders reported.

"Our beef industry is facing the ongoing challenge of inflation fuelled by the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, the shortage of labour and being called on to answer the climate change crisis," he said.

"Ag policy in the UK is clear - our subsidies are being phased out over the next few years and being replaced by environmental schemes."

The latter challenge would have far-reaching consequences, he said.

In Wales, for example, access to the new sustainable farming scheme is looking like farmers will need to give up 10pc of their land for tree planting plus an additional 10pc for rewilding.

"This could mean a loss of 13pc of livestock in Wales, and 5500 jobs," Mr Saunders said.

Meanwhile, world events have resulted in a sharper focus on food security in the UK, he said.

"We are not self sufficient like you - only 54pc of our food is produced in the UK," Mr Saunders said.

"Politicians are starting to wake up to this. We now have a commitment by our government to a minimum 60pc self sufficiency."

Like many in Australia, British beef producers feel constantly under attack by the message that ruminants are destroying the planet.

"The word sustainable often is equated with the environment but it should also take account of food security and profitability of farming," Mr Saunders said.

"In the UK, we have natural advantages - pasture raised, integrated beef-on-dairy schemes that one can argue are an advantage in terms of sustainability. A dairy cow's emissions are offset by milk and she calves earlier.

"Livestock is also making a reappearance back into arable land, helping to get rid of black grass and putting beneficial farmyard manure back onto fields."

He said it was a global job for beef to effectively communicate the message that there were more effective ways of reducing methane than cutting the consumption of red meat.

"Meat and dairy are essential to the goal of eradicating world hunger by 2050," Mr Saunders said.

"The UN global roadmap says production of animal-based foods must be boosted as plant-based can not provide adequate nutrients."