ANIMAL HUSBANDRY: Texas Beef, Tokyo Flavor

Texas Beef, Tokyo Flavor

Fuji, Judo, Mazda and Ryusho are dead but not forgotten. The four Wagyu bulls, smuggled from their native Japan to the U.S. in 1972, left a valuable legacy for Texas cattleman Don Lively. His stockpile of semen from the bulls and their descendants, which are believed to be the only strain ever to leave Japan, is worth $2 million. The cattle produce tender Kobe beef, a delicacy that sells in Japan for as much as $180 per lb. Lively and his partner have sold $1 million worth of the semen at $250 a vial, in contrast to $25 for the typical...

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