Move over, Ben Cartwright. Some rich new cattle barons have come to town. In the past year Japanese investors have developed an appetite for U.S. beef- producing properties, including ranches, feedlots and packinghouses. Zenchiku, a major Tokyo-based meat importer, bought the 80,000-acre Selkirk Ranch near Dillon, Mont., last October for $13 million. A company called Mt. Shasta Beef, formed by Japanese entrepreneur Masa Tanabe and three California cattlemen, spent $2.2 million in January to lay claim to a 6,000-acre ranch in Northern California's Siskiyou County.
What spurred the investments was Tokyo's agreement last June to lift trade restrictions that limited imports...
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